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New Sydney theme park a boost for operator

AAPTue, Feb 18, 2014 9:19 PM AEDT

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Sydney's Wet'n'Wild theme park made a profit of almost $6 million in its first few weeks of operation.

More than 160,000 season passes were sold before its opening on December 12, generating $12.5 million in revenue for the park's operator, Village Roadshow.

Attendances have also exceeded the company's expectations, with more than 400,000 passing through the gates of the western Sydney water park up to the end of January.

Village Roadshow's half year accounts show the theme park made pre-tax profit of $5.8 million in the six months to December 31.

But $5.5 million in pre-opening costs, plus another $3 million in spending on a new marketing campaign for Gold Coast's theme parks, contributed to a 46 per cent fall in the company's half year profit.

Village Roadshow made a profit of $18 million in the six months to December 31, down from $33.5 million in the same period a year earlier.

With the benefit of earnings from Wet'n'Wild Sydney in the second half of the financial year, the company expects its full year profit to be slightly higher than the previous year's $50.9 million.

Co-chief executive Robert Kirby said the early success of Wet'n'Wild also gave Village Roadshow more confidence in its plans to build and manage theme parks throughout Asia.

"The opening of Wet'n'Wild Sydney has been a huge success and will pave the way to our future growth prospects in China and South East Asia, demonstrating we have the skills and ability to not only manage, but also build, worldclass theme and water parks," he said in a statement.

Village Roadshow also owns Wet'n'Wild parks on the Gold Coast and in the US, cinemas in Australia, Singapore and the US, and film distribution and production businesses.

Its shares were down 19 cents, or 2.6 per cent, at $7.16 at 1340 AEDT.

Chinese tourists, lured by beaches and theme parks, are also buying real estate

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-deal-magazine/chinese-tourists-lured-by-beaches-and-theme-parks-are-also-buying-real-estate/story-e6frgabx-1226832598939#

NICHOLAS Liu came to the Gold Coast just over a decade ago from Beijing when Chinese tourism to Australia was in its early days. He liked the area so much he decided to stay and three years ago set up his own company, Australian Premium Holidays.

Now with Chinas rising wealth, the falling Australian dollar and increasing number of flights from China to Queensland, he is riding the boom in tourists from his homeland.

China is now the most lucrative source of foreign tourist revenue for Australia, bringing in $4.5 billion in the year to last March. And the Gold Coast with its combination of sun, sandy beaches, theme parks, wildlife, good food and relaxed culture, and a handy casino, is one of the fastest-growing destinations in the country.

In the 12 months to the end of September, the number of tourists from China to the Gold Coast jumped by more than 36 per cent to more than 202,000 - double the growth rate for the whole of Australia, according to figures supplied by Tourism Research Australia.

Chinese tourists are now the largest single source of overseas visitors to the Gold Coast, Australias sixth-largest city, their increasing interest helping to turn around the regions tourism business. The rapid growth saw total visitors from mainland China to the region bypass those from New Zealand, which now supplies 181,000 tourists a year, and easily outstrip the falling market from Japan of only 56,000 a year. The increase in numbers translated into an extra 195,000 visitor nights over the year from China alone.

The market has become stronger because most Chinese clients are willing to go overseas for travel, says Liu, who worked in the travel industry in China for a decade before moving to Australia in 2003 with a Chinese travel agent.

Australia is a really popular destination for the Chinese market due to its Western culture, and Barrier Reef, some unique animals and the [Sydney] Opera House. They love the Gold Coast as most of the tourists live in the hinterland of China and they love the ocean and the beach. The Gold Coast has lovely beaches, good weather, friendly local people and it is suitable for Chinese visitors.

A combination of a marketing push and increased flights by airlines such as Malaysia-based AirAsia X, Singapore-based Scoot to the Gold Coast and China Southern Airlines into Brisbane has helped boost the numbers.

Were on a roll now, says Martin Winter, chief executive of Gold Coast Tourism. It was pretty rough when the GFC hit domestic tourism, then the strong Aussie dollar hit our international business and we had severe weather events in our peak summer seasons in 2011 and 2012. But in the past two years, weve turned the business around and our overall international visitor arrivals and international visitor spend are both up 9 per cent in 2013.

With visitors from China now more than four times the number who were coming in 2003, when Liu moved to Australia, Gold Coast Tourism is prioritising its international marketing activities to focus on China and Southeast Asia. The organisation set up its own office in Shanghai in 2009 and operates throughout China, leveraging the efforts of Tourism Australia and Tourism Queensland.

