Wanda to Build Theme Park to Cash in on ‘Red Tourism’

Wanda group will spend 12 billion yuan ($1.74 billion) to build a theme park in Yan ‘an, the birthplace of the communist party’s revolution, to take advantage of the growing trend of so-called “Red Tourism”. Wanda group is a real estate and theme park group built by Wang Jianlin, a former PLA officer.

Located on the loess plateau in Shaanxi province, close to Gansu and Shanxi provinces, the theme park will feature a shopping centre, an indoor park, a theatre and a hotel, in an architectural style similar to that of the 1930s.

Wanda said construction on the project would begin in the first quarter of 2019 and be completed in the first half of 2021, in time for the ruling party’s centenary celebration.

The Yan ‘an theme park will take advantage of “red tourism,” also known as “revolutionary tourism,” where 484 million tourists paid homage to 436 historical sites across China last year.

Wanda declined to say how it would fund the multibillion-dollar projects in Lanzhou and Yan ‘an.