Universal Studios South Korea

Universal Studios South Korea is a future theme park to be constructed in the vicinity of Seoul, South Korea. The park would become the sixth Universal Studios theme park in the world, and the fourth in Asia, after Universal Studios Japan and the future Universal Studios Dubai and Universal Studios Singapore, upon its projected opening in 2012. The park will be constructed by a consortium including Universal Parks and Resorts, USKOR and Associates and POSCO Engineering.

Development history

Universal Studios South Korea was first announced on May 22, 2007 by Frank P. Stanek, the president of USKOR and Associates. [ [http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSSEO1700820070522?pageNumber=1 Universal to bring King Kong, Spider-Man to South Korea | Entertainment | Industry | Reuters ] ] While the announcement confirmed that they intended to construct a park in the country, USKOR declined to elaborate on other major details, such as a location and a construction budget, although local officials in the Gyeonggi-do province state that Ansan and Pyeongtaek are among the candidates to host the park. [http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20071028001 Gyeonggi governor meets Universal Studios chief on theme park construction | Korea.net News ] ] On November 27, 2007 Universal Parks & Resorts announced that the park will be constructed in Hwaseong, located south of Seoul and also near Incheon International Airport, and has been allotted a budget of USD $3.1 billion. [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/5330802.html]

The selection of South Korea for another theme park was based on many factors. Thomas L. Williams, president of Universal Parks and Resorts, specifically mentioned the country's strong economic growth and its love of American movies. He also noted that approximately half of South Korea's population lived near Seoul. The nation's proximity to China was not lost on the development team. Stanek said, "What we are hoping to do is to bring in a world class attraction not only for the Korean people but to draw tourism to this country."

The provincial governor, Kim Moon-su, estimates that Universal Studios South Korea could generate 2.9 trillion won (USD $3.2 billion) in foreign investment, 190 million won per year in tax revenues and 60,000 new jobs.

Park design

No specifics on the layout or attraction lineup were mentioned during the May 2007 press conference, although both USKOR and Universal suggested that the future park might be larger than both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan. The park will most likely include popular attractions from its sister parks, such as those based on "Spider-Man", "King Kong", and "Jurassic Park".

It was noted, however, that the park would be influenced not only by American movie icons, but those of the South Korean film industry, as well.

Competition

Universal Studios South Korea will be entering a competitive market, with both established theme parks and others future projects announced by rival studios. The day before the park was made public, MGM had announced plans for a future park in Shanghai, China, which itself was unveiled after Viacom subsidiary Paramount Pictures announced it was exploring the potential for its own theme park near Seoul. Each of these parks would be going up against two popular local parks, Everland and Lotte World. Everland hosted 7.5 million guests in 2006, ranking it fourth in Asia behind the two Tokyo Disney Resort parks and Universal Studios Japan, while Lotte World attracted 5.5 million guests to land in fifth place. [http://www.themeit.com/attendance_report2006.pdf]

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