The VisitGoldCoast China page on Weibo (a hybrid Facebook/Twitter site) has attracted well over half a million Gold Coast followers in just over six months. In June, more than 300 of Chinas top travel agents who specialise in selling Australia will converge on the Gold Coast for the first Corroboree Greater China, hosted by Tourism Australia.

The beautiful Gold Coast ticks all the boxes for what Chinese visitors are looking for in an Australian holiday, says Queenslands Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Small Business and the Commonwealth Games, Jann Stuckey. She described the Corroboree as a tremendous forum for tourism businesses to build relationships with Chinese travel agents and convert the growing demand for our tourism experiences into bookings.

The Gold Coast is also benefiting from the move by Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines to introduce daily flights to Brisbane from last November. The airline, one of the largest in the world, began flying into Brisbane in November 2010 with a service of three times a week.

We see great potential for the Gold Coast from our additional services using new Airbus A330-200s, says the airlines regional general manager Australia/New Zealand, Henry He.

Although we fly into Brisbane, a very large percentage of our passengers will be on tours featuring the [Gold] Coast. We expect to carry more than 59,000 Chinese tourists into Brisbane this year. These will be not only from Guangdong Province, but from our feeder network covering 150 cities in China. The potential is enormous, says He.

The Gold Coast also received several charter flights during the all-important Chinese New Year holiday period last month and earlier this month, mainly out of southern China.

Winter points out that the increase in tourism from Asia is broader than just China. Weve enjoyed double-digit growth from most Asian markets over the past couple of years, especially since AirAsia X started flying from Kuala Lumpur into the Gold Coast Airport in November 2007 and Scoot, a Singapore Airlines-backed carrier commenced flights over a year ago.

AirAsia Xs head of international marketing, Stuart Myerscough, says the airline has carried more than 300,000 Asian visitors to the Gold Coast since it started, contributing more than

$800 million to the citys economy. The Malaysia-based airline is also another source of visitors from mainland China, and these numbers are expected to increase. China is home to a burgeoning middle class who are hungry for travel and our Fly-Thru service makes it easy for Chinese and other Asian visitors to access the Gold Coast via KL, says Myerscough. Currently we serve 12 cities in China plus Hong Kong and Macau and we are looking to expand our network further into China.

AirAsia X has marketing teams in China who work with Tourism Queensland and Gold Coast Tourism to promote the city, using print and digital media, including Weibo. Similar marketing strategies are being implemented by Scoot, whose feeder network into Singapore includes four Chinese cities as well as Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Chief executive of Scoot, New Zealand-born Campbell Wilson, says the Singapore-based low-cost airline carried close to 49,000 international visitors to Australia in its first year of operation. While more than 70 per cent were Singaporeans, he says the potential is clearly there to carry more tourists feeding through from our network, especially in China, as it expands.

The former Singapore Airlines executive estimated that Scoot contributed more than $100m to Queensland in visitor expenditure in its first year of operation, a figure expected to increase given the airlines decision to boost flight frequency into Coolangatta from five to six a week over the summer peak season.

The Gold Coast, which once wooed exchange-rate-rich Japanese tourists, has also adapted to the new source of supply. Nicholas Liu says much has changed since he first visited the area back in 1998, when he saw no Chinese signs. Now you can see Chinese signs everywhere - in the airports and the restaurants and the theme parks. It is very helpful for Chinese tourists, he says.

His business relies on relationships with more than 20 wholesale agents in China but he sees potential for more online sales to individual travellers, families and investors, who will like what they see, particularly the Gold Coast lifestyle. In his view, theres a need to offer better tour products and better service to meet the needs and expectations of a rising and more affluent middle class ... Chinese people will become more demanding as the market matures from group travel to FIT [foreign individual travel].

He believes this trend to the FIT market - individuals including families, who typically stay longer and spend more than groups - has the potential to generate all-important word-of-mouth recommendations among the increasingly affluent and adventurous Chinese.

But is the Gold Coast up to the challenge? Will it meet these expectations sufficiently to have the desired long-term effect? Or, after a few bountiful years, will the Chinese move on to other, sexier destinations, leaving tour operators such as Liu with an unsustainable business model? Questions have been asked whether the Gold Coast Airport will be adequate to handle the expected increase in traffic. Currently there is a small Customs, immigration and quarantine area, but this would need to be expanded if there were a substantial increase in overseas arrivals. However, the main problem is the lack of an instrument landing system that would allow all-weather operations at Australias sixth-largest airport in passenger traffic. At the moment, some incoming flights have to be diverted to Brisbane in bad weather, causing enormous disruption. Other shortcomings are the absence of air bridges or even covered stairways. These are now basic facilities in regional airports around Asia, and tourists arriving in Australia for the first time may find a welcome in the pouring rain less than impressive.

