Strategies in Theme Park Marketing

Journal of Vacation Marketing

Volume 5 Number 4

Academic Papers
Strategic theming in theme park marketing
Kevin K. F. Wong and Phoebe W. Y. Cheung
Received (in revised form): 20th May, 1999
Department of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail]

Kevin K. F. Wong, PhD is a Senior Lecturer in
Tourism and Manager of the HTM Resource
Centre in the Department of Hotel and Tourism
Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. His major research interests focus on tourism management, tourist behaviour, tourism forecasting models and impact studies.
Phoebe W. Y. Cheung is a research assistant within the Department of Hotel and Tourism
Management at the Hong Kong Polytechnic
University.

ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS: theme park, theming, leisure, motivation, lifestyle

Theme parks aim to create the atmosphere of another world and it is essentially the theme which becomes the main part of a theme park experience.
Thematic tourism has become increasingly popular where travel is motivated by an interest in a particular subject or area rather than by the more traditional motivations such as idyllic scenery and climate. The drawing power of theming is evident in the fact that it has, in recent years, become a catalyst for the growth of new destinations based mainly on thematic leisure.
This study attempts to identify and describe a distinct and representative set of theme types and attributes in a theme park and examines the relationship between visitors ' motivation for visiting theme parks and theme preferences. Weak to mod-

erately strong relationships were found between motivation for theme park visits by visitors and their demographics and lifestyle patterns. Given the fact the theme park industry is still relatively young in
Asia, the ®ndings of this study reinforce the need for
Asian theme parks to focus strategically on

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