Lotte World Busan theme park marks first anniversary with significant attendance milestone
South Korean theme park - Lotte World Busan - has marked its first anniversary with a significant attendance milestone of 1.4 million visitors since its opening in 2022.
Designed by Legacy Entertainment, the intimate regional park, and second theme park to sport the Lotte World brand, has been enthusiastically received since its debut on 31st March last year, and has significantly exceeded initial attendance projections.
Yaeli Chung, Legacy Managing Director of South Korea notes “the entire Legacy team is thrilled for the success of our friends and partners at Lotte World. Outside of Disney and Universal, many new theme parks which have opened in the last decade have struggled to find their footing initially, so this makes such a healthy debut year such welcome news.”
The attendance figure is particularly noteworthy due to the fact that the park relied heavily on local markets from which to draw visitors given that China, Busan’s primary source of international tourism, did not allow for international visitors to the country until just recently. In fact, Lotte World Busan’s first-anniversary attendance figure equates to the park having hosted one out of every three residents in Busan.
According to Lotte officials, the future looks bright for the park’s second season and beyond. In recent years, as many as 60% international tourists to South Korea came from China, with per capita spending north of $3,000 per visitor. The return of this lucrative travel sector will be key to the continued success of the Lotte World theme park, and the entire Osiria Tourism Complex, allowing them to reach their full potential. The first few months of 2023 saw the easing of the country’s remaining Covid restrictions for international tourists, and all signs bode well for a dramatic recovery of the region’s tourism sector.
Coinciding with the park’s one-year anniversary celebration is a new feature called “Spring in the Fairy Tale Kingdom”- a seasonal festival featuring special photo opportunities, live performances, new menu items, and limited time retail offerings. Longer term, Lotte officials have indicated that expansions to the park are currently in the planning stages, as they hope to keep pace with the above-expected steady attendance.
More on Lotte World
Originally launched in 2002, the Hollywood, California-based Legacy Entertainment stands as one of the most successful, independent, entertainment design firms with the company having developed, designed and produced over 40 successful projects worldwide, spanning mediums that include Theme Parks, Hotels/Resorts, Casinos, and Aquariums. A major, upcoming Legacy project will be the Chimelong Marine Science Museum in Zhuhai, China.
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