The Future of Theme Parks in International Tourism

The theme park has several historical antecedents, including the ride-based amusement parks of early 20th century America and the garden parks of Europe. The birth of the modem theme park, however, is commonly recognized as occurring with the opening of Disneyland about 30 years ago. Economics Research Associates (ERA) has completed many assignments for the Walt Disney Company over the years, and, since Disneyland, theme parks have multiplied throughout the world. And they all bear the following primary characteristics：

(1) They have a family appeal;

(2) They contain one or more themed environments;

(3) They have some form of "ambient entertainment”，that is, strolling, musicians, performers, costumed characters and the like, who performs for

(4) They have a high investment level per unit of ride or show capacity;

(5) They have high standards of service and maintenance and cleanliness;

(6) They contain enough activities (entertainment content) to create an average visitor length of stay of typically 5 to 7 hours; and finally,

(7) They will usually, but not always, have a pay-one-price admission policy.

Recently, there have been variations from the formula. These include theme parks oriented around one theme or towards one market. This includes aquatic parks and children's parks. A second departure from the traditional theme park is indoor theme parks combined with retail shopping centers. The largest examples of these are West Edmonton Mall in Canada, Lotte World in Seoul and Mall of America in Minneapolis.

State of the Industry

The theme park industry has witnessed a fairly rapid international expansion in recent years. Growth has been focused mostly in Europe and Japan. It is instructive to compare industry development in the U.S. with where other world markets stand.

The U.S. industry has had about a 30-year growth to maturity. This was characterized by an inception period pioneered by Disney in the late 50s and early 60s, rapid growth period through the 70s, and maturity in the 80s in the 20th century. Europe and North Asia are currently in the rapid growth phase of their theme park industries. The developing countries are in the inception period. While the U.S. experience can not be directly translated to foreign markets, we can be reasonably assured that Europe, and North Asia will continue to have fairly strong growth over the next 10 years or so, and it will be 5 years or more before we see any significant growth in the developing countries.

Developing Trends

As we moved towards the year 2000, how will theme parks evolve as a component of international tourism. They will not blindly follow the U.S. model, but evolve new forms of attractions where tourism is a more important source of market support* From our perspective in analyzing development trends and proposed new parks, we see the following changes:

Themed to country/region

New parks will have stronger theming tied to the country or local region. Theme parks are increasingly becoming a symbol and showcase fbr regional pride, culture, and technological 

achievement. The danger her, of course, is that by being too serious about "cultural" tourism the parks can cease to be fun. We have to constantly counsel our clients that a theme park's prime objective is entertainment. This is the "sugar" that makes the learning and culture pill work.

Part of larger mixed-use destination projects

In the urban / suburban context, we now see theme parks and large scale attractions being designed into regional and specialty shopping complexes, mixed-use waterfront developments, and even some multi-use office buildings. In more rural settings, additional components often include destination resorts, bungalow parks, shopping / restaurant villages, and special events centers / trade expositions.

Greater visitor participation and interaction

New attractions are being designed to provide greater participant control and encourage interplay between the visitor and his environment. This is a natural outgrowth of both available technology and the demonstrated appeal of such involvement at places like the San Francisco Exploratorium. New thrill rides are being offered where the rider can individually control the experience and intensity of the ride. Future thematic concepts will be based more on participative activities (sports, music) that relate to the audience rather than comic book characterizations.

Use of simulation experiences and virtual reality

Perhaps one of the most exciting areas of development is in the area of simulation. Advances in technology have allowed attractions designers to realistically duplicate virtually any natural or special effects experience. By combining extremely high quality visual imagery with seats that are programmed to move with the action, visitors can realistically enjoy experiences that were previously unavailable in a theme park environment. The first highly popular example of this technology is the Star Tours attraction at Disneyland. However, new simulation presentation include river rafting in New Zealand, runaway sports cars in the Italian Alps, and intergalactic space races. These simulations are produced fbr a fraction of the cost of traditional attractions. The technology is also more flexible (you can change the experience by simply changing the software (film) rather them creating a new attraction), and more land efficient (a 45-seat simulator needs only about 300 square meters). A major challenge, however, will be to have the technology breakthrough and still maintain the thrill and spontaneity of perceived personal risk and group interaction.

Greater water orientation

A greater use of water related activities, attractions and landscaping is occurring in theme park

design as well as in nearly all forms of real estate development. Several parks (Ocean Park, Hong Kong; Dreamland, Australia; Walibi, Belgium) combine an active water park with more traditional themed rides and amusements. Performance parks such as Sea World are still popular but future expansion will be limited by restrictions on capturing and displaying aquatic mammals. We see a continuing acceptance of new, high technology aquariums using acrylic tunnel concepts which combine a scuba diver's view of the undersea world with a ride experience. Some of these will be developed in the open ocean.

Design for all-weather operation / artiHcial environments

New theme parks are designed to have more covered attractions as well as climate controlled walkways and rest areas. This allows for shorter amortization of high capital investment and fixed cost components. New theme parks are being designed with a greater degree of weather protection in order to enable a longer operating season and longer operating hours per day.

When one looks ahead at the larger number of tourists who are expected to travel to new destinations (particularly within the Asia-Pacific region), there will be increasing pressure on sensitive environmental and social resources at the destination. A new role for theme parks is emerging. By their nature, they are designed to handle large numbers of people within a controlled space and with manageable impacts. In the future they will embody a greater educational function to introduce, interpret, and sensitize the overseas tourist to the environment and to the host community and its values. They can become a new gateway for host country tourism. Rather than being viewed as a stand alone attraction, theme parks will become part of a balanced leisure product and tourism system that contributes to the economic development, employment, and resource preservation of an entire region.