Zhuhai, Wednesday, 12 November 2025.
Last Wednesday the TEA ranked Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin at 12.6 million annual visits — a standout figure that underlines Asia’s rising share of global theme-park attendance and the resilience of large domestic attractions. For retail professionals, the headline is not just volume but visitation quality: sustained repeat traffic from Macau and Guangdong, predictable seasonal peaks, and high-capacity days that compress shopping windows and raise the value of efficient on-site merchandising, F&B throughput and queuing retail. The number also signals infrastructure stress at resort clusters and sharper competition between domestic mega-parks and international brands, affecting guest sourcing strategies and partnership opportunities for concessionaires. When assessing commercial potential, operators and investors should pair TEA’s ranking with local travel flows, per-capita spend trends and the park’s recent investments in operations — those variables determine whether 12.6 million visits translate into scalable retail revenue or require tactical capacity and pricing adjustments.
TEA ranking and regional context
Last Wednesday the Themed Entertainment Association’s (TEA) 2024 Global Experience Index™ again highlighted Asia’s growing weight in global attendance, listing 12 of the top 25 parks — a sign of shifting geographic concentration in demand that matters to operators and investors assessing market reach and competition [1]. The TEA list also names global attendance leaders (Magic Kingdom, Disneyland Park California, Universal Studios Japan and others), which frames Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s 12.6 million visits within a table of world-scale comparators and suggests why regional routing and capacity strategy are commercially important [1]. 48 [1][GPT]
A reported annual attendance of 12.6 million places Chimelong Ocean Kingdom among the world’s highest‑volume parks and implies sustained high‑capacity days that compress guest dwell time for retail and F&B — a dynamic that raises the value of rapid‑turn concessions, express retail flows and queuing retail opportunities for concessionaires and park retailers [1][GPT]. Such volume also increases the likelihood of localized infrastructure stress inside resort clusters (transport, foodservice bottlenecks, entry/exit flows), an operational reality that executives must treat as a capacity‑management and capital‑allocation issue when planning concessions or retail layouts [1][GPT].
Cross‑border sourcing and the Greater Bay Area catchment
Chimelong’s Greater Bay Area location — Hengqin, Zhuhai — places it strategically close to Macau and Guangdong provincial population centres, channels that industry sources and travel platforms identify as primary feeders for Hengqin‑area theme parks and resorts [6]. That proximity supports repeat visitation patterns and day‑trip flows that can concentrate retail spend into short windows, so merchandising strategies that capture impulse spend during peak throughput and targeted high‑margin bundles for return visitors are especially relevant for operators and concession partners [6][GPT].
Operational investments, signature attractions and their commercial ripple
Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s attraction portfolio — including its internationally noted Parrot Coaster, the first B&M wing coaster in Asia — contributes to the park’s market positioning as a large, IP‑light destination whose draw is often ride and marine‑exhibit led rather than franchise dependent; such product mix affects average per‑capita spend and sponsorship profiles, and therefore should be weighed by analysts when modelling retail revenue potential and partnership fit [3][1]. Recent single‑day attendance reports and publicity around record peak days further underline the need for operational investments in crowd flow, point‑of‑sale capacity and F&B throughput to convert visitation into reliable retail earnings [5][1].
Data gaps that matter to investors and analysts
Public metrics cited in the TEA ranking (attendance totals and park position) are essential but incomplete for revenue forecasting: they do not by themselves reveal per‑capita spend, retail penetration, or the split between local and overnight guests — variables that determine whether 12.6 million visits scale into profitable retail income or require pricing and capacity adjustments [1][alert! ‘TEA attendance listings provide rankings and totals but do not publish park‑level per‑capita spend or guest‑origin spend breakdowns’]. Analysts should therefore combine the TEA figure with local travel flow data, operator financial disclosures and on‑site retail performance metrics before drawing revenue conclusions [1][GPT].
Bronnen