On occasion, we have the opportunity to partner with truly collaborative and forward-thinking organizations to bring you analytics and data beyond the structured form of our public-facing database.
A few months ago, the Malaysian Association of Amusement Themepark & Family Attractions graciously offered to co-produce a benchmark study surveying the various performance measures of attractions in Malaysia. We readily jumped at the opportunity. View or download our work below.
Malaysia is interesting to us because:
- It has one of the lowest median ages in the region, at 28, with half the population under the age of 24;
- Kuala Lumpur receives more than 11 million visitors per year;
- Despite this, it has the highest per capita GDP in the region, aside from Singapore.
Moreover, Malaysia’s market is pioneering on many fronts. Consider the following:
- Possibly the world’s only theme park built in a repurposed tin mine, in Sunway Lagoon;
- Asia’s first Legoland, in Johor Bahru;
- Asia’s first Nickelodeon themed land, in Sunway Lagoon;
- Asia’s first Smurf-based attraction in Movie Animation Park Studios (MAPS).
- The world’s first Sanrio attraction outside of Japan;
- The world’s first Twentieth Century Fox-themed attraction, under construction at Genting Highlands.
IP brand implementation and brand recognition in Malaysia is extremely high. In addition to the brands listed above, the market is also host to an Angry Birds activity park, one of the world’s only attractions based on Dreamworks’ Croods, Mastermind, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman at MAPS, a Kidzania in Kuala Lumpur, and a Thomas the Train Town in Johor Bahru.
As a leader in attractions development in Southeast Asia, the direction and potential development of theme parks elsewhere in the region can be gauged by observing in-market trends. Of these, what stood out was the consistent observation that outdoor-based and active play experiences were gaining in popularity. While attractions such as District 21, UrbanPlayz, and the Angry Birds Activity Park are dedicated to such activities, other operators mentioned that portions of their attractions that provided participatory play experiences for the entire family were trending.
In some ways, this is a surprising trend, but in other ways it is not. The world of digital is no substitute for actual physical activity, and despite the hype of trending technologies such as VR and AR, they have yet to deliver a viable attraction product.
For all of these reasons, we thought Malaysia was interesting. We hope you think that too.
Any questions about the study can be directed to us through the Contact Form of this website, and any related inquiries to MAATFA can be directed to adm.maatfa@gmail.com
