I can't be the only one scratching my head on this one. I think Universal is making the same mistake with Beijing that Disney made with Paris: basing it off economic data and ignoring common sense.
I will acknowledge Beijing has a huge population, gets lots of tourists, and is an international destination. However Beijing also has freezing winters (the climate about the same as Chicago - which if you've ever been there in the winter, is definitely not somewhere you want to be especially at a theme park). I've been looking at the weather the past few months and its been between 15-30 degrees farenheit every day. Also Beijing is very much a Chinese cultural destination: you go there to see Tianenmen Square, the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Summer Palace, etc. Not many international tourists are going to want to go to Universal Studios while in Beijing.
While the park may attract locals and Chinese tourists during the summer, I the place is going to be totally empty all winter and lose all that money they made during the summer. I mean if all their other major attractions are empty all winter why would Universal Studios be any different? Major destination theme parks operating costs are too high for that.
It's just a major head scratcher to me, why not build the park in Shanghai? I know the local government are partners with Disney but if the goal is to grow tourism I would think they'd be happy to have Universal as well.
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How big is the park supposed to be?
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An international tourist may not go to universal bejing. Given the other universal parks in the region I doubt even international tourists from Asia are considered a key market.
I would be interested to know what Beijing’s Chinese tourists figures are. It’s more difficult for a Chinese citizen to leave China than it is for the rest of us, and there are a lot of Chinese people.