March 2, 2025

Will Horror Unleashed Succeed? And, Is China’s Tourism Coming Back?

Universal’s Horror Unleashed is officially opening in Las Vegas on August 14th—but will it succeed? Meanwhile, China’s tourism industry is rebounding, but will it be enough?

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UniversalChina

Universal’s Horror Unleashed is officially opening in Las Vegas on August 14th—but will it succeed? Meanwhile, China’s tourism industry is rebounding, with the government aggressively fueling growth through investments, policy changes, and new attractions. This week, we break down Horror Unleashed’s opening details, including ticket pricing and what guests can expect. But with a challenging location at AREA15 and IPs that feel familiar rather than fresh, we discuss whether Universal’s year-round haunt is built for long-term success. Then, we shift focus to China’s massive tourism revival—including record-breaking attendance at Harbin’s Ice Festival, Hong Kong’s visitor rebound, and Warner Bros. bringing a Harry Potter Studio Tour to Shanghai. What does this mean for global theme park trends? And is China reclaiming its status as the next big market for attractions?

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WEBVTT

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Welcome to this week's episode of Green Tagged Theme Park.

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In thirty Scott and I are back from our sojourn

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in the Middle East of the Ayappa Middle East Trade Summit.

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But right now, while you all are listening to this,

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we are at Transports Halloween and Trash Shows, which is

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the largest professional Halloween trade show in the world. So

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we're recording this early. So if there's some crazy news

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that has come out and you're wondering why we're not

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talking about it, that's why, because we're having to do

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this one early. Well, because we're both currently at the

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trade show.

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I'm teaching a seminar on something. It could be a

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seminars differently be Halloween, could be Christmas, could be immersive theater,

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could be hosting the oscars. I have no idea, but.

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All of that is going on right now.

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So this episode we're going to talk a little bit about,

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of course, the Horror Unleashed opening, but then we're also

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going to talk a little bit about China and whether

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or not it is recovering. So first, Scott, you know

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that I was going to start with this. Of course,

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of course you were. It's my jam, but it's also

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thematic because we're at the Halloween shows. So the Horror

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Unleashed has announced their dates and tickets. So y'all remember,

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this is Universal's first full year round Hunted attraction in

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Las Vegas. It's located in the area of fifteen District,

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and they announced that it's going to open on August fourteenth.

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Admission will range from sixty nine to one hundred and

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forty nine, depending on the type and access. And it's

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one hundred square thousand, it's one hundred thousand, one hundred

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thousand square feet and they're debuting initially with four hundred

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houses plus themed bars and entertainment. The four hundred houses

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they're doing Universal Monsters, Blumhouse is The Exorcist, Texachimes on Masacre,

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and Scarecrow the Reaping. And in looking at the tickets,

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it's it's a weird I.

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Mean, it's not weird. I don't know whatever.

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The tickets seemed to fall into like basically two buckets

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right now, And like bucket one is you get general

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admission to the area, so we assume that includes the

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bars and whatever, like the midway, and then you can

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access each attraction once. So and that's where you get

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the sixty nine dollars marker. And then the other option

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is you get unlimited access to the haunts in addition

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to access to the regular area. And I think that

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one's ninety nine and then up. So it's unclear if

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there's going to be express or how that any of

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that is going to go. It's also unclear if they're

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going to add stuff later or this is going to

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stay with four Who knows, but this is four year

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round haunted houses opening in Vegas on August fourteenth.

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Yep, sure is okay, we'll see, well, we'll see how

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it flies. You know, we've we've talked about this since

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they've announced it, and that is it really depends on

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the execution. It really depends on what the the ips

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that they selected, because we've been talking about this since

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before we knew what the ips were. And uh, you know,

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I think that being well, first off, let's let's look,

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let's step into the wayback machine for a hot second.

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Haunted attractions burn hot and fast in Vegas, and they

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at least they have in the past. I don't whether

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this will or not, but I think they have in

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the past. Uh, so we know we know that they're

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they're kind of coming in with something to prove with

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this particular one. But if anybody can do it, it's

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going to be universal. I mean, you know, Halloween Hornites

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has a following that you know, they will jump off cliffs.

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You know, they'll they'll they'll lemming lee, they'll lemmingley follow

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right over a cliff's edge. So I think that I

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think it's got some I think it's got some legs.

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What they had talked about early on in their planning

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was that they would also ramp up during the Halloween

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season and add additional content. I don't know whether that

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is still the case or not, but that was part

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of their original pitch. Just on all we have right now,

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we don't, Yeah, I know, so.

