 "Wanda unveils new theme park to take on Disney")
Billionaire Wang Jianlin officially unveiled Dalian Wanda Group's first large-scale theme park and entertainment project in China Saturday, as the conglomerate seeks to unseat Walt Disney as the world's largest tourism operator.
The Wanda Cultural Tourism City, spanning two square kilometres (200 hectares) in southeastern Jiangxi province, features two theme parks, an aquarium, hotels and retail stores, the company said in an emailed statement. Wang said this month that Disney's single theme park, which opens in Shanghai on June 16, won't be a match for his Beijing-based conglomerate's bevy of Wanda City projects set to open across the country. Disney's "one tiger is no match for a pack of wolves," Wang said on a May 22 broadcast on China Central Television.
Wanda is trying to gain the upper hand in the battle for China's $610 billion tourism industry, which the government predicts will double by 2020 amid a growing middle class. Burbank, California-based Disney has decades more experience operating theme parks than Wanda, and has already been exposed to Chinese visitors at its Hong Kong Disneyland since 2005.
The Chinese company is already preparing for more Wanda City projects, with a second in eastern Anhui province's Hefei city due to open in September. Wang said on Saturday that by 2020, there will be 15 Wanda Cities in China - in cities like Shandong province's Qingdao, Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Jiangsu province's Wuxi - and three overseas.
It plans to invest more than euro 3 billion ($3.4 billion) in a retail and leisure development project in France that's aimed at taking on Disneyland Paris.
Tickets for the outdoor theme park at Wanda's Jiangxi project are priced at 198 yuan on most days and 248 yuan on holidays and weekends. That's about half the price of Shanghai Disneyland, which charges adults 370 yuan each for regular tickets and 499 yuan during peak days.
The Wanda Cultural Tourism City, spanning two square kilometres (200 hectares) in southeastern Jiangxi province, features two theme parks, an aquarium, hotels and retail stores, the company said in an emailed statement. Wang said this month that Disney's single theme park, which opens in Shanghai on June 16, won't be a match for his Beijing-based conglomerate's bevy of Wanda City projects set to open across the country. Disney's "one tiger is no match for a pack of wolves," Wang said on a May 22 broadcast on China Central Television.
Wanda is trying to gain the upper hand in the battle for China's $610 billion tourism industry, which the government predicts will double by 2020 amid a growing middle class. Burbank, California-based Disney has decades more experience operating theme parks than Wanda, and has already been exposed to Chinese visitors at its Hong Kong Disneyland since 2005.
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Wang, who vies with Jack Ma for the title of China's richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, had said he couldn't understand how Disney spent $5.5 billion on a park similar in scale to the Jiangxi province project, which according to Wanda's website, cost 21 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).
The Chinese company is already preparing for more Wanda City projects, with a second in eastern Anhui province's Hefei city due to open in September. Wang said on Saturday that by 2020, there will be 15 Wanda Cities in China - in cities like Shandong province's Qingdao, Guangdong province's Guangzhou and Jiangsu province's Wuxi - and three overseas.
It plans to invest more than euro 3 billion ($3.4 billion) in a retail and leisure development project in France that's aimed at taking on Disneyland Paris.
Tickets for the outdoor theme park at Wanda's Jiangxi project are priced at 198 yuan on most days and 248 yuan on holidays and weekends. That's about half the price of Shanghai Disneyland, which charges adults 370 yuan each for regular tickets and 499 yuan during peak days.