Universal Studios Beijing draws impatient crowds amid difficult US-China relations

BEIJING, Sept.20 (Reuters) – The Universal Studios complex in Beijing opened to the public on Monday after a two-decade wait, including delays due to COVID-19.

The much-anticipated opening comes amid U.S.-China relations that have deteriorated dramatically in recent years.

The park will be Universal’s largest based in the United States and the fifth in the world. It’s also a first for Beijing, which lacks a large, branded theme park to rival Disney resorts in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

And, it will be the first universal park with a section dedicated to the movie “Kung Fu Panda” and includes an area based on the Harry Potter franchise, which is popular in China.

Amid light rain and heightened security, a constant stream of visitors carrying umbrellas entered the complex, many saying they were “delighted” to finally be able to see the park.

A staff member from Universal Studios told Reuters visitors were capped at around 10,000 for Monday due to the pandemic, but the park has the capacity to accommodate many more and will do so in the future. .

According to Trip.com Group, the 10,000 tickets for the opening available for presale on September 14 sold out in three minutes.

Beijing-based visitors grabbed 40 percent of tickets for the first month of opening, while the cities of Tianjin and Shanghai were the second and third largest sources of customers, according to travel site qunar.com.

However, many buyers have complained on social media about the cost of tickets, which ranges from 418 yuan ($ 64.76) in low season to 748 yuan during peak periods.

“It is a rare time for a long time when an America-themed topic has garnered such obvious and widespread praise in China,” the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party Daily, wrote last week. in power.

The resort was proposed 20 years ago by the Beijing Tourism Group, according to the official China Daily, and is 30% owned by Universal Parks & Resorts of Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and 70% by state-owned Beijing. Shouhuan Cultural Tourism Investment.

China’s new ambassador to Washington, Qin Gang, compared his roller coaster ride to relations between the two countries.

“After all the falls and jolts, the roller coaster finally landed smoothly,” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Universal Studios announced the development of the complex in 2014, saying at the time that it would cost $ 3.3 billion. In 2017, Comcast chief executive Brian Robert said the park could generate $ 1 billion in operating cash flow per year when it opens.

The park is estimated to earn more than 10 billion yuan ($ 1.6 billion) in revenue per year with up to 12 million visits, according to the Beijing Daily.

($ 1 = 6.4549 yuan)

Additional reporting by Sophie Yu in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Tony Munroe and Christian Schmollinger

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