Wednesday 11 November 2015

Potential New Gold Coast Theme Park

News broke today that the Chinese company the Wanda Group is working with the Queensland Government on attaining land for a brand new Theme Park at Cookers on the Gold Coast! This is huge news, as this has enough potential to actually happen.

The news was broken by the Gold Coast Bulletin, who spoke to the General Manager Xie Hong, who disclosed that project is still in negotiations with the State Government. Mr Xie met with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk when she was in Beijing in October, and Tourism Minister Kate Jones will fly to Yunnan next week to visit the Wanda Xishuangbanna International Resort.

Never one to underestimate, News.com.au has republished the same article from the Gold Coast Bulletin under the headline, 'Is Australia about to get a Disneyland?'. While this is an exciting development, it is far to early to make such grandiose claims. There was also a write up of the story published in bmag.

What do we know about the Wanda Group? We know that they opened a brand new Theme Park and resort in Yunnan province, China, in September this year. We also know that spent US$2.5 Billion on that complex. We know that they plan on becoming the World's largest travel company. You can read more about the construction of their current projects on the ThemeParx forums. We know the Wanda Group is happy to invest in Australia, having bought the Hoyts cinema chain in June this year. They have also invested directly in the Gold Coast, having a 55% stake in the Jewel Hotel and apartment complex, as well as supporting Jetstar running direct flights to the Gold Coast from Wuhan.  Add this to the visits from senior state government figures, and this is definitely a genuine prospect.

Let's hope that Australia's Wandaland is more successful than Australia's Wonderland. We will follow any developments with this project over he next few months, and keep you informed.

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