With the continuous development of the economy and society, the income level and consumption ability of Chinese consumers have significantly improved, and their interest in theme parks continues to increase. Theme parks have become increasingly popular leisure and amusement destinations among the public. International leading theme park operators have entered the Chinese market. By the end of 2022, China has three international chain theme parks, namely, Disneyland in Shanghai and Hong Kong and Universal Studios in Beijing. At present, the scale of China's theme park market has ranked second in the world and will continue to maintain a growth trend. In this context, opportunities and challenges coexist in China's local theme parks, and there is an urgent need to continuously develop new products, enhance the amusement experience, and improve international competitiveness.

The current situation and problems of internationalization development of domestic theme parks in China

（1） The leading effect of the theme park industry is obvious, and the market competition is fierce

At present, there have been clusters of theme parks in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Bohai Rim in China. In every gathering area, there is a strong international brand theme park competing. Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland and Universal Studios Beijing lead the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Rim regions respectively (see Table 1).

表1 中国主题公园地区分布（部分）

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Table 1 Distribution of Theme Parks in China (Partial)

The leading effect of China's theme park industry is evident. In November 2022, the China Theme Park Research Institute, the Leisure Research Center of the School of Business Administration of East China Normal University, and the Leisure and Tourism Research Center of Shanghai Normal University jointly released the "2022 China Theme Park Competitiveness Evaluation Report" (the theme parks included in the evaluation report are those that opened before January 2021, with a sample of 70 theme parks, accounting for about 92.1% of the existing large and super large theme parks in China). The report established a comprehensive competitiveness evaluation index system for theme parks consisting of four primary indicators: location competitiveness, scale competitiveness, project influence, and market competitiveness, and 17 secondary indicators. The report will use the top ranked theme park as the full score criterion and assign points to other theme parks proportionally.

According to the report results, in the comprehensive competitiveness ranking, Shanghai Disneyland ranked first in 2022, while Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom and Beijing Happy Valley ranked second and third, with scores of 58.32 and 51.83, respectively. The fourth to tenth ranked in comprehensive competitiveness are Shanghai Happy Valley, Shenzhen Happy Valley, Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park, Shenzhen Window of the World, Wuhan Happy Valley, Chongqing Happy Valley, and Guangzhou Chimelong Happy World, with scores ranging from 41 to 45 (see Table 2). From this, it can be seen that Shanghai Disneyland is in an absolute leading position in terms of comprehensive competitiveness; Although China's domestic theme parks occupy the remaining nine out of the top ten, there is a significant gap compared to the first place Shanghai Disneyland.

表2 2022年中国主题公园综合竞争力得分排名（前十名）

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Table 2 Ranking of Comprehensive Competitiveness Scores of Chinese Theme Parks in 2022 (Top Ten)

（2） Insufficient attention to the internationalization development of theme parks in relevant policies

In 2009, the "Cultural Industry Revitalization Plan" passed by the State Council Executive Meeting clearly proposed to encourage the construction of theme parks, requiring the acceleration of the construction of theme parks with independent intellectual property rights, high technological content, and rich Chinese cultural characteristics. In 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Several Opinions on Regulating the Development of Theme Parks", encouraging theme parks to improve their technological and cultural content and planning and construction level. They proposed that theme park projects that meet the conditions can enjoy preferential policies related to encouraging the development of cultural and tourism industries in the country. Regarding the international development of theme parks, in 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Standardizing the Construction and Development of Theme Parks", which for the first time mentioned "actively drawing on foreign experience, strengthening independent innovation, focusing on brand building, actively cultivating theme park enterprises with rich cultural connotations and market influence", and "supporting theme park enterprises with conditions to" go global "and expand product and service exports". As shown in Table 3, since 2009, the focus of national policies on the development of theme parks has shifted from cultural characteristics, integration of culture and tourism, and cultural dissemination to brand building. The internationalization of theme parks was only mentioned for the first time in relevant policies in 2018, indicating that the internationalization concept of China's local theme parks started relatively late and the policy attention to theme park internationalization is far from enough.