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We really don't know.

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On a personal level, I think they I think they

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chose very safe mass appeal ips and because of that,

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I don't I personally am not like, oh I've got

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to go see that. There is no must see here

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for me, because it's all stuff that we've seen before

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or that I will probably see, like for example, Universal

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Monsters I'll probably see executed better at Epic. So there's

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no absolute must see for me to go. There's no

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reason for me to go to Vegas to see this.

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Let me put it that way, correct, that said, this

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could be brilliant, this could be wonderful. I think on

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a plus side, I think putting it in uh in

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Area fifteen makes a ton of sense. You know, right

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there with me Alwolf, that is the that has become

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the hub of the the atmospheric entertainment vibe in Vegas.

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I know the people who are involved in this and

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other people that I have either worked with or respect greatly,

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So I'm excited to see that between you know, t

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J and Ilo and you know those guys. They they've

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done great, great stuff, and I'm sure this is wonderful

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and lovely. I am most curious to see and I'm

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sure they are too, quite honestly, to see how sustainable

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it will be in Las Vegas and what they need

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to do as far as change and giving people lighting

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fuse as to why you should go see this now,

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I think there's going to be a huge influx at

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the beginning, because, like I said, Universal Halloween Hornet's fans

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are rabid and they will they'll ingest anything in that brand,

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which is great, and we'll see how long it lasts,

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you know, and maybe they have plans to change it

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on a regular basis. Maybe they will go to more

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more experimental or unique ips as they evolve. But you know,

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and the thing is, if I'm in Vegas, yeah I'll

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probably go. I'll probably go check it out, but it

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won't take me to Vegas.

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Right.

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I think that you articulated most of my concerns. I

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don't the way this is presented now, I don't think

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is a good idea or a sustainable idea. I hope

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that I'm wrong, right, I mean, because I love Halloween

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and I love horn Nits, and I really you know,

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I want this to work out. But I again, I

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don't see. To me, this felt rushed. It was like

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we have dates and everything just kind of like plopped

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out at once, and it every's the website, the ticketing,

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it all seems rest But it also seems like I

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would say it's less about safe bets. And in terms

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of what I peas were the cheapest, is what this

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looks like, or IYP's that they could get the easiest?

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Is what this looked like to me? Like, what can

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we get that's guaranteed that we could have it, you know,

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for a year in a permanent installation versus having to

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because you know, if I'm sure, if they got like

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it or something, they would have to pay a lot more.

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And it's actually and Universal Monsters they own, so you know,

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correct that one, that one's good.

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They owned, they owned Scarecrow, they own Universal Monsters. And

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then there's just Blumhouse and Texas Chainsaw and I'm not

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sure if they owned Texas chain Saw.

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But yeah, I don't know. But you know, that's a

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good point.

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I hadn't.

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I hadn't thought about easiest, too easiest to sustain for

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for a long period of time, or even ips that

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are willing to tie themselves up for a long for

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that long period of time. I hadn't even thought about that. Yeah, yeah,

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it's it's It's interesting because when this came out on

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social media, of course I have a lot of I

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share a lot of friends or followers on social media

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with other haunted attractions, with other haunt fans, et cetera,

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et cetera, et cetera, And anecdotally, the comments that came

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across were very lackluster. Yeah it did not.

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I've gotten they were excited. I've heard nothing but lackluster responses.

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And I think exactly your emotional take is what I

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have been hearing. I've been putting poles out, I've been

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trying to get the feedback from audiences around, and that's

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what it seems like. It's like the problem with again,

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And we said this way back, the problem with going

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with ips like this.

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They might be cheaper, or they might be.

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The ones they could get a longer multi year deal

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with or whatever. But since they've been done so many

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times in a universals with the Rabbit fans and even

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all of them last year, like just recently, it kind

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of just feels like this is like it's old already

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before it has it hasn't even open, and it's already old,

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and people don't seem like they're not going to make

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a trip to Vegas to go see it.

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And so maybe they're just trying to capture foot traffic.

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But I will note that Area fifteen has been difficult

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to capture foot traffic, like that's their number one problem

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at Area fifteen is capturing guests visiting the strip there.

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Local You have to take a cab to get there, correct, correct,

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and there's no hotel there and a lot of people.

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Are not even aware it's a thing. You know, a

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lot of people they go into Vegas, they say on

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the strip. They don't know that it happens outside the strip.