Chief executive of the Gold Coast Airport Paul Donovan says the airport is exploring its options to expand the international arrival and departure areas, with the aim of having the project complete and operational in readiness for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Donovan says the airport has employed three Chinese liaison officers who speak fluent Mandarin and have an understanding of Cantonese to assist visitors from China.

These staff members help passengers with interpreting questions from immigration, Customs and quarantine staff and explain the Tourist Refund Scheme rules to departing international passengers, he says. They also provide information on transport options, tourist attractions and assist tour leaders and airline staff at check-in.

As well as recreational tourism, theres another small but important segment of the international market that Gold Coast business interests are focusing on. Its sometimes called look-see tourism, describing foreign nationals who arrive for a holiday, often with families in tow and with clear intentions to check out the southeast Queensland region for prospective immigration, education and investment purposes. The Chinese are now very active in this area, particularly in property.

Real estate agents Julia Kuo and Sam Guo are business partners working through the Ray White franchise system. Kuo, originally from Taiwan, and Guo, from Chengdu, are among a growing number of realtors specialising in the Chinese market as well as selling to other prospective Asian investors. Their outstanding success rate as measured by property sales has become an industry talking point. Their sales topped a healthy $58.4m in the 12 months to last November, an impressive figure given the size of the Gold Coast market and that it is from just two agents working together.

When we started in this business five years ago, we saw the potential for the Asian market, and particularly the mainland Chinese, looking for safe family investments and good education for their children, Guo says. They tend to think long term and arent too worried about short-term ups and downs in property values. Moreover, the Gold Coast lifestyle has a definite appeal, especially if you come from a crowded industrial environment.

Kuo tells the story of a Chinese woman who saw a Gold Coast property on a website, rang her from China and made an offer $200,000 above the reserve price. The sale was concluded the next day.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is excited. Im on a mission to entice Chinese tourists and investors to the Gold Coast, he says. The key point I would make to potential Chinese visitors and investors is this - the Gold Coast is open for business and we welcome foreign investment and participation in long-term infrastructure projects. There is the political will to facilitate foreign investment and provide certainty for those who partner with the city.

A further planned comfort point for Chinese tourists to the Gold Coast is the establishment of Chinatown precinct in Southport. This development is about forging greater friendship with our Asian neighbours and continuing the cultural exchange between our countries, says Tate. He predicts the Chinatown precinct will bring a sense of home and community to our Asian residents and international students.

As always, there are potential downsides to relying on a single market for growth. In the case of China, optimistic forecasts may be tempered by new Chinese government laws prohibiting the sale of so called shopping tours, which have so far been popular with group tourists.

Traditionally these products have been sold very cheaply, usually at a loss, with the revenue to the operator being made up by shopping commissions from exclusive outlets. If this practice is abolished, it will undoubtedly hit visitor numbers in the short term although, conversely, per capita visitor spending may go up.

John Chan, international marketing manager of Gold Coast Tourism, believes that after some initial impact the growth trend will rebound and continue unabated even if this practice is abolished. Chan also points out that under the new Chinese administration in Beijing, there has also been a crackdown on study tours and other practices such as trade show attendances by officials, which could slow this sector, at least for a time. But along with Nicholas Liu, Chan sees more potential, long term, in the higher spending family and individual sector.

In short, theres every reason to believe that for the foreseeable future, the Gold Coast will be one of the major beneficiaries of outbound Chinese tourism which its own government expects to increase by up to 20 per cent this year. The very name Gold Coast in Mandarin has all the positive attributes any destination could wish for.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/village-going-wetnwild-all-over-china/story-fn91v9q3-1226859593547#

Village going Wet'n'Wild all over China

THE AUSTRALIAN

MARCH 20, 201412:00AM

VILLAGE Roadshow is ramping up its international expansion plans, eyeing up to nine new sites in China and Malaysia for its theme park business and trebling the number of Gold Class cinema complexes in the US.

After last year agreeing to build and operate its first Chinese theme park on an island known as the "Hawaii of China" in the South China Sea, Village executive chairman Robert Kirby said the company was assessing six new prospective sites in China and three in Malaysia.

"We are moving into the phase now with the development and government people who are putting these projects together, they are starting to engage in detailed research and assessment of the sites," Mr Kirby told The Australian.