表3 国家关于主题公园发展的政策汇总（部分）

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Table 3 Summary of National Policies on Theme Park Development (Part)

（3） The development model is limited, and the dependence on ticket economy is severe

The 2017 China Theme Park Development Report conducted a study on the profit models of theme parks abroad and found that the revenue structure of most theme parks abroad is ticket revenue accounting for 30%, shopping revenue accounting for 30%, and derivative and other revenue accounting for 40%. Unlike the profit model of foreign theme parks, the profit model of most theme parks in China is still in the stage of ticket economy, with more than 70% of the operating income coming from tickets. According to the 2022 China Theme Park Competitiveness Evaluation Report, in terms of tourist reception, based on a score of 100 for Shanghai Disneyland, the second ranked Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai and the third ranked Happy Valley in Beijing scored 55.50 and 40.02 respectively (see Table 4). In terms of revenue, based on the top ranked Shanghai Disneyland as the full score standard, the second ranked Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai scored only 18.16, while the third ranked Happy Valley in Beijing scored 13.22; The sum of revenue scores for local theme parks ranked second to tenth is 76.41% of Shanghai Disneyland's (see Table 5). This indicates that compared to Disneyland, the profitability of local theme parks lags far behind, reflecting issues such as lower average spending by visitors and a lack of consumer appeal in the services provided by the park to visitors.

表4 2021年中国主题公园游客接待量得分排名（前十名）

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Table 4 Ranking of Tourist Reception Scores for Chinese Theme Parks in 2021 (Top Ten)

表5 2021年中国主题公园营业收入得分排名（前十名）

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Table 5 Ranking of Revenue Scores for Chinese Theme Parks in 2021 (Top Ten)

（4） Lack of international IP image

IP is the core of theme parks and an important tool for enhancing their brand influence and recognition, as well as strengthening their sustained competitiveness. Excellent theme parks rely on well-known IP to gain public recognition and choice, for example, Disneyland and Universal Studios rely on internationally recognized IP to attract tourists from all over the world; Local theme park IPs in China are also flourishing, with some theme park groups using Chinese cultural elements to create IP images. For example, Songcheng Performing Arts in Zhejiang uses local legends such as the White Snake, the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai to create eternal love and Qiantang Xianxia Club IPs (see Table 6). Huayi Brothers, Bona Film and other film and media companies have also utilized their film and television production foundations to create their own IPs. However, the international influence of these IPs is very limited. For example, OCT Group has created three IPs: Jinxiu Zhonghua, Happy Valley, and Folk Village. However, these IPs are only limited to the brand itself and it is difficult to engage in secondary creation. Until today, OCT has not created an IP image similar to "Lingna Belle" or "Optimus Prime". Unlike local theme parks in China, international theme parks represented by Disney have rich IP images with creative and economic value, such as the popular "Duffy Family" series in recent years. This series of images can not only serve as dolls to enrich the park's content and bring wonderful experiences to tourists, but also develop rich peripheral products to attract tourists to consume, creating huge economic value while building brand image.

表6 主题公园集团IP资源列举

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Table 6 List of IP Resources of Theme Park Group

（5） Lack of international marketing concept

Currently, streaming media platforms have become an important battlefield for theme park marketing. The reading volume of topics on streaming media platforms also reflects the popularity of theme parks. This report compiles the topic reading volume of some theme parks on major streaming platforms in China (see Table 7).

表7 中国主要流媒体平台部分主题公园话题阅读量

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Table 7: Reading volume of theme park topics on major streaming media platforms in China

From Table 7, it can be seen that the topic reading volume of Shanghai Disneyland on most streaming platforms far exceeds that of other theme parks. Although Universal Studios Beijing will not open until September 2021, its topic reading volume is far more than that of Zhuhai Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, Guangzhou Chimelong Happy World, Beijing Happy Valley and Shanghai Happy Valley, which have been open for many years. Taking Tiktok as an example, there are 329 works in the official account of Shanghai Disneyland and 746 works in the official account of Shanghai Happy Valley. Although Shanghai Happy Valley has produced more works, the reading volume of related topics is still lower than that of Shanghai Disneyland, which is related to the UGC (User Generated Content) and PGC (Professional Generated Content) in the operation of streaming media platforms, which are authoritative and well produced content targeted by professional individuals or teams. Shanghai Disneyland has made full use of the UGC and PGC operations of the streaming media platform, and has successively launched the series of works of Disney Spring Day, Disney Spring Festival, Disney Christmas, Disney Halloween, and Wonderful Knowledge on the Tiktok platform, to create topics and attract tourists through carefully crafted short videos. Shanghai Happy Valley also operates its own official account on the Tiktok platform, but the quality of its 746 published works is uneven, and the topic classification is not clear enough. There are introductions about activities such as the Butterfly Festival and Huafu Festival launched by the amusement park, but only in simple forms of pictures and text. Whether it is UGC operation or PGC operation, Shanghai Happy Valley has not given enough attention.

In this era where "traffic" is becoming increasingly important, for the international operation of theme parks, it is particularly crucial to attract audience attention, open up their own popularity, and promote products and services on social media platforms. However, it is obvious that many local theme parks lack systematic operation and management experience, do not strictly control the content and quality of their works, and do not fully utilize the advantages of social media.