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So it's mostly locals. And you're not gonna locals are

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gonna go once to this, They're not gonna go right

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multiple times. You know.

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It's interesting because I'm not certain who their target audience

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is me neither exactly. That's the question I have. If

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their target audience is die hard Haunt fans slash Halloween

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horrnites super fans, I this does not seem as though

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they've hit the bull's eye. They're close, but not quite.

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If their target audience is people who aren't fans, who've

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heard about Halloween hornites and never really gone and just

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happened to be in Vegas and they're looking for something

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other than a Curc dosolet show to go do, then

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this may work. But once again, being an Area fifty one,

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which I've already praised them because I think it's a

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good location for this kind of thing. There's a lot

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of this kind of thing in Area fifty one. You know,

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this is where Meowolf is, This is Omega mart by

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Mio Wolf. There's there's several several immersive experiences in Area fifteen.

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But at the same time, to your point, Philip, it

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is a little bit off the beaten path. It is

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neither on the Strip, nor is it downtown, and it's

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a little tricky to get to, or it was the

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last time I was there. I haven't been in Vegas

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for a few years, but it was the last time

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I was there.

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So yeah, I was just there and it is tricky

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to get to, Like I was just there a month ago,

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and it is. It's true, it's still tricky to get to.

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It's still not something that's frequented by that many tourists

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that are just visiting. And it also goes against the

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vibe to me. I don't know whatever, I guess I get.

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You know, we'll have to see how it performs. But

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I guess looking at what they my last takeaways, just

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looking at what they have currently now, I don't know

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why this is a year round thing and it's not

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a temporary thing, even if just to encourage able to

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go there, like if they're like even if they had

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just said we're going to open the Haunted Houses everything,

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but then the hont Houses are going to close November two.

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I think even that fuse would have at least gotten

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people there.

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Or you know, since we both just got back from

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from Boulevard City, or if they had set it up

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and said this is going to be we are going

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to create this environment where we can do, in essence,

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pop up haunted attractions based on a rotating palette of

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and this may be the plan, who knows, but a

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rotating palette of of IPS, and both IP and non IP,

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because there are still those people like me who really

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care could care less about about the IP a perfect example,

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and sometimes it works to my advantage and sometimes it

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works to my disadvantage. When we were in when we

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were in uh Riod, and we did we did two

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hunted houses together while we were there, and one of

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them was your standard traditional on a house and the

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other one was based on the IP five Nights at Freddy's. Now,

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I know nothing about the Five Nights at Freddie's EP

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other than it exists, and because I was just looking

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at it as oh, here's something cool, I actually enjoyed

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that one more than the non IP. Philip had a

233
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reverse preference, and they were both quite honestly, they were

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00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:27.480
both mediocre hunts. But but they both they both had

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their challenges, let's put it that way. So I think

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it's interesting that IP means less to me. But I'm

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also not the target audience. I realized the power of IP.

238
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I know it, I understand it. It's just not me.

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So I get that. So again, I hope that despite

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all of the the nay saying that we're doing here,

241
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and I don't want it to sound like nay saying,

242
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because I'm not saying it's gonna suck. It's probably gonna

243
00:12:53.080 --> 00:12:54.759
be very, very high quality and a lot of fun.

244
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But is it, you know, how sustainable is it? How

245
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how long can it run?

246
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I don't know.

247
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And even though I sound like I'm being negative, I

248
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hope I'm one hundred percent wrong, And I hope that

249
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it is a smashing success and breaks open the floodgates

250
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of year round haunted attractions everywhere. I I don't know

251
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whether that's going to happen. It would be lovely if

252
00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:17.240
it did.

253
00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:21.360
Yeah, one thing, just to clarify, a quick fact check

254
00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:26.519
that so the Exorcist Believer is also owned by Universal,

255
00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:29.440
So just fact check that really quick. So it's only

256
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.639
taxis change on Anskar is the only ip that they

257
00:13:32.679 --> 00:13:35.120
don't own that is opening in Vegas, and it's.

258
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Probably one that they've had for so long that they

259
00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.320
can continue. They have a really good working relationship with

260
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that negoti.

261
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And they just they just did it also in California.

262
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So okay, so okay, that that took That took a while. Halloween,

263
00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:50.480
we got on our snow boxes. Okay, we're gotting not

264
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:53.720
snip boxes, got to go. Halloween took a while between us. Really, Philip,

265
00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:54.799
that's a surprise.

