SantaPark Themed Attraction To Open In Chengdu, China

Two Finnish companies operating in the experience industry export their unique knowhow in Christmas experience design to China. In 2016, SantaPark Ltd, owner of the official home of Santa Claus, and Lappset Group Ltd, a specialist in themed activity attractions, have signed on the 14th of September 2014 a strategic partnership agreement on design and construction of a Christmas themed activity attraction with Floraland Tourism Investment Co. Ltd., one of the most successful operators of amusement parks in China. SantaPark’s and Lappset’s common partner in China, Chengdu Pureland Investment Co Ltd, will be in charge of developing the local cultural activities.

Deng Xing, General Manager of Chengdu Floraland Tourism Investment Co. Ltd.;

“It is a great honor for us to be the first one who cooperate with Santa Park project from Finland. We are confident and capable to have this great project as a successful sample of the cultural cooperation between China and Finland. In our opinion, this is not only an entertainment park, but also a great bridge of Sino-Fin friendship. It will be an important vehicle to drive Floraland into International resort.”

According to the agreement, SantaPark will bring its expertise and knowhow of designing unique and authentic Christmas experiences, experience design and service design to the project. Lappset‘s creative team is responsible for the design of the physical site and production of the equipment to the new attraction. The theme park based on the SantaPark Concept will comprise 10.000 square meters indoor area, and it will open June 2016 in Floraland Chengdu.

CEO Ilkka Lankinen of SantaPark Ltd.;

”There has been a lot of interest in the authentic Christmas theme park from different parts of the world, especially in Asia. By combining our well proven SantaPark Concept together with Lappset’s solid experience of design and manufacturing of themed attractions, we have made an exceptional concept and a completely new way of thinking of the themed activity solutions. Floraland has a great reputation in operating several theme parks, and we are proud to work with them to establish the first SantaPark theme park in China that will bring families and friends together in an active learning and magical Christmas atmosphere.”

Located in Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle, in Finnish Lapland, SantaPark has been chosen the best Christmas destination in the world by Forbes business magazine, among others. 

“Establishing a Santa’s theme park in Chengdu, is an extension of our well-proven concept to the Chinese market. We will continue running our SantaPark as the official home of Santa in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland, and hope to attract even more Chinese tourists to visit the Arctic Circle.”, Lankinen continues. 
Lappset Group Ltd has designed and provided a great number of large themed activity attractions to many countries during the past decade; the UK, China, Russia, Malaysia, Canary Islands and Finland. The company has been awarded with multiple international awards for its innovations.

CEO Tero Ylinenpää of Lappset Group Ltd.;

“This cooperation extends our business of branded themed attractions. Santa Claus is one of the most recognized figures in the world and together with SantaPark’s expertise in the Christmas experiences, we have created a concept that can be easily adapted to different markets. We are extremely excited about the opportunity to work together with Floraland in establishing the new theme park in 2016. After the opening of the first SantaPark in Chengdu, we expect together with our partners to open another five or six Christmas themed attractions in the future in China."

Families travelling with children look for authentic experiences. The demand for active holidays with both physical and emotional experiences is growing in the tourism industry. Particularly in China, parents prefer destinations, where children can learn through playful activities. 

Cooperation agreement between the parties is also an example of the Finno-Chinese cultural interaction. The parties hope to attract also other Finnish brands to the Finland Street of the SantaPark in Chengdu.

For additional information, please contact;
- CEO Tero Ylinenpaa, Lappset Group Ltd., tel. +358 400 290 234, first.lastname@lappset.com
- CEO Ilkka Länkinen, SantaPark Ltd., puh. +358 50 517 6989, ilkka@santapark.com
- Experience Director Katja Ikäheimo-Länkinen, SantaPark Ltd., tel. +358 50 517 6982, katja@santapark.com

SantaPark Ltd.
SantaPark Ltd was established in 1997 and it offers unique Christmas experiences in Santa’s Home cavern in Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi, Finland. The company provides services of The Official Santa Claus of Finland under their ProSanta Ltd and six star exclusive Joulukka , Santa’s Secret Forest attraction as well as tailored VIP travel services through Lapland Luxury. In 2009, Mr Ilkka Länkinen and Mrs Katja Ikäheimo-Länkinen acquired the majority of the SantaPark Ltd. Ever since, they have continuously and consistently developed the experience concept and services. Forbes Magazine chose SantaPark as the best Christmas destination in the world in 2011. SantaPark has also been awarded with the Golden Pony Award by the Games & Park Industry. www.santapark.com

