Universal Beijing Resort to transform market

Visitors to the planned Universal Beijing Resort－currently under construction and scheduled to open in May next year－will be able to see the world's first dedicated Transformers franchise attraction featuring an expanded storyline and an art background highlighted with Chinese cultural and historical elements.

The site－Transformers Metro-base－involves an over 750-million-year-old Titan on a mission to find Energon on Earth as he forms an alliance with Earthlings at N.E.S.T.Beijing.

In the new story, visitors to the resort in eastern Beijing's Tongzhou district will be able to become N.E.S.T. Beijing Agents, wear gear, eat and drink Cybertronian offerings and partner up to "save" the world.

Sabrina Han, creative coordinator for the Transformers Metrobase of UBR, said international designers of the resort have carefully studied Chinese culture, such as flying fairies, armillary spheres and water ink paintings, while skillfully integrating the collective inspiration by working closely with local counterparts during the design process to bridge multicultural dialogue.

"We need to tell a famous Western or even alien story of Transformers in a Chinese context, which means we need to think about how we tell the story in a way that Chinese guests will understand and prefer," Han said.

In storytelling techniques, how to add Chinese humor, pop culture and Chinese creative thinking mindset elements, and not merely injecting Chinese style show set designs into the equation, matter even more.

"The script is replete with lots of Chinese humor the characters will need to deliver," she added.

"This is a story of designers of different cultures who are thinking and working together to collaborate, impact and co-create," said John Gentile, senior director and executive producer of UBR.

Universal Beijing Resort recently released details on multiple entertainment experiences available for guests, including a few iconic landmarks, rides and shows, in the seven themed areas. The seven lands are Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness, Transformers Metrobase, Minion Land, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic World Isla Nublar, Hollywood and Waterworld.

Tom Mehrmann, president and general manager of UBR, said the resort is on schedule to greet the general public during the planned soft opening in spring 2021, equipped with digitally advanced technologies to help check temperatures with contactless equipment and other safety measures in place. The ultimate objective is to create a blockbuster-sized fun experience for guests in China.

"We and our local partners, including Beijing Tourism Group, are creating one of the most magnificent theme park destinations ever built－right here in Beijing," said Mehrmann. "It is the fruit of co-creation, merging Universal's decades of global theme park experience with our partner's deep insights on China."

Universal Beijing Resort is developed, constructed and operated by Beijing International Resort Co Ltd, a joint venture 70-percent owned by Beijing Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment Co Ltd, and 30-percent owned by Universal Parks& Resorts, a business unit of Comcast NBCUniversal.

Mehrmann said the preparations－a global effort－h(huán)ave allowed them to keep construction on schedule. "We are feeling very confident that we will be opening in 2021," he said. "Everything is on a very good path."

Featuring the Universal Studios Beijing theme park, Universal City-Walk Beijing and two hotels, the resort involves over 100,000 workers, more than 500 designers and artists and in excess of 500 suppliers and partners.

The resort is digitally advanced and innovative and the technology allowing engagement with visitors is evolving, he said. In addition to being one of the most advanced 5G-enabled resorts across the country, Universal Beijing Resort has been working with Alibaba and Tencent－two leading providers of internet ecosystems－to harness advanced technology from different channels and platforms.

One of the unique features is facial recognition technology, which could become even more important in the age of a contactless entry experience, enabling guests to preregister. Other technology will also be implemented to count the number of visitors to manage capacity.

Technology is also available to send messages to guests' mobile phones to inform of wait times for various attractions to better distribute foot traffic. Visitors can also create their own itinerary based on the time they have and the experiences they wish to enjoy.

"We can create a safe and hygienic environment by using technology and applying it to the park," Mehrmann said. "These things will let us continue to be agile and responsive to guest needs, which is going to be key. Our goal is to put in agile and evolving software that evolves with the guest and with technology advances in the country."

He added: "With the development of technology and the booming domestic tourism market that in the past Golden Week saw 637 million visits around China in eight days, we believe our park is coming at a very good time and we feel confident in the future."

Domestic tourism revenue during the recently concluded extended Golden Week holiday reached 467 billion yuan ($70.6 billion), a recovery of 69.9 percent year-on-year. According to the China Tourism Academy, domestic tourism consumption confidence has greatly recovered and development potential has been fully unleashed, due to better control of the epidemic.

China's growth in the leisure sector is a story of supply and demand. It involves a large population with increasing income and desire for travel and leisure, across a large land mass with ever-better transportation infrastructure, said TEA/AECOM 2019 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report.

The report, released in July, said last year that Asian operators were dominated by OCT, Chimelong, and Fantawild, which all reported high single-or double-digit increases. Among them, in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom ascended to the rank of top-attended theme park in China. Its 11.7 million visits in 2019, reflecting an 8.4 percent increase from the year earlier. Shanghai Disney Resort, which reopened in early May, released in August a series of measures to relax ticketing regulations as visitor capacity numbers at tourist sites were raised after an improved COVID-19 situation in the country.

Globally, the general sentiment is that with new health and safety measures, many attractions will be able to get back to business this year. Some are predicting 30 percent to 50 percent of normal business volume for the coming months, and surveys show positive demand from the market, according to the TEA/AECOM report.

New theme parks are in the pipeline, banking on rising domestic tourism demand in China.

Merlin Entertainments, a global leader in location-based entertainment with brands including Legoland, Madame Tussauds and the Dungeons, announced on Nov 6 that it has entered an agreement with the Shanghai Jinshan district government, CMC Inc and KIRKBI to develop a Legoland Resort in Shanghai, which is scheduled to open in 2024.

The total project investment is expected to be around $550 million. Construction of the project is planned to begin next year.

The resort in Shanghai will be one of the largest Legoland resorts in the world, including a 250-room fully themed hotel.

Legoland Shanghai will be located in Jinshan district in southwestern Shanghai. It is expected to attract potential visitors from the enlarged region comprising Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, which has an estimated population of 220 million.

China is a focus of significant development and investment by Merlin. Since the start of 2018, the company has opened five new attractions, including the world's first Peppa Pig World of Play in Shanghai and Little Big City Beijing.