Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Issue 68 Editorials

Singing the praises of Singapore (and other Asian countries)

Martin Palicki, IPM publisher

After three years of visiting Chinese cities (Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai), the IAAPA Asian Attractions Expo is headed to Singapore. Although China deservedly gets much attention for the rapid growth of leisure based entertainment, Singapore should be recognized as an early adopter in the region.

To be fair, Japan and South Korea are also leaders. All three countries have been pioneers in Asia with regards to developing themed entertainment destinations.

In the 1970s Singapore established Sentosa Island as a vacation and entertainment destination. Today, the resort is home to Universal Studios, a casino, upscale hotels and a variety of attractions and shows, including the Thea-honored Wings of Time and the iconic Crane Dance.

Across the water, Gardens by the Bay (also a Thea recipient) combines horticulture with lighting, audio and entertainment in a delightfully inviting and fun way.

All of this is to say, of course, that while China holds the lion’s share of potential for future growth, there are established markets elsewhere in Asia that have capacity for additional development, not to mention the virtually untapped or burgeoning markets in places like India, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia.

In this issue, the experts at ECA update us on the projects and players in Asia, and we also examine the markets around the globe that The Producers Group has been involved in over the past few years.

If you’re attending IAAPA’s Asian Attraction Expo, be sure to pick up a copy of InPark in the publication bins. Keep an eye out for me, as well. If you’re attending InfoComm, Joe Kleiman will be there, also with copies of InPark.

The age of enlightenment (for entertainment technology)

Judith Rubin, IPM editor

It’s a great age of entertainment technology and the manufacturers are sharing directly in the vision and excitement, often participating hands-on in the creative applications of their product. Used to be, we’d query a manufacturer about what recent projects featured their products and they would shrug and lament that the information was hard to come by. But nowadays the manufacturer may well be the first to share such news.

Manufacturers are partnering with entertainment operators and creative groups. They collaborate ever more closely with integrators, technical designers and end users – setting up new verticals within their companies to address market niches, recruiting product specialists who are passionate and knowledgeable, enlisting end users as beta testers. Of course this includes themed entertainment – where seamless applications of technology are essential and the industry is exploding with growth on six continents.

Manufacturers have changed the way they talk about their products – they are not black boxes, they are tools of storytelling and experience.

InPark brings their voices directly to you through coverage of such companies as Christie, Evans & Sutherland and Panasonic. We chronicle how those technologies apply to content creation, media production and new forms of immersive storytelling via producers, integrators, designers, artisans, artists and operators such as WDI, TPG, Holovis, Alterface and iconpath.

We look at how guests experience them in the parks, from experts such as our new contributors from Rosen School of Hospitality. That is our job and our passion at InPark Magazine: to tell the never-ending story of an industry.

Joe Kleiman
Joe Kleimanhttp://wwww.themedreality.com
Raised in San Diego on theme parks, zoos, and IMAX films, InPark's Senior Correspondent Joe Kleiman would expand his childhood loves into two decades as a projectionist and theater director within the giant screen industry. In addition to his work in commercial and museum operations, Joe has volunteered his time to animal husbandry at leading facilities in California and Texas and has played a leading management role for a number of performing arts companies. Joe previously served as News Editor and has remained a contributing author to InPark Magazine since 2011. HIs writing has also appeared in Sound & Communications, LF Examiner, Jim Hill Media, The Planetarian, Behind the Thrills, and MiceChat His blog, ThemedReality.com takes an unconventional look at the attractions industry. Follow on twitter @ThemesRenewed Joe lives in Sacramento, California with his wife, dog, and a ghost.

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