According to the August 4th edition of the Hainan Daily newspaper, Mr. Wei Liucheng,secretary of the Hainan Provincial CPC Committee, said that from the list of near-future tasks, the first thing is to quickly approve the three theme parks in Sanya, Lingshui and Wenchang as well as those of other cities and counties along with the Qionghai International Tourism Island Development Experimental Zone. These should be under construction by the end of this year or early next year such that practical results are seen within two to three years.
Today, Hainan Province is putting its efforts into the Sanya Ocean World Theme Park, the Lingshui Li'an Harbor Ocean Theme Park and the Wenchang Aerospace Theme Park.
Sanya Ocean World Theme Park the "Dream Everbright Ocean City",project covers about 1,300 Chinese acres of land located in the southern part of Haitang Bay. Focused on an ocean theme, all effort in the construction of a set of entertainment facilities covering ocean viewing, marine science and ocean leisure vacation to form a comprehensive large scale, "Dream Everbright Ocean City" where total investment will reach 5 billion RMB.
"Dream Everbright Ocean City" theme park will include construction of an underwater themed area, an ocean carnival, an ocean theatre, seafood restaurants, a tropical flower garden and waterpark as well as other projects.
The Lingshui Li'an Ocean Harbor Theme Park project plans to construct an "Ocean Paradise", a sunshine beach and a high and new technology industrial park. Pre-project planning is already underway with the Ocean Paradise area to include a performance hall, tropical underwater world, Typhoon Lagoon, water park, marine theater as well as mobile performance and other activities.
The Ocean Park will be divided into an amusement park, an all-round resort hotel area and a logistics service area. Currently the area plan has been submitted for preliminary assessment of this substantive project which is expected to start this year.
Basic planning and design of the Wenchang Aerospace Theme Park was completed in November 2009. The theme park currently has a complete detailed plan, appraised by experts who are actively coordinating the construction site. It is understood that the space theme park's first phase covers about 6,100 Chinese acres, divided into a space simulator, space museum making up part of five major functional areas along with sightseeing and tourism covering space science as a whole.
According to recommendations by the Haikou Tourism Development Commission, Haikou plans to build a World Film Expo Theme Park, a new Hainan Tropical Wildlife & Botanical Area and improve the Haikou Leiqiong World Geological Park and the Dong Zhai Gang Wetland Park to become the four major theme parks of the city.
The chosen site for the World Film Expo Theme Park is at the junction of the Beltway and the Eastern Expressway to the south-east of Haikou and will have a planned land area of between 6,000 and 10,000 Chinese acres. The attraction will feature a digital animation themed area as well as volcano and water movies themed area as part of ten major areas.
Haikou Municipal Government has now signed a framework construction agreement with the Chang-Film Group which is responsible for specific construction details. Construction planning is in progress for the other three parks which will be published at the end of this year.
EXPERTS GIVE THEIR ADVICE ON HAINAN'S NEW AGED THEME PARKS
Mr. Song Ding, Director of the Shenzhen Institute for Tourism Development and Real Estate Research center, said Hainan can develop appropriate theme parks based on its own market demand and resources. These developments should focus on the most local characteristics of seaside themed culture. Their source of customer support and scale are also important factors to consider.
Chief Designer of Hainan Provincial Construction Department of Housing and Urban Planning Mr. Song Yi has written that the development of Hainan theme parks must take into account changes in development concepts and provide a comprehensive analysis of development conditions to prevent projects falling behind other identical ones. Theme parks should pursue the goals of interaction between scenic attractions, tourists with investment diversity and quality tourism products.
Mr. Peng, Director of the Tourism Planning Office of the Hainan Provincial Tourism Commission said the economic effects of theme park construction on the surrounding environment must be fully understood and monitored.