266
00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.200
Acer Let's go to China. Now, let's move on to China.

267
00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:00.600
So this is something that actually came up a conversation

268
00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:03.200
I was having with some folks in the Middle East

269
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at the trade summit.

270
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Where we were at.

271
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Our last week's episode was about that, and you know,

272
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we were talking with this group of people about how

273
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it used to be that China was positioned as like

274
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the epicenter of like the tourism, like that was the

275
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place if you wanted to, you know, get kickstart your

276
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career and you didn't want to be in Orlando, or

277
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.279
maybe it wasn't working for you in Orlando, you could

278
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go to China. And now we were talking about how

279
00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:27.480
well now it's the Middle East. Like, if you want

280
00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:29.799
to get paid more or jump start your career, try

281
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:32.039
something new, or take on more responsibility, you could go

282
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to the Middle East and work for a few years

283
00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.080
and you know, pump up your resume and get some savings.

284
00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:39.720
And then it brought me to thinking about how China

285
00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:42.480
is doing, because we haven't talked about it, and there's

286
00:14:42.519 --> 00:14:46.000
been a few stories recently that have come out, and

287
00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:48.000
I'm gonna so basically what I'm gonna do is take

288
00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:51.159
those stories but give you more context about how the

289
00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:55.600
economy has been recovering in China. And I think I

290
00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.120
have not been paying attention, but it does seem like

291
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:02.360
it is rebounding relatively, not like super fast, but it's

292
00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:07.679
getting back to where it was. And that's no mistake

293
00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:11.240
because the government has been has really actually been putting

294
00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:15.480
money and effort into doing this. So they've been combining

295
00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:19.879
investment and policy changes to help the tourism economy rebound.

296
00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.720
And the first thing they did was the easy of

297
00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.919
travel restrictions, so by late twenty twenty four, citizens of

298
00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:30.039
thirty eight nations could enter visa free. I remember back

299
00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:31.519
in the day where that was a huge deal, just

300
00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:35.039
getting your visa China. But yeah, so they're doing visa

301
00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:41.360
free stays. Twenty million foreign visitors entered China visa free

302
00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.519
in twenty twenty four, which is one hundred and twelve

303
00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.799
percent from the previous year, so that's clearly working. They've

304
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:50.600
also been offering subsidies and tax breaks to investments in

305
00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:55.080
the tourism sector. They're doing local and regional promotions. I

306
00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:58.120
totally missed this, but in twenty twenty three they gave

307
00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:00.840
away half a million free airline tickets for people to

308
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:04.159
visit Hong Kong, so to kind of lure visitors back

309
00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:08.480
in coming back to check out those areas. And just

310
00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.440
recently the twenty twenty four Golden Week, they saw seven

311
00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.200
hundred and sixty five million domestic trips, which is ten

312
00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.039
percent more than twenty nineteen, So at least in terms

313
00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:21.480
of domestic stuff for the big holidays like Golden Week

314
00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:23.759
is one of the biggest ones. You know, they're seeing

315
00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:28.240
their domestic stuff increase there. They also saw spending in

316
00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.080
and trip counts increase during Golden Week as opposed to

317
00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:37.679
twenty nineteen. So that's the backdrop that we're seeing not

318
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.440
not too much increase in international trips.

319
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:42.120
But we'll get to that.

320
00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:46.279
But that's the backdrop for these three stories and the

321
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:52.519
three new stories. First is the China's Harbin Festival, So

322
00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:56.519
the Harbin Ice Snow World. It's the world's largest ice

323
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.879
and snowsinge park. And those of you that are familiar

324
00:16:59.879 --> 00:17:02.679
with the Gaylord Palms and they do the ice shows there,

325
00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:06.000
those are the carvers. Those are the carvers. They come

326
00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:08.440
from this thing. But imagine this, but it's an entire

327
00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:13.200
like theme park made out of ice essentially, and it

328
00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:17.880
covers one million square meters, so it's it's enormous. And

329
00:17:18.039 --> 00:17:21.559
this last one was the largest one they've ever had,

330
00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:25.480
and they saw more visitors than they've ever had there.

331
00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:29.200
I believe it's three million visitors. Yeah, three million visitors,

332
00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.599
setting a new record over fifty two days, which is crazy.

