Wanda City: Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group yesterday unveiled plans for its second multi-billion-dollar development project in a week, underlining its ambitions to topple the Walt Disney Company as the world’s largest tourism company by the end of the decade. The Beijing-based conglomerate has signed an agreement with the local authorities in Shaanxi to invest $15bn in the construction of Wanda City park and 19 shopping malls in the province’s capital of Xi’an, home to the famous terracotta army.
“[The construction] will bring modern tourism experiences to the ancient city, promoting the upgrading of the city’s tourism industry,” the company said in a statement, adding that the shopping malls would promote commercial development in rural areas. The complex is also likely to host international sporting events like the Ironman triathlon competition, which Wanda acquired for US$650m last August.
Wanda has earmarked over US$60bn for theme parks in China, banking on rising incomes to drive domestic tourism and plans to have opened 15 Wanda City projects across China by 2020 amid rising competition from overseas.
The $5.5 Shanghai Disneyland, which opened in June, attracted four million visitors in its first four months and the company expects it to be close to breaking even in its first full year of operations.
Wang unveils plans for another Wanda City as battle with Disney heats up
Source: Bloomberg