India has around 150 amusement parks, which see a combined attendance of over 50 million annually. Though the segment has been growing at 20 per cent in the past four-five years, it is still at a nascent stage.
“Leading theme park catchments get between 750,000 to 1.8 million attendance, while global theme parks get 10 million footfalls globally,” said Amitabj Barthakur, regional director, AECOM, a consulting firm.
The first theme park, Appu Ghar, was opened in 1984 in Delhi, followed by other brands including Essel World and Nicco Park. This apart, the country has limited entertainment options such as shopping malls, cinemas and small family entertainment centres such as arcades, bowling, snooker and games.
The sector holds huge business opportunities for strategic alliances and expansion of innovative products, he added.
Pointing out that the recreation and leisure industry was expected to see a huge demand over the next five years, he said major factors driving this growth would be urbanisation, retail boom and high disposable income.
In five years from 2005 to 2010, India has seen a 13.6 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) in domestic tourism, which touched 740 million tourists in 2010 from 391 million in 2005, Barthakur said at a TiLE India event here.
The two-day TilE India, an annual event in tourism, amusement and entertainment industry, is being organised in association with the Andhra Pradesh tourism department.