The Successful Experience of International Development of Two Theme Parks

With its strong IP, Disney held 12 seats in the top 25 global theme parks in 2018, far ahead of other theme park groups in terms of total number of visitors. From the experience of global theme park development, building IP is the core work of theme park internationalization. Disney's approach of building and operating IP image can provide experience reference for local theme parks in China.

In 2021, Disney successfully created the IP image of Lina Bell, an adventurous little fox character and a member of the Disney Duffy family. By utilizing product strategy, marketing strategy, and communication strategy, Disney has created tremendous economic value and influence with Lina Belle.

（1） Product Strategy

On September 29, 2021, the Lina Belle IP image was launched and its doll products were officially released at Shanghai Disneyland, with prices ranging from 200 to 500 yuan. For the most popular Lina Belle dolls, Disney strictly controls product quality, 100% restoring the starry blue eyes and fluffy tail of a pink plush fox, and even the shape and color of orchids on the ears. It is precisely the exquisite level of Disney dolls that sets them apart from pirated ones that once again defends Disney's IP copyright and makes the image of Lina Belle deeply ingrained among tourists. Since then, Disney has made full use of consumers' "stamp collecting" mentality to launch "New Year", "Winter", "Christmas", "Halloween", "Summer" and other Lingna Beier product styles based on the original image of Lingna Beier. These products are the same size and specification, only different in clothing and accessories, but it is this small change that attracts tourists to buy.

（2） Marketing Strategy

Hunger marketing has always been a marketing strategy adopted by Disney. When the image of Lina Belle was first released, the official website of Shanghai Disneyland opened an appointment channel in advance, but only a small number of dolls were provided. Within an hour, Lina Belle dolls were sold out, and the market in Chinese Mainland was out of stock, but Chinese consumers were still frantically snapping up. Shanghai Disneyland has further increased the IP value of Lingna Belle dolls by using hunger marketing to label them as "limited edition" or "out of print". In addition, Shanghai Disneyland fully markets the local label of Lina Beier's IP: Lina Beier is the first and only Disney doll image released for the first time in Chinese Mainland, which makes many tourists have a natural liking for it. Also, because Shanghai Disneyland is located in Chuansha Town, Pudong District, combined with the image of a little fox, Lingna Belle is called "Chuansha Daji" by netizens. Lingna Belle's title of "Chuansha Daji" has distinctive and down-to-earth features, and has instantly exploded on social media platforms. A large number of enthusiasts use Lina Belle emojis in their social media and chat.

（3） Communication strategy

During the operation of Lingna Belle IP, Shanghai Disneyland balances both online and offline dissemination. In the online channel, Shanghai Disneyland released promotional videos in advance. Lingna Belle went online 17 times a month and made popular microblog searches. In three months, there were 110 popular microblog searches, 500 million readers of # Lingna Belle # topic, and more than 100 million Tiktok topic words of the same name were broadcast. Lingna Belle also appeared in the influential Vogue magazine and became the first Disney doll to have a Vogue cover. In addition, Shanghai Disneyland invited stars, bloggers, and online celebrities to widely promote Lingna Belle, making its pictures, facial expression packs, short videos, and jokes spread all over Tiktok, Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other streaming media platforms. In offline channels, Shanghai Disneyland not only sells Lingna Belle series peripheral products, but also arranges dedicated personnel to play Lingna Belle and interact with tourists in the park. Shanghai Disneyland also gained attention for Lina Belle by interacting with existing IPs such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and other dolls. The actress of Lina Belle learns about tourists' preferences through repeated interactions with them, constantly improving and highlighting Lina Belle's character characteristics, gradually developing actions with personal characteristics such as jealousy, stomping feet, wagging tails, imitating squirrels, and drawing swords. Shanghai Disneyland has further promoted the dissemination of the image of Lina Belle by encouraging visitors to engage in secondary creation.

Disney has a mature IP industry chain. Prior to the emergence of Lina Belle, Disney had already launched the Duffy family series, including Duffy, Sherry May, Geradoni, Kechian, Ora Mira, and Stellar Dew (see Table 8). But before the appearance of Starry Dew, other images of the Duffy family did not reach a very popular level, and even the popularity of Kian and Ora did not reach the normal level of Disney images. However, the appearance of Starry Dew has attracted everyone's attention to the Duffy family. From 2018 to June 2021, Starry Dew, a themed product with a height equivalent to 119 Mount Everest, has been sold, leading the Duffy family into the public eye and accumulating a large number of fans. The popularity of Lina Belle is the result of Disney's years of carefully cultivating IP. When Lina Belle became popular, her interaction with other dolls in the Duffy family made consumers pay attention to the entire series, and the huge customer base made all Duffy family products sell well. It can be seen that the explosion of IP is not achieved overnight, but requires long-term accumulation.