333
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.640
Three million people in fifty two days for the twenty

334
00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:39.000
sixth year they've done this. So and it's you know ice,

335
00:17:39.079 --> 00:17:41.599
there's interactive stuff, there's ice slides, all that sign of

336
00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:47.119
stuff going on. That story one. Story two is that

337
00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.000
the Harry Potter Studio Tours announced they're going to open

338
00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:50.839
a Chinese version.

339
00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:52.160
They're going to go to China in this.

340
00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.359
And build a studio and then to a tour of it.

341
00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.680
That's the thing that I think it's a little weird

342
00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:58.039
about that.

343
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It's like in classic Chinese fashion, you know, they haven't

344
00:18:02.680 --> 00:18:05.920
announced like what sets are going to be there, because

345
00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:07.640
in the back, like I was thinking that too. I

346
00:18:07.720 --> 00:18:10.440
was like, well, I've been to the London tour and

347
00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:13.920
that one is enormous and it's crazy and it's fantastic.

348
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.640
But also, you know that's where the studios were, right,

349
00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.759
so they're just like they're moving over sets.

350
00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.039
Well yeah, but look at the difference between Universal Studios Hollywood,

351
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:27.519
Universal Studios Orlando. When they first opened, they replicated sets,

352
00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.519
they replicated soundstages, they replicated outdoor. They ended up using

353
00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:36.440
them in future films in Florida. But it was all

354
00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:40.000
just a let's build a theme park that's movie based,

355
00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.799
and let's do it by replicating what already exists. So

356
00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:45.880
again I'm facetious about it that they're going to build

357
00:18:45.880 --> 00:18:47.759
a studio that nothing was ever shot on.

358
00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:53.279
Yes, but quite honestly, Potter fans couldn't care less. No,

359
00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:55.000
I don't think anyone will care. I was going to say,

360
00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:58.119
because when I was doing the studio tour in London.

361
00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:00.559
There were some areas where you're like, you know that

362
00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:05.119
this was like like recreated to make it a themed environment,

363
00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:07.920
you know, because it just it wouldn't work as a set,

364
00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:09.839
you know, when you're like walking down the alley ways

365
00:19:09.960 --> 00:19:11.759
or just some of the slides and some of these

366
00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.720
like this wasn't in the movie, right, But like it

367
00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:17.279
doesn't matter because it's so cool and it's such a

368
00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:21.359
themed environment and Potter fans love it, and so I

369
00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:22.759
think that part's going to be fine. I just think

370
00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:28.200
it's interesting because, you know, mostly like you know, in

371
00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:32.000
the past, China has really tried to focus more on

372
00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.799
making sure that they're using local ips or whatever. But

373
00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:37.160
in this case, you know, Harry Potter is one of

374
00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.319
the only things that actually is not censored in China

375
00:19:39.359 --> 00:19:42.000
and it's available there, and it's like one of the

376
00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.759
only things my Chinese friends really know it's like Harry

377
00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.319
Potter because we you know, we all have it. So

378
00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:49.799
it makes sense that they're kind of bending this rule

379
00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.440
a little bit to bring in this investment, you know,

380
00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.559
trying to bring in something that's foreign, but to kind

381
00:19:55.559 --> 00:20:00.519
of help jumpstart the tourism. So it's gonna going to

382
00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:03.759
be part of a the action park that's already there,

383
00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:08.599
So they're putting it inside of a small like local

384
00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:09.799
theme park that already exists.

385
00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:12.640
They're just expanding it to add this section to it. Yep.

386
00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.400
And then the third story here is about the Chinese cinema.

387
00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:21.119
And this gets to what I was just talking about

388
00:20:21.160 --> 00:20:28.559
with the ips and whatnot. But basically, China debuted a

389
00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:33.880
sequel to one of their really popular animated series animated movies,

390
00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:35.880
and I want to say it's nie Ja.

391
00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.319
I don't know. Hopefully that pronunciation isn't terrible.

392
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:43.839
But basically this sequel, this animated sequel unseated Inside Out

393
00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.960
Too is a world's top performing animated film in only

394
00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:51.559
seven months, faster than any previous title Dethrow Mint. And

395
00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:54.440
it's the first non Hollywood film to crack the international

396
00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.359
box office top ten and the first non English language

397
00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.480
movie in the top twenty as of Wednesday, Favorite eighteenth

398
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:04.279
just a while before recording this, but it made one

399
00:21:04.359 --> 00:21:08.839
hundred one point sixty nine billion US dollars sart, passing

400
00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:10.920
the total box office of the previous record holder, Inside

401
00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.039
Out Too. So this is a huge accomplishment for the

