VietNamNet Bridge - The children entertainment market which serves 25 percent of the population, or customers aged less than 14, is worth VND60 trillion.

In 2013-2014, investors began pouring hundreds of billions of dong into amusement parks for children. 

Thieu Nhi Moi spent VND200 billion to develop tiNiWorld chain with 20 tiNiWorlds all over the country. 

Him Lam Phat trien Tri tue Tree m Viet JSC developed Vietopia on an area of 22,000 square meters with VND520 billion. KizCity was developed on an area of 20,000 square meters in Khanh Hoi Park with VND40 billion, while Kizworld 5,500 square meters in Parkson Flemington. 

Meanwhile, Vingroup, a real estate giant, has set up a chain of shopping, entertainment and health consultancy services called Kids World with 9,000 square meters in Hanoi and 5,000 square meters in HCM City.

The common characteristic of the amusement complexes is that they comprise many items to satisfy children’s demands for play, entertainment, skill development and parents’ demand for shopping and relaxation.

tiNiWorld offers games which allow children to play and develop thinking, while Kizworld and Vietopia give children opportunities to experience learning through the roles of doctors, firefighters and bakers. Kis World organizes attracts children to toy, fashion, bookstore and sweets centers.

Vietnamese urban parents and children have shown great interest in the amusement parks which remain unfamiliar in Vietnam. However, though the market is very promising, investors say it is not easy to run amusement parks.

Thuy Bui, deputy general director of KizCity, said there are too many strong rivals in the market and she does not intend to expand the chain in the short term.

The biggest challenge for amusement parks for children is that games and services need to be renovated regularly to attract customers – the children would quickly get fed up with old games and reject repeated experiences. Meanwhile, it would be costly and heady to regularly change games and renovate services.

Vietnamese children like to role-play career experiences when acting as doctors and firefighters. However, it is very difficult for investors to find the premises large enough to set up the parks.

Such parks would require large investment rate, large land areas and long time to take back investment capital. 

Vietopia said the operation cost is VND3.5-4 billion a month. This is why it has to set a high ticket fee – VND280,000 per ticket, which is higher than other parks which charge VND200,000 only. Meanwhile, tiNiWorld is the choice for many parents as the admission ticket to the park is VND80,000 only.

According to Thomas Ngo, CEO of Thieu Nhi Moi, the market is still very attractive with a minimum profitability of 30 percent per annum.

NCDT