表8 迪士尼达菲家族部分形象信息统计

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Table 8: Statistics of Partial Image Information of the Disney Family

Suggestions for the International Development of Three Chinese Local Theme Parks

In the fierce market competition, internationalization is a problem that China's local theme parks must consider and face for further development. On the one hand, China's local theme parks need to have an international vision and improve their own operation and management level to occupy a place in the competition with international chain theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios; On the other hand, in the long run, China's local theme parks have the conditions to root in traditional culture, explore local elements, create unique IPs, and enter the international market.

（1） Dig deep into the core of local culture and create a unique IP image

Our local theme parks can find innovative points from local culture, create IP images with Chinese characteristics, and attract domestic and foreign tourists. As a country with a splendid civilization development history of five thousand years, China's excellent traditional culture is undoubtedly the most important cultural resource for local theme park brands. Facing the extensive and profound Chinese traditional culture, local theme park operators should consider how to excavate and develop it in the Internet era, so that it can show brilliant cultural vitality and become a cultural symbol in the construction and dissemination of the park brand image. Excellent traditional Chinese culture has stood the test of time in its integration and collision with modern values, attracting tourists from home and abroad with its unique charm of Eastern culture. In addition to independently innovating IP resources, theme parks can also collaborate with well-known anime, movies, TV dramas, games, etc. to introduce IP images from film and television works, enhancing the visibility and attractiveness of theme parks. For example, Disney not only independently created many classic cartoon anime IPs, but also acquired well-known IPs such as the Hero series, Toy Story series, Star Wars series, etc. through the acquisition of Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, etc.

（2） Introduce advanced business concepts and provide high-quality tourist services

The operation of theme parks not only requires convenient geographical locations and high-level hardware and software facilities, but also requires advanced management concepts, which is exactly what China's local theme parks lack. Taking Disneyland as an example, its business philosophy is to convey happiness and strive to bring visitors into a dreamlike fairy tale world, which perfectly aligns with their original intention of playing. In addition, Disney has won the favor of tourists from all over the world with its high-quality visitor service. For example, staff give visitors a warm welcome, thoughtful greetings, and greetings; When talking to children, squat down and maintain parallel eye contact with them; Immediately address customer issues; wait. In order to internationalize and win the favor of tourists from all over the world, Chinese local theme parks must face up to their shortcomings in management and management concepts, and strive to provide high-quality services and amusement experiences for tourists.

（3） Utilize the advantages of media and make good use of social platforms

Chinese local theme parks should learn from the media marketing strategies of international theme parks, and make full use of social media platforms' UGC and PGC operations in both product promotion and IP image operation. On the one hand, hire a professional team to produce exquisite promotional videos and publish interesting and valuable content. Strictly monitor the works published on official accounts to ensure that their content is accurate and well crafted, avoiding situations such as low video clarity and inconsistencies between promotional copy and official information. On the other hand, actively interacting with tourists can increase their participation and loyalty. Make full use of the topic challenge function provided by the platform to increase your reading and discussion volume, while inviting opinion leaders to promote and publicize your related activities. You can also encourage platform users and tourists to create content related to the park through likes and comments. In addition, local theme parks can also cooperate with tourism, culture, sports and other related industries to increase publicity channels, enhance influence and visibility. In terms of IP operation, local theme parks can learn and draw on the experience of Shanghai Disneyland: promoting through online and offline channels, and utilizing media platforms to enhance IP awareness; Transforming tourists from viewers to content creators, encouraging more tourists to participate in the creation of IP image related topics and content.

（4） Expand profit channels and achieve diversified profit models

The key to maintaining the long-term vitality of theme parks lies in building a multi format industrial chain and establishing a multi-level profit system. The success of Disneyland lies in the coordinated development of horizontal and vertical multidimensional industries. Unlike internationally renowned theme parks such as Disneyland and Universal Studios, which have diversified profit models, the main revenue of local theme parks in China comes from tickets. Chinese local theme parks should learn from international theme parks, continuously optimize their profit models, and reduce their dependence on ticket economy by increasing other profit channels: providing tourists with better quality dining, entertainment, and shopping services; Enhance consumer attractiveness and increase the possibility of tourist consumption through cross-border operations and industrial linkage.