Gold Coast mayor backs new $600m amusement park
The powerful mayor of the Gold Coast, Tom Tate, is backing the development of a $600 million theme park to be built by one of the world’s biggest operators in southeast Queensland, even though existing theme parks continue to struggle with attendances in the aftermath of last year’s Dreamworld tragedy.
Song Cheng, which operates 30 theme parks in China, has plans for an indoor skifield, animal exhibits, an adventure park and 3500-seat performance theatre at Nerang even though Dreamworld’s attendances fell 36% in May compared with the previous period.
Rival Village Roadshow said in April it was “significantly impacted by the tragedy that occurred at Dreamworld in October 2016”.
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Nevertheless, Tate says he has encouraged Song Cheng to expand its global entertainment and theme park attractions to incorporate Australia, specifically the Gold Coast, even though it already sports six theme parks.
“This is their first investment in Australia and the chair has confirmed to me that this will be an attraction of the highest standard,” Tate told The Australian.
“Developments like this ensure we are renewing our tourism offerings … and delivering new product for the 13-plus million annual visitors,” Tate says.
“This is also about jobs for today’s and tomorrow’s Gold Coasters and a boost to the confidence being shown in our city by some of the world’s largest entertainment consortiums such as Song Cheng.’’
Song Cheng’s theme park would be built on a former 44ha Nerang dairy farm near Metricon Stadium.
The company, among the top 10 theme park operators in the world, also proposes bars, restaurants, hotels and a residential sub-division on the site, along with a wetlands environment.
Song Cheng Australia’s managing director Steven Wu says he believes there is enough room in the Gold Coast marketplace for another theme park. “We are offering a totally different product to what else is out there, there is nothing like this here,” he says.
Song Cheng has just lodged a development application with Gold Coast Council.
Song Cheng believes the theme park will attract 12 million visitors a year. The group hopes to win council approval by the end of the year with construction starting by June next year.
Dreamworld owner Ardent Leisure’s new chief executive, Simon Kelly, welcomed the investment, saying it would boost tourism to the region.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
