India-based amusement park chain Wonderla Holidays has plans to expand three of its parks with the installation of new rides and attractions.
Money Control describes Wonderla as "one of the biggest players in the amusement park business in India," and it is now set to get even bigger with a new expansion strategy.
Wonderla's Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi amusement parks have each been selected for the upgrade, with the company said to be scaling up investments fourfold. Wonderla reportedly spent Rs10-15 crore (US$1,210,200 - $1,815,300) in adding new rides and attractions between 2022 and 2023. Now, the company is looking to spend Rs60-70 crore ($7,261,000-$8,472,000) between 2023 and 2024.
"We have not done large scale investments in the last four years on big rides," said Arun Chittilappilly, managing director of Wonderla.
"A lot of the money will go to the Hyderabad park, which will see the maximum expansion. About six water-based attractions will be added in Hyderabad, one high-thrill attraction and two water-based attractions will be added in Kochi, and Bengaluru will see some new rides and one virtual reality attraction in 2023-24."
Wonderla is also planning a resort expansion, including 40 new hotel rooms, and the addition of two new parks.
"We want to upgrade the Bengaluru resort by bringing the water park to the resort. The plan to add a resort in the Hyderabad park is in the early stages, but most likely it will be close to the Bengaluru resort in size," said Chittilappilly.
Chittilappilly also spoke about how the theme park industry had been recovered after the pandemic, when it experienced a big drop in footfalls and revenues. He said: "With the number of Covid cases coming down and Indians spending more on outdoor activities, companies like Wonderla have seen higher footfalls leading to strong revenue growth.
"A lot of people still don't think of amusement parks as a natural option for a weekend getaway. But in our home markets, we have been able to bring amusement parks into that consideration set, because a sizeable number of people are coming to the park. Also, the growth in domestic tourism and shorter vacations bode well for the amusement park business."
