Comments
1
Wonderla Holidays is getting ready to open an amusement park in Bhubaneswar at an investment of ₹100 crore, Arun K Chittilappilly, Managing Director has said.
The proposed park will be a compact one compared to other parks owned by the company and is expected to be operational within two years, he said adding that discussions with Odisha government is in progress.
In an interaction with BusinessLine , he said the company is also looking at opening a park in Goa as well. However, the proposed Chennai park project has been put on hold for the time being.
Positive outlook
Arun, who is enthused by the rising footfalls in the current summer after two years hit by Covid, pointed out the current quarter has been encouraging with a footfall of 4.94 lakh in the last quarter of FY 22 (3.11 lakh in FY21), despite headwinds fuelled by Omicron variant in January this year. The company’s focus on social media marketing initiatives has started yielding results which is evident from the growing footfalls especially among younger audience in the age group between 15 to 24.
“Our performance is reflective of the strategic focus on footfall from various segments, experimenting with new areas (ride plus activities, events and F&B offerings) concentrated digital marketing activities (groups, walk-ins) and operational excellence of business.
On the rising footfalls, he said, “We are back to pre-Covid levels and the running quarter is a proof with 42 per cent resort occupancy. The summer has been encouraging with footfall contribution from both walk-in and groups in all the three parks. The surge in domestic tourism and the phenomenon of a revenge travel are also contributing factors for the rise in footfalls”.
Guests are now looking for a different kind of experience and Wonderla has started organising events such as women’s only day on Women’s Day, Holi, Dandiya, Valentine’s Day etc. The response has been phenomenal, he said.
“We are also providing opportunities for corporates and other groups an opportunity to spend a whole day of fun and food. We have BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) option from almost all the providers which allows guests to pay for their tickets and pay back in EMIs”, he added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.