"We are looking at sites in Beijing, Shanghai, down south in Guangdong -- which includes the Shenzhen area -- and into other areas of China where there is population and tourism."

Village will host two delegations of Chinese investors in Australia over the next fortnight -- one from central China and one from Guangdong -- to tour its local theme park properties.

Village last year signed a deal with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Guangzhou R&F Properties to build $550 million versions of Gold Coast theme parks Sea World and Wet'n'Wild on Hainan Island off the coast of Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula.

Village is the lead consultant in the design team developing the park and will be the exclusive operator of both Hainan R&F Ocean Paradise and Hainan Wet'n'Wild for at least the next 20 years, but will hold no economic interest in the site.

Mr Kirby said the Hainan Island development was progressing well and was on track to open in the first half of next year.

The international expansion of the theme park business is expected to see it make up as much as 60 per cent of Village's earnings in the coming years, up from the current level of just below 50 per cent.

Village said last month that the new Wet'n'Wild theme park in Sydney made a profit of almost $6m in its first few weeks of operation before the group's December 31 half-year balance date despite a troubled opening.

Delays in construction meant Village was unable to stage a "soft opening" for the park, which led to problems with ticketing, food and beverage facilities and transport arrangements at the site in western Sydney.

The nation's first ever music festival at a water theme park, planned for the site on New Year's Eve, was also cancelled at the last moment because of health and safety concerns, angering thousands of people who had bought tickets.

"It is meeting expectations despite a bumpy start. For the coming season it will be immaculate," Village Roadshow managing director Graham Burke said of the park.

"We got the people to come but the computer systems didn't work, the food offering wasn't quite there . . . The problems are ironed out now."

Village's half-year net profit of $18m, down from $33.5m in the same period last year, was hit by $5.5m in pre-opening costs on the Sydney theme park and $3m on a new marketing campaign for its Gold Coast theme parks. Mr Kirby said there was potential for expansion of all of the Australian parks in the future.

"In Sydney we are not using all the land so there is potential for expansion there," Mr Kirby said.

"Either the offering as it is or even another smaller park offering. We will consider that into the future.

"In Queensland we still have 300-odd acres (120ha) on that Gold Coast Highway. We have a lot of flexibility there."

Mr Burke also said a Village theme park in Perth was "something that could be on the radar screen".

In the US, Village is ramping up the rollout of its IPic Gold Class cinema concept in several states after it outperformed trading expectations in the December half.

IPic cinemas at Westwood in Los Angeles will open in May, followed by Pike and Rose in Maryland in November.

Negotiations are also under way for additional sites including New York and Houston.

Village has a 30 per cent interest in the IPic Gold Class US venture, which offers stand-alone luxury cinemas that are not linked to normal cinema complexes as Gold Class theatres are here.

Another key investor in the venture is the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension fund.

"With the equity that is in place now, the cashflow that is coming from the operations, and the commitment from the RSA, it will give us the ability to do up to 30 sites over the next three to five years," Mr Kirby said.

While the venture remained in a loss making position after interest and depreciation charges despite being cashflow positive in the December half, Mr Burke said: "This business, when it reaches a critical mass of sites and settles down, is going to be a very good cash producer."

Village Roadshow is now a member of the ASX 200 index following a strong share price surge over the past year and after the decision of Mr Burke and Mr Kirby and key shareholder Village Roadshow to sell down their collective stakes in the group by 7 per last May which increased the free float.

Mr Kirby said the challenge for the future was the company keeping its focus, revealing it had recently been offered a transformational strategic opportunity which it had decided against pursuing.

"For me it is ensuring we keep a composition in terms of our opportunities," Mr Kirby said.

"Every single week we are dealing with opportunities, having to either fend them off or see where they integrate with what we are doing right now.

"We considered a serious new opportunity in the entertainment business, but we said no. In the end it wasn't a question of money -- it was a question of people and focus.

"The biggest worry I have for the future is to ensure we are not tempted outside the focus of our existing businesses."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/west/wetnwild-sydney-to-host-massive-new-years-eve-festival/story-fngr8i5s-1226743793652

Dance, swim and slide your way into 2014 when Wet'n'Wild Sydney hosts One Cube Entertainment's NYE Festival.

Tickets are on sale for the inaugural dance music festival, which will kick off at 4pm on New Year's Eve with the beats pumping until the early hours of next year.

An images of the Aqua racer ride at Wet 'N' Wild water parks around the world similar to those being built at the new Wet 'N' Wild, Prospect. Picture: WetnWildSource:Supplied

The line-up features 18 headline acts and more than 30 support artists across five separate arenas.

