| |
LEGOLAND® South Korea to open in 2017
South Korea is set to become home to the eighth LEGOLAND theme park in the
franchise, to be built on an island about an hour away from Seoul.
European entertainment company Merlin Entertainments, which runs 100 attractions
across 22 countries, announced details of the project, saying that the park will
be located on the island of Jung-do in Chuncheon, about an hour’s drive from
Seoul.
The theme park is expected to open in 2017.
According to Merlin Entertainments, South Korea has become one of LEGO Group’s
largest markets in Asia, since the toy was first introduced in 1984.
There are currently six LEGOLAND parks located in the US, Malaysia, Germany,
Denmark and the UK, with plans to open a new theme park globally every two to
three years.
LEGOLAND® Dubai is also set to open in 2016.
Additional information...
Merlin Entertainments Plc (MERL), the operator of more than 100 visitor
attractions worldwide, will open its first LEGOLAND theme park in South Korea,
one of Asia’s biggest markets for LEGO toys.
The park in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, will cost an estimated 300 billion won
($270 million) and is scheduled to open in 2017, the Poole, England-based
company said in a statement today. Merlin already has six LEGOLAND parks in five
countries.
“South Korea offers both a developed theme park market and strong LEGO brand
recognition,” Chief Executive Officer Nick Varney said in the statement. He
reiterated a target to open a new LEGOLAND park every two to three years on
average.
Merlin, which runs attractions including Madame Tussauds waxworks, will invest
about 100 billion won and the rest will be funded by a consortium of local
public and private investors. Lego bricks have been sold in South Korea since
1984 and the country is now one of Lego A/S’s largest markets in Asia. The
Danish toymaker divested its Legoland theme parks almost 10 years ago.
Merlin shares rose 1.4 percent to 371.8 pence at 8:57 a.m. in London, taking the
advance to 3.9 percent this year and giving the company a market value of about
3.8 billion pounds ($6 billion).
From:
Bloomberg.com
-end of report-
|
|
1 Message in This Thread:
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
