An aerial photo shows the facilities at the newly opened theme park Hefei Wanda Culture Tourism City in Hefei, Anhui Province. (Photo : Getty Images)
Industry insiders expect the theme park competition between Walt Disney Co. and Wanda Group to heighten after a former senior executive of Disneyland Hong Kong has been reported to be joining its rival, Wanda, China Daily reported.
The report said that Andrew Kam, a former managing director of Disneyland Hong Kong, is set to join Wanda as vice-president of Wanda Culture Industry Group and president of Wanda Themed Entertainment Co Ltd.
According to the report, Kam will oversee the operation of all Wanda theme parks as well as Wanda City projects, which include hotels, shopping malls, theaters, an integrated entertainment center of theme parks and residential apartments.
Kam resigned from Disneyland Hong Kong in March due to "personal reasons," after the theme park lost about HK$148 million ($18.9 million) last year, the company's first yearly deficit since 2011.
Ben Cavender, principal of China Market Research Group, said that Kam's hiring by Wanda will help the company learn about Disney's business strategy and insights.
The first Wanda City project was opened by the company in May, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. The second project opened four months later in Hefei, Anhui Province. The projects were the start of the company's grand plan to build 15 similar projects across the country by 2020.
More than 17,000 people visited the two projects during the week-long National Day holiday, Wanda said, but the Shanghai government statistics showed that the Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone, where Shanghai Disneyland is located, also got visitors.
According to Cavender, Wanda must have a strong team and long-term strategy to earn profits since planning and developing a business is a complex progress.
On the other hand, He Jianlin, director of the tourism management department at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that Wanda needs further improvement on its soft power to stand out from its competitors.
Several local and international investors have been lured by the growing theme park market in China, the report said.
