With the upgrading of commercial real estate, indoor commercial playgrounds have also ushered in unprecedented development opportunities. According to incomplete statistics, the scale of China’s indoor playground market has reached more than 100,000, and it is expected to reach a market size of about 200 billion in 2026. When traditional indoor parks meet new demands, multi-format integration, high-tech applications, content output, and all-age development have become new trends. The indoor amusement market is in the ascendant.
1. The 3.0 era of indoor amusement
Today, the forms of commercial real estate are more diversified, including shopping centers, commercial pedestrian streets, professional markets, etc. There are also related supporting industries that develop synchronously with commercial real estate. After experiencing the initial forms of markets, pedestrian streets, department stores, etc., commercial real estate has also entered the post-4.0 era, and more leisure and entertainment methods have emerged. Among them, one of the most noteworthy formats that is closely related to the cultural and tourism industry is an indoor playground for parent-child families, which integrates amusement, leisure, sports, animals, technology, and other multi-functional experiences. Today, indoor parks have become one of the important investment projects for the normalization of shopping centers to stabilize parent-child passenger flow.
Indoor commercial playgrounds are transforming towards business integration, high technology, and content output. The IP of theme parks is richer. At the same time, they break the traditional aesthetics and begin to rely on a stronger and immersive layout experience, combined with more content output to form emotional value.
2. 200 billion blue ocean
The report “2024 Indoor Park Insights and Trend Research of the New “Room” World of Amusement” (hereinafter referred to as “Amusement Research”) shows that the passenger flow of China’s indoor parks increased from 880 million to 1.02 billion from 2015 to 2021, and it is expected that the passenger flow of China’s indoor parks will exceed 1.1 billion in 2025.
According to incomplete statistics, the market size of indoor playgrounds in China has reached more than 100,000, increasing from 10 billion in 2016 to 100 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach a market size of about 200 billion in 2026.
Behind the 200 billion market size is the support of countless parent-child families, but adults are also a group that cannot be ignored. “Recreation Research” shows that 53.5% of parent-child groups go to indoor parks 1-2 times a month, and 35.7% of adults travel together, going to indoor parks once every 2-3 months. Even in first-tier cities, there are more adult companions, and more adults go at least once a month.
Among the group of people with children, those born in the 1980s and 1990s are the main force in taking care of children. Among them, those born in the 1990s refuse to accompany their children alone. Relatives and friends are “play partners”. They value family atmosphere and interaction, and encourage children to have their own interests and hobbies; at the same time, they are also “children who never grow up” and are willing to experience and grow up with their children. Children are the age group with the highest presence in indoor parks, and older children have a deeper preference for indoor parks.
From pure entertainment to education and entertainment
It is worth noting that the demand for indoor parks by many parent-child families has also changed from pure entertainment to education and entertainment. Parents hope that their children can gain knowledge and broaden their horizons through leisure and entertainment. At the same time, they also hope to use the opportunity of indoor park entertainment to enhance family affection and let their children gain a sense of accomplishment in the process of interacting with their peers.
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3. How to go out of the “outdoors”
Compared with outdoor parks, indoor parks have limited space and it is difficult to set up super-large amusement facilities and large-scale landscapes, lack of natural landscapes and fresh air, and the immersive experience is slightly weak, the high rent in the business district leads to expensive ticket prices, and there are no stimulating entertainment projects for children. Various factors have limited the development of indoor parks.
“When the weather is bad, you can go shopping and experience it, “but I don’t want to go after playing once. This is the real thought of many adults facing indoor parks.
Some concerns from parents
Although indoor commercial playgrounds have the advantage of not being affected by weather factors and the target groups are relatively clear, many preschool parent-child families will love them, but some parents will also raise their own concerns about the safety and hygiene of indoor parks, and even factors such as long queues and worries about not being able to find children will be considered by parents.
According to the concerns of parent-child families and the needs of adults, the current development of indoor parks is also exploring the addition of more ways to play and serving different consumer groups. For example, for family tourists, the service level is focused on improving, the number of regional staff is increased, child care services are added, the rest area is combined with the entertainment area, and the theme specialty catering, coffee and milk tea and other products are added to the rest area to reduce the sense of loss and distrust of family tourists. In terms of products, projects that require parents to participate in the experience, such as skill experience and family economic challenges, are added to increase family participation.
Older children and adults need more personalized choices
For families with older children and adults with more personalized needs, the starting point is to increase product types, integrate sports, outdoor exploration, science and technology culture, and other elements, and implant popular IP elements to cultivate characteristic scenes. Even indoor parks with conditions will add script killing, performing arts, and other elements, so that parents waiting for their children can also do what they like when accompanying their children.
Nowadays, indoor commercial playgrounds are not only a place for entertainment, but some of them even add elements of research and study, making full use of the scenes and facilities of indoor venues to stimulate children’s interests and hobbies, so that participating children can acquire knowledge different from books through actual touch and feeling, thus bringing a deeper learning experience.
In the future, the field of indoor amusement will continue to realize a layout system that is more integrated with content and more immersive, realize more personalized needs through limited space, and strive to meet the needs of more consumer groups of different ages.
The new blue ocean of 200 billion yuan should not be limited to a small corner of a certain business district. The “utopia” of play under the ceiling may be creating a broader world of cultural tourism.
