Asu Su／Sophia Liang

On 22nd April, the first in-person event for IAAPA Asia-Pacific in 2021 - Meet IAAPA in Zhuhai was successfully held in Zhuhai. Hundreds of industry professionals had gathered in this networking event. In addition, there was also a live stream held for the members who were unable to visit in person. And a number of members from 15 countries and regions had attended.

The first stop was at Lionsgate Entertainment World (LEW), the world’s first Lionsgate international movie theme park. Selena Magill, GM of Lionsgate Entertainment World gave a speech in the welcome reception. And then the participants had an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of some key attractions and watched the Immersive Live Show at LEW. Moreover, Mrs. Magill also did an interactive 40-minute live stream to introduce the park to the members online.

The second stop was at the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an award-winning marine theme park. Attendees enjoyed their time as VIPs in the park; immerse themselves in the 5D Castle Theater.

On the night of the event, Jiang Minling, Assistant President of Chimelong Group and General Manager of Zhuhai Chimelong International Ocean Resort, attended the cocktail party and addressed at the closing ceremony. All the attendees gathered together and enjoyed the night scene of the resort on the 28th floor of Chimelong Marine Science Hotel.

During the event, Luke Riley, Board Member of the IAAPA, Chairman of the IAAPA Asia Pacific Advisory, as well as the Chief Commercial Officer at Village Roadshow, Selena Magill, Executive General Manager of Roadshow Theme Parks Asia, and Zhang Zhouyan, Director of IAAPA China Office, also shared their views and expectations on the success of this event and the IAAPA Asia Expo 2021 to be held in Shanghai, China in August this year.

According to Mr. Luke, “The world’s best ride manufacturers and the world’s best slide manufactures, the world’s best architects, the world’s best engineers, the world’s best operators all coming in and meet and talk business at IAAPA Expo Asia. Being the leading amusement expo in Asia-Pacific, IAAPA had picked the best subject matter experts that have the best understanding about different topics’ safety, operation, and guest experience, and they provide an opportunity for our membership to learn.”

Mrs. Magill shared, “IAAPA is an authority of influential trading communication platform in the industry with huge prominent advantages. The world's outstanding people in the industry of the amusement attractions industry will gather here to exchange and learn from each other, sharing a variety of ideas and concepts together, and at the same time make various fields in the industry carry out industrial integration, which is really important for our industry.

Although the tourism industry in China and Asia Pacific region has experienced some period of impact from the pandemic, it is believed that with the gradual recovery of the environment there will be a trend of substantial increase into the future. With the rise of China’s economy and the acceleration of urbanization, new tourism and leisure products are gradually emerging, providing people with a high quality atmosphere for leisure entertainment. IAAPA has promoted the joint cooperation in various fields of attractions, forming a really strong linkage, and will continue to lead the industry to create greater economic value in social benefits in the future.”

“It’s really exciting that IAAPA Expo Asia 2021, the attractions industry's premier event in Asia-Pacific, is back to Shanghai, said by Mr. Zhou. “We have arranged something really special for the expo, calling it “Insight 2021”. This new, full-day event features industry executives from leading attraction operators in the region to gain insights from stories of recovery, innovation, and new perspectives. And the opening reception, visit tour and other activities will continue to be held in the expo, to strengthen the communication of industry peers. We hope that IAAPA Expo Asia will become a high-quality business platform that helps to the recovery and development of Asia-Pacific amusement industry.”

IAAPA Expo Asia 2021 will be held on 10-13 August at Shanghai New International Expo Center. It is the largest trade show for the attractions industry in Asia. Operators, owners, and CEOs of theme parks, amusement parks, zoos, aquariums, and water parks travel to the show to buy rides, connect with attractions industry experts, and more. The expo features a trade show, seminars, special events, and so on, showcasing the innovative products, one-stop revolutions and advanced ideas of amusement industry. In this year, a new special event: 2021 Insights will be held on August 10, a special event gathering important industry professionals to share their ideas and commercial development.

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 197 in June 2021