402
00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:19.240
Chinese tour film industry, and looking back in the context,

403
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:24.319
you can see that this is because they started investing

404
00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.599
since the pandemic in the film industry and providing incentives

405
00:21:27.599 --> 00:21:29.839
and subsidies like I talked about into the film industry,

406
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.400
and it looks like it's finally paying off. But I'm

407
00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:36.279
sure you're going to see themed environments based off of

408
00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:38.319
this stuff that they're going to put there to kind

409
00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:41.960
of again double down. So using this mix of forum

410
00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:47.599
plus local domestic stuff. So so I guess you know

411
00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:50.400
where does that leave us. It leaves us an interesting

412
00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:53.359
spot where you do see tourism is recovering, but it's

413
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:56.319
not quite where it was, although it seems like the

414
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:58.240
domestic stuff is recovering a little bit faster.

415
00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.119
I was just going to.

416
00:21:59.119 --> 00:22:02.119
Say, the one thing that has in its major advantage

417
00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:06.119
is and you've talked about this before, is uh, they

418
00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.160
don't because of the population, they don't need as much

419
00:22:10.279 --> 00:22:14.359
outside tourism as say, for example them at least because

420
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:17.119
there's you know, there's there's a lot more people there.

421
00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:22.519
And and it was the restrictions, the the internal restrictions,

422
00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:26.839
travel restrictions from from one area of China to another

423
00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:31.599
that we were crippling for some of these experiences, at

424
00:22:31.640 --> 00:22:33.519
least from you know, what we've reported in the past.

425
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.440
So so now that they're now that they're back, the

426
00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:40.920
thing that I think is most interesting is not really

427
00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:43.119
and I mean I'm even gonna I don't want to

428
00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:46.000
call it minutia, but the but the smaller areas of

429
00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.880
you know, the different festivals and the potter and the

430
00:22:49.079 --> 00:22:53.119
and the cinema, is the the the changes of procedure

431
00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:57.160
and how to get into the country and easing. It's

432
00:22:57.200 --> 00:23:01.279
interesting because when you know, when you mentioned that that

433
00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:04.440
there was that there were now you know, visa free,

434
00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:08.319
a new visa free policy. I looked up again, being

435
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.400
USA centric, I looked up what it is, and interestingly enough,

436
00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:16.319
it is visa free only if you plan to stay

437
00:23:16.359 --> 00:23:18.920
less than ten days and move on to another country. Yes,

438
00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:21.119
so you have to. It has to be a it's

439
00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:27.279
a transitory visa. It is not a stay visa. If

440
00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:29.200
you you can, you have to get a stay visa.

441
00:23:29.240 --> 00:23:31.519
You can still get a stavisa if you're gonna just

442
00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:32.400
go there, but.

443
00:23:33.160 --> 00:23:36.279
It's for tourism. I mean, yeah, ten ten days or less.

444
00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:38.720
Like well, ten days are less and you must move

445
00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:42.680
to another country either before or after visiting China.

446
00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:43.960
So you can't go to.

447
00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.319
The US, you can't go from the US, go to China,

448
00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:49.039
come back to the US and use their their free

449
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:53.680
uh their free visa or visa free. You have to

450
00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:57.640
have another stop in there. So I think that's interesting

451
00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:00.400
to me. That's kind of like saying, Okay, we're gonna

452
00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.599
try to bring people to this part of the world.

453
00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:04.880
It's sort of like it's sort of like China huddling

454
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:08.160
up with its neighbors going Okay, we will give them

455
00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:09.839
a free visa, but they got to come visit you too.

456
00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:13.720
It's it's a unique it's a unique approach, and I

457
00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:18.119
think it's it's it's kind of interesting actually. And also

458
00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:19.799
I also like the fact that they added twenty one new

459
00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:20.480
ports of entry.

460
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:25.240
So just a minor point of clarity. I'm not sure

461
00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:27.559
how it works for the for other people, but specifically

462
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:30.640
specifically for US citizens, you can go to China for

463
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:31.440
ten days and come back.

464
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:35.000
Okay, that's not what that's not what the AI overview said.

465
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:37.759
On my it says exactly the is so I just

466
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:40.599
got my it says US citizens. US citizens can visit

467
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.240
China visa free for up to ten days if you

468
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:46.400
are trends. If they are transitioning through the country, however,

469
00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:49.759
they must continue on to another country. They must continue

470
00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.319
on to another country in order to get a in

471
00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:55.240
order to visit China visa free. So apparently even within

472
00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:57.880
the own within their own system, they're still in transition

473
00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:59.079
and they don't quite know what's going on.