Lappset Group Ltd.
Finland-based Lappset Group Ltd with headquarters in Rovaniemi, Arctic Circle, is a family-owned private company and one of the world’s leading enterprises of design and manufacture of themed attractions. During the past years, Lappset has designed, manufactured and installed several large indoor and outdoor themed attraction facilities in a variety of countries; in the UK, China, Russia, Canary Islands, Malaysia and Finland. Established in 1970, the Group has an extensive experience in creating and providing playful learning experiences to people of all ages through playgrounds, sports areas and turn-key themed activity attractions. Located in the north of Finland in Lapland, the Group has manufacturing facilities in three European countries, an international network of subsidiaries in 7 different countries and a distributor network extending to more than 50 countries worldwide. Lappset Group Ltd has been awarded with several international design recognitions during the past years; the Red Dot Design Award in 2014. www.lappset.com

Brief introduction of CFTI, Floraland, Zhixin Group

The investor of this proposed SantaPark project is Chengdu Floraland Tourism Investment Company (CFTI). Its biggest shareholder is Chengduo Zhixin Group Industrial Co.,Ltd , Chengdu Jiulian Investment Co.,Ltd is the second. Its business scales including  real estate development, investment, exploitation and management of tourism  projects, investment, exploitation and management of retirement projects, hotel investment and management, construction of municipal infrastructures and so on. 

Its subordinated project, Floraland International Resort (FIR) is the first big, high-end tourism project in Southwest of China. CFTI was established on 5th, March, 2010, as an independent legal entity, invested and owned by Chengdu Zhixin Group.  Its registered capital is as high as 369 million RMB. It is also a well-known compound project of tourism themes including hotel, transportation, tourism, shopping and entertainment.  The overall investment of this project is more than 10 billion RMB. Ever since this resort opened in 2007, its average number of annual visitors has been as many as 15 million, and it turns in as much as 30 million RMB for the tax revenue.  FIR won the ‘National Advanced Entertainment Park’ award in 2007 and 2008.It is the demonstration base for tourism talent education.  FIR earns its reputation as being ‘Chengdu’ Tenth attraction’, ‘Chengdu’s back yard’ ‘Chengduese own Park’. Recently, FIR is the pioneer project for coordinating urban and rural development and tourism development, and it is stepping into world-class.

The parent company of CFTI is Chendu Zhixin Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (CZIG), and it was established in 1997. CZIG is a cross-area, cross-industry Group Company with an investment holding pattern and it mainly focuses on real estate. Through wholly owned, joint stock and holding shares, CZIG has ventured separately in residential industry, commercial industry, industrial estate, tourism culture, Theme Park, construction of municipal infrastructure and management service of cars.  Consisting of industrial park development, real estate exploitation, cars trade and compound management and service, its four core sectors with a management/service crystallize the concept of ‘Think for you wiser, work for you better’. CZIG is a famous trademark in Sichuan. Since it was established, CZIG won the top real estate enterprise in Sichuan quite a few times, as well as the most respectful real estate brand. Its enterprise brand, product brand and service brand have been in the leading positions for years. CZIG was awarded as the Top 30 real-estate brand in September of 2009; its brand value was as high as 2.616 billion RMB.

Brief Introduction of Pureland.

For 16 years, Pureland has insisted on study and practice of culture, and put forward a remarkable number of strategic plans, cultural plans, conceptual plans, media brand marketing plans as well as international cultural exchange services for [composite tourism resort], [composite urban business project], [composite eco-agricultural project] and [composite industrial park].
 
In 2012, Pureland established partnership with internationally top family businesses to develop more culture carriers of the most humanistic experience and most international feelings with international culture resources, and the year 2014 witnessed its successful formation of a strategic cooperation relationship with top membership enterprises under the Finland Commerce Union with a history of 115 years, in order to structure a Sino-Finland culture exchange and cooperation platform.
 
Recently, Pureland has turned into one of the culture promoters with the most creative value in China.