Sunway Lagoon bags four awards in first half 2018. These include prestigious CTrip award, in recognition of steady influx of Chinese tourists
SUNWAY Lagoon has truly earned itself the moniker of Asia’s Best Theme Park, as it is much touted by visitors from around the globe.
This appellation is further attested and embellished by a host of awards and accolades that the theme park has gleaned in recent times. Among more notable ones in recent times include being recognised as one of the top attractions globally by TripAdvisor and the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA).
Recently, Sunway Lagoon also ranked 13th in the list of the world’s top 20 waterparks worldwide by AECOM in association with the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), the body which manages the AECOM/TEA Theme Index and Museum Index – an annual study of attendance at top theme parks, water parks and museums around the globe.
Without showing any signs of slowing down, Sunway Lagoon continues to garner recognition and patronage from visitors all around the world. Barely into the first half of 2018 alone, the theme park has bagged four more awards to add to its prestigious list of accomplishments.
These include the Going Places Reader’s Choice Awards 2017 in the Best Theme Park category; The BrandLaureate Award in the Nation Branding Awards 2017 – 2018 and the Reader’s Digest Trusted Brand Award 2018 in the Theme Park / Family Attraction category.
However, the icing on the cake, in terms of awards this year certainly came in the form of the Ctrip China Traveler’s Top Spot 2017 Awards, where Sunway Lagoon was awarded the Most Family-Friendly Overseas Scenic Spot.
This esteemed veneration was awarded by Ctrip.com International, a leading provider of travel services including accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and corporate travel management.
Ctrip currently employs over 30,000 people at branches located in major cities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Japan, United States of America, United Kingdom and Australia. “It is truly a humbling honour for us to be the recipient of highly coveted awards, especially by Ctrip,” said Sean Choo, General Manager of Sunway Lagoon.
“Indeed, in recent years, our visitor data has shown a significant and steadily increasing year-on-year flow of tourists from China, indicating that Sunway Lagoon is becoming increasingly popular among Chinese tourists. This is astounding to say the least, and the Ctrip award is certainly a testament to our efforts in attracting more visitors from the republic.”
He explained that some of these efforts include promoting Sunway Lagoon as a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination. In 2016 alone, the theme park saw the implementation of three large Chinese MICE themed dinners at its Surf Beach which involved the attendance of over 3000 guests.
Taking a cue from the heavy use of online transactions and bookings by Chinese tourists, Sunway Lagoon has also trained its marketing targets on China further by focusing on digital penetration through social media platforms and engaging content by Chinese Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to entice Chinese tourists further.
“We believe the onslaught of visitors from China to Sunway Lagoon is two-pronged. Firstly, it is a direct result of our intense efforts to attract more tourists from the region, which has shown a huge potential in recent years. In this regard, we have the employees of Sunway Lagoon to thank for their massive concerted efforts towards this objective. And our hard work certainly seems to have paid off, as can be attested by this award,” said Choo.
“Secondly, however, we also believe that we have a truly unique product offering with Sunway Lagoon. We have certainly epitomised the ‘parks within a park’ concept with six parks in total sprawled over 88 acres including an Amusement Park, Extreme Park, Scream Park, Water Park, wildlife park and the Nickelodeon Lost Lagoon,” he added.
Sunway Lagoon’s six parks are home to more than 90 constantly updated attractions, which by themselves have become world-renowned in their own right, including one of the longest suspension bridges in the world, ‘first-in-the-world’ attractions such as the highly acclaimed Vuvuzela and Sunway Lagoon’s Surf Beach, which has been the venue of many global events including the MTV World Stage and Asia’s Got Talent.
Moving forward, Sunway Lagoon remains optimistic in attracting more visitors from around the world, including China, through its unique offering and heightened marketing efforts. The prospects certainly look promising.
For now, however, Sunway Lagoon has more than enough to show for itself, with a proud showcase of its awards line-up this year alone – with more to come, no doubt. It is, after all, Asia’s most loved theme park.
For more information, visit website at www.sunwaylagoon.com
