Mr Yao Yongshu, Vice President of Dalang Group, shares his opinion on this subject.

The development of water amusement park in China can be divided into two different phases.

From the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up Policy in China to 2007, we consider it as the first phase. During this stage, only Dalang was able to be recognised as the water park equipment supplier, while all other similar companies in the industry was called pool equipment suppliers. The primary business scope of these companies were supplying related machineries and equipment to water treatment, hot spring and hydrotherapy, sauna and SPA facilities. The customer usually included hotels, real estates and gyms.

The completion of Chimelong Water Park marked the end of the era and the industry entered the second phase. The success of the Chimelong Water Park display huge potential of water park entertainment to the Chinese market and brought the entire industry into the next step, not just in operation but also in ideas. Starting from there, the development of water park has become unbelievably fast and become one of the most competitive investment projects to businessmen. It is no longer just a supporting facility of the traditional amusement park.

In the past 12 years, industry marketers have observed and found out the demand as well as pain spots. Through the thorough understanding of this market, the breakthrough points and the future direction of the water park were discussed. Within all the ideas produced, the trend of parent-child entertainment is one essential component to have in-depth discovery.

Differentiated by the age of the child

To better manage this parent-child trend in the industry, we should not simply consider it as the interaction between adults and kids. Allocating them into four various groups on age differences are the most accessible methods to achieve results at this moment according the Dalang’s researches:

1. 3-6 years old: focus on experience, such as music fountain and water treading area;
2. 7-10 years old: participation is the key, for example, small water slide and water log;
3. 11-14 years old: interaction such as surfing and water battle;
4. 15-18 years old: provocative activities, for instance, huge water playground and tsunami and wave simulation.

According to these findings, Dalang was able to cater different activities and develop specific equipment for these demands. Opening Super Trumpet and Pearl Shell are two new products specially developed for the purpose of interactivity. There are all other kinds of new amusement equipment that serve various age groups, which not only encourage children to be courageous but also strengthen the interaction between parent and their kids.

In fact, all water parks that Dalang involved have this special parent-child features to a certain extent, but the proportion is different base on the actual demand. To further stimulate the need of more advanced and modern water park entertainment, Dalang does not just stop here. In the future, we are planning to add virtual reality and physical sense interaction into our product, such as dynamic music fountain and VR black hole water slide.

To the future

Dalang as the leading supplier in the water park industry, will keep observing and researching on the most trending topics and the most demanding user requirement to improve quality and satisfaction rate. Without forgetting the most important element –safety—being interactive, challenging and educational will be three major pillars to direct our business growth.