China named as key market for Merlin Entertainments

China will be one of two strategic growth markets for Merlin Entertainments in the coming decade, the company CEO Scott O'Neil told China Daily in a recent interview.

"There are two strategic growth markets that will anchor the growth of Merlin Entertainments over the next decade, and they are China and the United States," he said.

"The China market has everything you want for a global company. You have a business-friendly government, you have a growing middle class, you have increasing discretionary expense, and you have a market where people love theme parks," he added.

O'Neil pointed out that China's tourism numbers and the desire of its consumers to seek out fun activities following the lifting of pandemic control measures also makes the nation a key growth driver.

According to data by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, there were about 1.22 billion passenger trips within China in the first quarter of 2023, a surge of 46.5 percent year-on-year. Spending in the domestic tourism market also soared 69.5 percent from a year ago to 1.3 trillion yuan during the same period.

The upcoming five-day May Day holiday is expected to see a further pick-up in travel activity as searches for air tickets to domestic locations have surged more than 290 percent year-on-year as of April 20. The number of searches for tickets to foreign countries also recovered to the same level in 2019, according to Trip.com.

The world's second-largest visitor attraction operator by attendance, Merlin Entertainments currently operates 14 attractions in China. The company is currently budling three Legoland resorts in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Sichuan province. The Legoland Shanghai Resort is poised to become the company's biggest project in terms of size and scale.

According to the company, Legoland Shanghai Resort will contain touches of traditional Chinese culture, traditional water town elements, and Shanghai features, as well as offer immersive play experiences that would help families bond.

"China is a market that we'll bet on. We have already been betting on for a long time and will continue to be long-term players in one of the most important markets in the world," said O'Neil.