Santa Claus is coming to town. And I’m telling you why.
Santa Park Ltd, which runs what is branded as the “official home of Santa Claus” in Finnish Lapland, has teamed up with attraction specialist Lappset Group and Chengdu Floraland Tourism Investment to create a Christmas-themed attraction in Chengdu, China.
The Santa Park of Chengdu will feature 13,000 square meters of attractions intended to emulate the cavern residence of Santa Claus on the Arctic circle, including Santa Claus’ office, elf’s workshop, and Santa Claus’ main post office. The amusement park will be based off the original Santa Park design, which stands in northern Finland and opened in 1997.
“There has been a lot of interest in the authentic Christmas theme park from different parts of the world, especially in Asia,” said Ilkka Lankinen, Santa Park Ltd’s CEO.
“By combining our well-proven Santa Park concept together with Lappset’s solid experience of design and manufacturing of themed attractions, we have made an exceptional concept and a completely new way of thinking of the themed activity solutions.”
Lankinen added, “Establishing a Santa’s theme park in Chengdu is an extension of our well-proven concept to the Chinese market. We will continue running our Santa Park as the official home of Santa in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland, and hope to attract even more Chinese tourists to visit the Arctic Circle.”
In 2007, the Santa Park in Rovaniemi was awarded by Topworld International and placed as the second best Travel Adventure in Finland. The Arctic Circle cuts right through Santa Claus Village at the park; a white line denoting the Arctic Circle is painted across the site, with visitors officially entering the Arctic area when they cross the line.
Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas and Father Christmas, is a figure with legendary, historical and folkloric origins that, in many Western cultures, is said to bring gifts to the homes of well-behaved children on December 24, the night before Christmas Day. Most notably, the figure of Santa Claus comes from a merge between Saint Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century Greek Christian bishop, and Germanic god Odin who in Norse mythology is known as the allfather of the Gods and the ruler of Asgard.
Upon completion in 2016, the Chinese Santa Park will be one of the biggest amusement parks in China. Tero Ylinenpaa, CEO of Lappset, said that he expects to open “another five or six Christmas-themed attractions in the future in China”.
