Wanda’s bid to become the world's largest tourism entity continues with its chair, Wang Jianlin, announcing plans for a multi-billion dollar theme park and resort development on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Wanda, which is China’s largest property developer,
is aiming to surpass Disney as the world’s largest tourism enterprise by 2020. It hopes to welcome more than 200 million people to its worldwide attractions every year, with an annual tourism income in excess of CN¥100bn (US$16.1bn, €14.6bn, £10.3bn).
The developer is planning to achieve this with billions of dollars worth of investment, most recently seen at its new parks in
Xishuangbanna and
Wuhan. The group is now in negotiation with the State government to obtain land in the Coomera area of Queensland to build its latest development.
“Wanda in Australia has already acquired the biggest cinema company in the country and theme parks are one of the things we want to invest in in the future,” said Wanda Group general manager Xie Hong, speaking to
Gold Coast Bulletin.
“It is Wanda’s intention to set a theme park up on the Gold Coast but this major project is still under negotiation with the State government.”
The plans reportedly have local support, with MPs saying there is “an abundance of land in Coomera which lends itself to theme park development”. Wanda has previously made significant investment into Australia’s Gold Coast region and is also planning a number of major projects across Australia.
Speaking in August, Wang Jianlin said that in addition to the company’s ambitious ‘Wanda City’ plan, the conglomerate has also begun acquisitions of travel enterprises and tourism spots in an effort to build up major tourism belts abroad.
