Keeping them coming back for more

In northern China, operators face another challenge: the weather. Outdoor attractions can struggle through the coldest months, leaving businesses with low traffic for long periods.

Yao recalls that Beijing Happy Valley once had few visitors for three months during winter. An attempt to draw people with a temple fair attracted more interest.

Some operators have turned to indoor attractions to reduce their dependence on good weather. Harbin Ice-Snow World in Heilongjiang province has developed the 23,800-square-meter Dream Ice and Snow Pavilion to offer indoor ice-and-snow experiences year-round.

In Dalian, Liaoning province, a former refrigeration factory has been converted into Xiongdong Street, an indoor leisure destination featuring a giant animatronic polar bear that can walk, turn its head, blink, breathe, and roar.

"The old factory's walls keep the seasonal problem that troubles northern entertainment projects outside," Yao says.

The projects in Harbin and Dalian address the limits imposed by winter. Elsewhere, operators face a different challenge: serving visitors whose budgets and expectations differ from those of customers at major destination resorts.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, says tourism must be more inclusive as leisure and entertainment become part of everyday life. More people are traveling from county towns and rural areas, while their expectations of an outing vary widely.

During a visit to Linquan county in Anhui province, Dai saw a child pay 20 yuan for a five-minute ride on a small amusement train. The child kept coming back for another ride until the owner told staff to let the child ride for free.

He believes the scene captures emotional value that doesn't depend on elaborate facilities or expensive tickets.

For the child, the pleasure lay in riding the train again and again, and the owner's gesture allowed that enjoyment to continue, he explains.

"Emotional value and the experience economy may once have been optional choices, but today they have become questions we have to answer," Dai says.

The challenge, he says, is to understand what visitors want rather than build facilities first and assume that customers will come.

For theme parks, understanding those differences also means rethinking how long visitors spend at a destination, experts say.

"Tourism succeeds when you find ways to make visitors stay longer," Yao says.

He points to Hengqin Chimelong Resort in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, where Chimelong Ocean Kingdom and Chimelong Spaceship Park are part of a larger resort with five hotels. Together, they give families more options for turning a day at the parks into a multi-day holiday.