474
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:00.000
Yeah.

475
00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:04.559
Yeah, because I recently got a visa application for going

476
00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:10.079
for Ayapa. So but yeah, overall, it's good that they're

477
00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:13.559
trying to get the again. Making it easier to get

478
00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:15.240
there is a huge thing, which you would have thought

479
00:25:15.240 --> 00:25:17.200
they would have done previously. But the fact that it

480
00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:20.920
took them to twenty five to get like a you know,

481
00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:23.440
like a you can visit visa situation.

482
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:25.960
I did.

483
00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:28.640
I did pull up some information on Hong Kong because

484
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.200
in the past, and of course I'm not sure how

485
00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:35.640
how accurate this is in terms of, like, you know,

486
00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:38.480
I don't have like a government statement as to like

487
00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:40.839
their tourism plans. So I know in the past they

488
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:43.359
were looking at making Hong Kong kind of like the

489
00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:47.319
tourist capital because they have the parks there. It's it's again,

490
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.240
it's that special zoned area like we see in other areas,

491
00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:50.599
and it.

492
00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:53.160
Was built as that, I mean before it was under

493
00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:54.480
before it was under Chinese rule.

494
00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:55.240
It was built as.

495
00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.640
Yes, yeah, And so looking at Hong Kong, I think

496
00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:59.519
is a good example of that. So we look at

497
00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.000
Hong Kong. They welcomed forty four million visitors in twenty

498
00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:05.680
twenty four, which is a thirty one percent jump from

499
00:26:05.720 --> 00:26:10.039
twenty twenty three, but it's still much lower than their

500
00:26:10.079 --> 00:26:12.240
record in twenty eighteen. So their record was sixty five

501
00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:14.920
million in twenty eighteen and now it's forty four. So

502
00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.279
that's kind of where the Hong Kong Tours and Board

503
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.799
was forecasting it. It just barely missed a forecast. But

504
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:23.759
so again you can still see the struggles like it

505
00:26:23.799 --> 00:26:27.359
hasn't quite recovered there. Hong Kong also was much more

506
00:26:27.359 --> 00:26:30.799
reliant on international visitors and they were, you know, people

507
00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:34.319
just coming from mainland China, so you can see where

508
00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:38.240
that's it. Interestingly, in the last report they put out,

509
00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.960
we saw a shift in traveler profiles, so they noted

510
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:45.680
more budget conscious mainland visitors as opposed to luxury shoppers

511
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:49.720
who came from other countries, which just exactly what we've

512
00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:52.039
been talking about. Like, so even in the Hong Kong area,

513
00:26:52.119 --> 00:26:56.079
you know, they're trying to create stuff. You know, they've

514
00:26:56.079 --> 00:26:58.920
seen like a sixteen percent drop in per visitor spending

515
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.039
in twenty twenty four despite the foot traffic, just because

516
00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:04.680
of this kind of shift. And that all makes sense.

517
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:06.440
If you're getting more people that are coming from mainland

518
00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:09.039
and you're trying to incentivize them to get there with

519
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:11.400
subsidized trips, you know, they're not going to be the

520
00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:14.319
luxury tourists that you're going to get from Europe or

521
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:17.759
for other places that are planning to spend more money essentially.

522
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:23.960
So I think in summary, we can see that the

523
00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.240
tourism is rebound is rebounding, but more gradually. You know,

524
00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:31.400
the foreign visitors are climbing fast, but they're still not

525
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.720
you know, near where it was. But it looks like

526
00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:38.640
that the government is interested at least in workshopping policies

527
00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:40.680
and investment and changing this. So I do think it's

528
00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:44.160
going to get back. It's actually overall it's better than

529
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:47.319
I thought, right, right, And I think it's I.

530
00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:50.880
Think it's important to recognize that, you know, visa free

531
00:27:50.920 --> 00:27:52.519
for transition, it because you know, you just said you

532
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:54.200
got a visa. Well you don't need to get a

533
00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:55.720
visa if you're moving on to another country.

534
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:56.240
That's the point.

535
00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:58.920
Yeah, correct, you can go visa free. You said you

536
00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:01.599
got a visa, so yes, you have to get a

537
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:03.720
visa to go to China and come back to the US.

