My girlfriend let me know of this thread from r/Korea.
It seems like there will be new Disney world built in Korea!
In the beginning of June, they'll announce the new Disney world in Korea, second biggest one in Asia. Now the final discussions are being made with 경북도청 (Gyeongbuk regional office) and Disney. Ppl from real estate groups speculate there is a big chance for 김천 (Gimcheon) hitting the jackpot for its vicinity to major city like 대구 (Daegu) and the price of land being cheaper than industrialized parts of 경북 such as 구미 or 칠곡.
Articles and thread for reference:
http://cooknchefnews.com/news/view/1065567129259425
www.kookje.co.kr/mobile/view.asp?gbn=v&code=0300&key=20220511.99099003447
https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/un8c4g/it_seems_like_there_will_be_new_disney_world/
In one of the articles, it seems filled with rumors and doubt. However, there was no denial that Disney is looking for land by a couple of public figures.
Some people who are doubting that it will be built are stating it’s unlikely partly due to its rumored location. Gimcheon is located in between Seoul and Busan, which isn’t the most convenient to get to. But it is also rumored Incheon and Busan are trying to attract Disney as well.
Some other people were doubting it because they wouldn’t get enough visitors or that the Asian market is oversaturated with Disney parks, however, I want to provide the relevant following data:
Everland is South Korea's largest theme park. Located at the Everland Resort in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi-do, it receives 5.85 million visitors annually and was ranked nineteenth in the world for amusement park attendance in 2018. As of 2010, Everland is measured to be approximately 1,200,000 yards in size
The world's largest indoor amusement park, Lotte World gets more than 7 million visitors annually.
It looks like prior to the pandemic, Japan was getting about 18m visitors annually, HK about 7m, and Shanghai was getting 11m. Please excuse if any of these figures are not exact, but this is what I was able to find online. You could also argue that Shanghai has a higher population density, and more opportunity for growth. So even, though their numbers aren’t great, it has more room for improvement.
Having been to both Lotte World and Everland, I can say if Disney does go there, they would blow these parks out of the water.
In the past, Universal had previously tried to build in Korea, but the project fell through, mostly due to funding issues:
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/08/116_212511.html
This also may be different now, since Korea now has a conservative President who is interested in strengthening ties with the US. It was part of his platform. So having government funding may by a bit different this time around.
Anyways, thought it was interesting and thought I would share as it has not been broadcasted in any US news I have seen yet. Not sure what implications this would have on the stock if announced. Feel free to discuss, as I’m interested if it would change anything.
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