Some of the big names on show include Will Sparks, Yolanda Be Cool, Uberjack'd, Faydee and international acts Gtronic, Haezer and F.O.O.L.

"Never before have we had the opportunity to offer such an event to Sydney," aOne Cube Entertainment spokesperson said.

Andrew Stanley and Matt Handley of Aussie dance duo Yolanda Be Cool, who will headline NYE Festival.Source:News Limited

The park's beach will be open for the festival along with a limited number of rides and slides.

All partygoers must be 16years and older but only adults will have access to theareas where alcohol isserved.

Tickets are $110 each or $200 for a VIP pass, which includes entry to VIP areas and the official afterparty.

Get more information at nyefestival.net.au.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/wetnwild-nye-bunglers-finally-say-sorry-seven-days-after-leaving-9000-party-goers-high-and-dry/story-fni0cx12-1226794969743

Wet'n'Wild NYE bunglers finally say sorry seven days after leaving 9000 party goers high and dry

THE bungling promoters of the cancelled Wet 'n' Wild New Year's Eve party have finally apologised - seven days after leaving 9000 party goers high and dry.

Promoters One Cube Entertainment gave people just six hours' notice that the music festival in the western Sydney them park had been cancelled.

Director Eric Woo refused to apologise, tellingThe Sunday Telegraph: "They have been refunded so that's it, goodbye."

But finally this week the One Cube Website has been updated to include the line:"We would like to sincerely apologise to the ticket holders of NYE at Wet n Wild."

Ticket holders who call the mobile phone "hotline" were being advised that online tickets would be refunded within 10 days and to return hardcopy tickets to the original point of purchase to get their ticket money back.

But angry let-down revellers continue to berate the promoters on their Trashbags website with one writing: "LOL can't believe you have the nerve to still use the NYE Wetnwild picture as your avatar. Do you realise how many people that (non)event screwed over?"

Almost 9000 partygoers were given just six hours' notice that the New Year's Eve event in western Sydney had been cancelled because of transport safety concerns.

The New Years Eve party at WetnWild was cancelled six hours before doors openedSource:DailyTelegraph

As their website was deluged with abuse the directors of One Cube did what any professional promoter would do in a crisis - hide out at their mum's house.

Nikola Alavanja and Diego Tobar fled to Mr Alavanja's mum's while Mr Woo and a former director and shareholder, Ruchitha Perera, attempted to deal with the storm of outrage.

Yesterday Mr Woo said: "We are not running away, we are not escaping, we are just not ready to say anything."

Wet n Wild New Years Eve promoter Ritchie PereraSource:Supplied

Fans of Mr Alavanja and Mr Tobar's other company, Trashbags, clearly disagreed. Comments about their next event at Soho in Potts Point last night (Sat) included: "Another desperate attempt at clinging on to what little credibility they have remaining after the NYE fiasco," from Tim Brooks.

Deidre Warburton Curry wrote: "Bunch of useless idiots. How can you cancel an event on the day? Thousands of disappointed people. Not cool."

Terrence Lowe warned: "Watch out it might get canned at the last minute like wet and wild."

A spokesman for Wet 'n' Wild has repeatedly said that it raised issues over public transport arrangements with the boys and it was these concerns that finally prompted the late cancellation of the event.

But the Sunday Telegraph understands that Fair Trading investigators will also be looking very closely at Wet 'n' Wild's involvement in the botched event at its theme park.

"You can listen to Wet 'n' Wild, they can say what they want, it's up to people to decide what the truth is," said Mr Woo, without actually elaborating on it himself.

Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe said both Wet 'n' Wild and One Cube were being investigated but it was too early to speculate on possible offences and penalties.

"What is already becoming apparent are some of the clear lessons for would be promoters of entertainment events of this scale," he said.

Facebook image of event promoter, (L) Diego Trash (real name Diego Trabor)Source:Supplied

Those lessons were "the difference between glittering success and abject failure" and could have serious consequences on the public confidence and commercial reputation of the businesses involved, he said.

In an email to media outlets before the event Mr Tobar claimed "the production was fine, transport was sorted." But added that Wet 'n' Wild had demanded a $250,000 venue hire fee four days before the event.

Wet 'n' wild said that money has been refunded on the condition it be used to refund ticket holders.

On their website the One Cube promoters told hard copy ticket holders to return to their point of purchase for a refund. People seeking information were advised to contact:

info@nyefestival.net.au or 0430 666 999 between 11am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

True to form, there was no apology on the website.