Theme park business back to pre-Covid levels, Wonderla to focus on two new parks for growth

The theme park business continues to see growth in footfalls with business going back to pre-COVID levels for Wonderla and Imagicaa that recorded another strong quarter during the July-August-September period.

On back of revenue growth, the two companies are looking at business expansion. While Wonderla is focusing on building two new parks, Imagicaa is looking at increasing capacity of its water park.

"We are looking at almost Rs 60 crore CAPEX (capital expenditure) to be put in the business for capacity expansion and there is one large investment to become environmentally conscious and for use of renewable energy because currently our power cost is second largest guzzler in terms of expenses. It will be through internal accruals and we will not be borrowing, said Imagicaaworld Entertainment CEO Dhimant Bakshi told Moneycontrol.

He said that water park capacity will be enhanced by 25-30 percent as they see a steady growth in that business.

With things back on track after two years of Covid challenges, Wonderla is focusing on expansion to two new parks--- Chennai and Odisha. "We hope to start construction in Chennai by end of the year. We are waiting to hear from Tamil Nadu government. For Odisha park, we have already started designing it. We are also adding new rides in existing parks," said Arun K Chittilappilly, managing director of Wonderla Holidays.

In Q2 FY23, Wonderla reported profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 10.5 crore as against Rs 0.16 crore in Q2 FY20. Gross revenue for the second quarter stood at Rs 69.7 crore as versus Rs 43.9 crore during Q2 FY20. The theme park operator reported footfalls of 4.7 lakh as against 3.57 lakh in Q2 FY20.

The Bangalore park recorded 1.91 lakh footfalls, 35 percent higher than Q2 FY20, Kochi saw 1.72 lakh footfalls, 38 percent higher and Hyderabad park registered 1.06 lakh footfalls, 18 percent more than Q2 FY20. The company said that park revenue was up by 61 percent compared to Q2 FY20 and recorded an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 1,321.

Festive demand has been strong and that momentum to continue in Q3, said Chittilappilly. He added that in September, there was a price increase by 7 percent across all parks. "This year, all price increase is done and next increase will be in January or March next year."

Imagicaa saw its park revenue increase by 37.3 percent at Rs 26.2 crore versus Rs 19.1 crore in Q2 FY20. Footfalls grew 7.7 percent to 1.7 lakh versus 1.3 lakh in Q2 FY20.