VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the economic crisis, Vietnamese parents don’t cut down the budgets for food, children’s study and entertainment. Having realized this, more and more mini children amusement parks have arisen, especially in the suburbs, where the land fund remains profuse.

According to Do Thi Bich Tram, Managing Director of New Play Yard, which gives consultancy and the service of installing amusement parks, the investment rate is VND560 million on average for an amusement park, which includes VND300 million to be spent on children’s toys and VND260 million on pre-engineered house. The playing field is about 200 square meters.

With the current high demand, the investors would be able to take back the investment capital just after half a year. It would take them 3 months only if they open the amusement parks in summer, when children spend more time on play and less time on study.

The reports of the market survey firms all showed that despite the economic crisis, which has forced them to cut the spending on traveling and luxurious things, they don’t intend to cut down the budgets on food and their children’s activities.

Ho Mai Lan, an office worker in Cau Giay district, said ½ of her family’s budget is spent on the child’s tuition and entertainment activities. “I have cut the expenses on my clothes and traveling, but I need to be sure that my child can get the best things she wants,” Lan said.

Meanwhile, a lot of parents complain that popular amusement parks for children have been seriously lacking in big cities.

When asked where she brings her child to on weekend, Lan said that the favorite “destinations” of her daughter are the online game centers located at shopping centers or the games centers at resorts.

However, not all the parents can afford such expensive games like Lan. Do Manh Khoa, a parent in Hanoi complained that there is nowhere in Hanoi to go to with the children on weekend. The Thong Nhat Park and Thu Le Zoo prove to be the good choices, but one cannot go there every week.

A report showed that Vietnam has some 25 million of children aged from zero to 16, which accounts for 28 percent of the total population. Meanwhile, the number of amusement centers for children remains very modest, even in the big cities of Hanoi or HCM City.

In HCM City, for example, there are 1.7 million children aged less than 16, but there are only 17 big scaled amusement parks. The big entertainment centers which provide high services, such as Suoi Tien, KizCiti or Dam Sen, are all located far from the city’s center and they always charge high fees. Therefore, they cannot become the places children want to go to usually.

In such conditions, developing mini amusement centers proves to be a good idea for small investors. They spend money once only and don’t have to spend further money on re-investment.

Tram said that New Play Yard has had 378 clients who have developed amusement parks in 12 cities and province nationwide, mostly in the suburbs of big cities.

In principle, the location of the amusement centers would determine the success of the business. Since the mini centers target popular customers, they mostly serve the limited number of children in the localities.

NCDT