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Universal Studios settle in Beijing

(People's Daily Online)    10:58, October 15, 2014
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A conceptual image of the Beijing Universal theme park(Photo/Global Times)

After all these years, Universal Studios Beijing is about to be unveiled to the public. On Oct. 13th 2014 Beijing Tourism Group, Beijing Shouhuan Cultural and Tourism Investment Co. Ltd.(BSH Investment), and Comcast NBC Universal announced the opening of a Hollywood-Themed Resort in Beijing Tongzhou, a suburb of China's capital city. Universal Studios Beijing will be Universal Studios' third facility in Asia after Singapore and Tokyo. Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission have filed an application to begin construction, with the aim of opening in 2019.

According to chairman Duan Qiang of Beijing Tourism Group and BSH Investment, the idea to build a Hollywood-Themed Resort in Beijing was proposed in 2001. Now, after 13 years of elaborate preparation, it is finally going ahead.

Tom Williams, chairman and CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, noted that the major reasons why his company chose Beijing for its new theme park are the "large number of tourists" coming to the city and the "fast growth of the country's economy."

The investment in this sizable project will be about 20 billion yuan. Comcast NBC Universal will be responsible for 70 percent of the total investment, and BSH Investment will contribute 30 percent. In contrast to the theme parks in Singapore and Tokyo, this will be the first time that Comcast NBC Universal itself has made an overseas investment.

The park and its supporting facilities will occupy a 120-hectare site in Tongzhou district in Beijing. It will be accompanied by a Universal CityWalk entertainment complex featuring multiple retail, dining and entertainment outlets, and a Universal-themed resort hotel. According to the press release, after additional phases are built the resort will ultimately extend to 400 hectares.

Tongzhou district will especially benefit from the theme park in terms of tourism, retail, restaurants and real estate as it currently has no strong industry or services to support the area's economy. Moreover, Beijing's plans a new monorail named "East fourth ring road – Theme Parks", which will start from Wangjing and terminate at the new attraction. A proposal for the new monorail is currently being processed. 

This article is edited and translated from 《环球影城项目落户通州》,source: Beijing News

(Editor:Yao Xinyu、Huang Jin)
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