Biggest theme park in eastern China to open

BEIJING, April 2 -- Shanghai is expected to open a new entertainment park that is almost 10 times bigger than the Jinjiang Amusement Park in 2010, Labor Daily reported Wednesday.

The 87-hectare Joy Valley Theme Park, at the center of Sheshan resort area in northwestern Shanghai, will start operating in 2010 but some of its entertainment attractions will be open to the public in September next year, the report said.

It will also be a longstanding site for the annual Global Carnival, the report said.

Workers will start to install some facilities in June for what is being touted as the biggest entertainment park in eastern China, it added.

The four-billion-yuan (US$572 million) Joy Valley will be home to an amusement park, a hotel, and a conference center and a theatre with an audience capacity of more than 5,000, the report said.

The park is expected to receive five million to seven million visitors every year, according to previous reports.

Shanghai welcomed more than 6.6 million tourists from overseas and 102 million domestic travelers last year, which led to a total revenue of 207.48 billion yuan, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)