538
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:07.279
I think these kinds of policies, though, are important, and

539
00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:08.559
I don't think we can. I don't think we can

540
00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:13.319
toss them aside because basically it's the government doubling down

541
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:18.119
or reinvesting in the tourism sector. You know, not all

542
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.240
countries do that, and I think it is I think

543
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:24.160
it is important to recognize that, you know, they're trying

544
00:28:24.160 --> 00:28:27.680
to find ways to get people to come to either

545
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:30.279
China specifically or that part of the world. Another thing

546
00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:32.279
that I find I have found most interesting that is

547
00:28:32.279 --> 00:28:35.480
not necessarily well, it is subsidized by the government, but

548
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:40.720
people who are flying through Doha. Doha is a huge

549
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:46.799
is a huge hub right now. There's not many people say, oh,

550
00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:50.200
let's vacation in Doha. I'm sure it's lovely. I've never

551
00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:52.440
spent any time there other than in the airport. But

552
00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:57.160
what they're doing now is they are subsidizing for Star

553
00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:01.119
hotels to give you forty nine dollars US room nights

554
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:03.000
up to four nights if you decide to spend some

555
00:29:03.079 --> 00:29:07.400
time in Doha. So it's it seems as though just

556
00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:12.319
like the transitory ten day visa free visit to China

557
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:15.160
or the spend a night in Doha and get a

558
00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:19.319
high end hotel for a cheap price. It seems as

559
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:21.680
though areas are starting to ban together now and there's

560
00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:25.279
a little bit less competition between only come to China

561
00:29:25.319 --> 00:29:28.920
don't go anywhere else or you know, only only come

562
00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:32.519
to Saudi and don't go anywhere else. It sounds as

563
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:36.799
though there's some some collaboration and cooperation going on there.

564
00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:41.680
Does this mean that China is their their tourism is recovering, well,

565
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.799
I think it is a sign that they're certainly looking

566
00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:46.440
at all the ways they possibly can to make it

567
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:50.839
recover and not just not just within their own country,

568
00:29:50.920 --> 00:29:52.880
which I think is is a unique perspective.

569
00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:56.000
Yeah, I think to your point that it's a little

570
00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.519
bit of a mix of both, right, like we do

571
00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:00.480
see the government to your point, I mean they are

572
00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:04.960
trying not just with incentives monetary incentives, but also with

573
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:08.799
policy incentives, they're trying to encourage it, but at the

574
00:30:08.839 --> 00:30:11.279
same time we do see it rebounding naturally on its own.

575
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:13.240
Like you know, the Harbon Ice Festival is a great

576
00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:15.839
example that, like that's just a local thing. No one

577
00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:18.799
needs fesis, right, I'm just local thing. It's not interrational

578
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:19.079
at all.

579
00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.359
That's that And that goes back to my statement earlier

580
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:23.759
when I said China doesn't need the international tourism because

581
00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:26.680
of their their population. They just need to be able

582
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:29.079
to travel within their own country. And then and then

583
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:34.160
the additional the addition of international visitation. It just is

584
00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:37.279
another is icing on the cake, so to speak. But

585
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:39.160
we've nibbled up pretty much all the cake we have

586
00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:43.400
for this week. So how is that for an awkward transition?

587
00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:45.920
But it's time for us to finish, so on behalf

588
00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:48.359
of Philipernande's myself, Scott Swinson. This is Green Tag Theme

589
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:50.640
Park in thirty. Thank you so much for listening, and

590
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:52.720
we will see you all next week.
Scott Swenson, ICAE Profile Photo
Scott Swenson, ICAE

For over 30 years, Scott Swenson has been bringing stories to life as a writer, director, producer, and performer. His work in theme parks, consumer events, live theatre, and television has given him a broad spectrum of experiences. In 2014, after 21 years with SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, Scott formed Scott Swenson Creative Development. Since then he has been providing impactful experiences for clients around the world. Whether he is installing shows on cruise ships or creating seasonal festivals for theme parks, writing educational presentations for zoos and museums or training the next generation of attractions professionals, Scott is always finding new ways to tell stories that engage, educate and entertain.

Philip Hernandez, ICAE Profile Photo
Philip Hernandez, ICAE

CEO of Gantom, Publisher of Haunted Attraction Network

Philip is a journalist reporting on the Haunted House Industry, Horror events, Theme Parks, and Halloween. He is also the CEO of Gantom Lighting and Founder / Publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network, the haunted attraction industry's most prominent news media source. He is based in Los Angeles.