The recent announcement of a 20th Century Fox theme park in Malaysia is yet another indication that the balance of the global amusement industry is decisively tilting towards Asia and the big guns from the West are all prepared to make hay. Macau, of course, has long been a shining trendsetter, but what's happening now is that theme-based amusement is being thrown into the mix to widen the definition of entertainment and use it as an essential tool to boost both tourism and investment.
In its first venture into Asia, which it says marks the launch of its global location-based entertainment strategy, Fox has tied up with the Malaysian casino giant, Resort World Genting, to build a $125-million theme park, on a 25-acre site near Kuala Lumpur, offering rides and other attractions based on such blockbusters from its stable as Ice Age, Life of Pi, Alien, and Night at the Museum. Genting operates a huge casino complex at Genting Highlands, where its older outdoor theme park, now undergoing refurbishment, has attracted more than 20 million visitors per year since 2011, and five hilltop hotels with over 8,000 rooms, 100 food and beverage outlets, and 200 retail shops cater to fun-seekers.
The Fox announcement came within less than a year of the opening last September of Asia's first Legoland theme park in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, across the causeway from Singapore, where the amusement-tourism-investment angle becomes even more evident. It sits on a 76-acre site within Iskandar Malaysia, the country's main southern development corridor, and offers more than 40 rides, shows, and attractions, almost all of them hands-on. Legoland theme parks are part of the UK-based Merlin Entertainment Group, which owns attractions such as the London Eye and Madame Tussauds and is the world's second largest operator of amusement parks, after Walt Disney Parks & Resorts.
Legoland Malaysia has been an instant winner, and, to take it further ahead, Merlin is going to open a Legoland Water Park this October. A Legoland hotel is to open in early 2014, completing a complex that's going to have a big influence on the future of investments in Iskandar Malaysia. Tourism is one of the six declared "pillars" of the commercial development of Iskandar Malaysia, the others being creative, educational, financial, health care, and logistics enterprises.
Established in 2006 and administered by Iskandar Regional Development Authority, Iskandar Malaysia covers an area of 2,217 sq km and drew a total of $36.54 billion in investment commitments as of end-June 2013. Over 34 per cent of this total was committed by foreigners. Singapore property developers, in particular, perceive Iskandar Malaysia as a great value opportunity.
Singapore saw the connection between tourism, investment, and amusement rather late in the day but has had no reason to regret allowing Universal Studios to open a $4.4-billion theme park and resort on Sentosa Island in 2010 that also includes one of the city state's two casinos. That was soon followed by Marina Bay Sands, another integrated resort with a $6.3-billion casino property, said to be the world's most expensive, taking gaming and amusement to a new height and making Singapore's attraction as a tourist destination spicier.
A theme park wave is now sweeping through Asia, as the concept of leisure grips an increasingly affluent middle class, and the big guns from the West are ready to jump in not only to soak up business but also to more effectively promote their movies, TV shows, and other attractions, appealing to people's innate lust for nostalgia and wonder. The trend became obvious when Disney opened in Tokyo in 1983, its first park outside the US. According to a Global Industry Analysis report, the amusement theme park market worldwide is likely to generate some $32 billion in total revenue by 2017, and a growing chunk of it is expected to come out of Asia.
It's not a wild expectation. Having opened its second Asian resort in Hong Kong in 2005, Disney is building a huge third one in Shanghai, due to open in 2015 on a 1,000-acre site within an area of Pudong marked as an international tourist destination. After Japan and Singapore, Universal Studios is now well on its way to set foot in China (Beijing, and possibly also Shanghai) and South Korea (at Hwaseong, near Seoul). Also in the works are DreamWorks Animation's $3.2-billion Dream Centre in Shanghai; a Legoland in Nagoya, Japan; and Ferrari World Korea, an ultra-large theme park also near Seoul.
When these mega-projects open their doors around 2016, triggering other local initiatives along the way, Asia, by all accounts, will to emerge as the world's foremost leisure destination. But that Asia, unfortunately, won't include India, where the market is still uncertain, investor confidence is low, and the raging debate is about where to draw the poverty line.
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