CHINA: Wang Jianlin Chairman Dalian Wanda Group Promises To Invest $14.7 Billion In Tourism

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd said on Friday it will increase its investment in the southern province of Hunan by 100 billion yuan ($14.69 billion) to build a mega cultural and tourism project and 15 shopping malls.

Wanda, owned by China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, said most of the investment will go to Changsha, Hunan's capital city. It will add five more "Wanda Plaza" shopping malls in the city, and spend 50 billion yuan to build a "Wanda City" - a development that usually includes theme parks, shopping malls, hotels and residential projects.

"The entry of Wanda Plazas will significantly raise the business standard in Hunan cities, stimulate consumption, increase stable tax income and create a lot of jobs in the service industry," Wanda said in a statement. They will "enhance the transformation and upgrade of Hunan's economic structure."

Wanda is building similar projects around the country, betting that China's rising incomes will drive more domestic tourism. Wang said that Wanda would look to build at least 20 such complexes in China.

The group last saw the opening of a tourism park in the eastern city of Hefei in September.

Wang has been open about his rivalry with Walt Disney Co which opened a $5.5 billion resort in Shanghai in June.

Wanda Cultural Tourism Planning & Research Institute and Xishuangbanna Water Park were recently awarded a Leading Edge Award from the World Waterpark Association (WWA).

WWA, headquartered in United States, is the only authoritative organization in the international waterpark industry.

On October 19, Wanda Hotels & Resorts held its 2016 exhibition in Wanda Sofitel Beijing. 100 hotels owned by Wanda comprehensively showed the elegant demeanor of the four owned luxury hotel brands – Wanda Reign, Wand Vista, Wanda Realm and Wanda Jin to the industry.

On November 11, Wanda Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Changsha Municipal Government of Hunan Province. Under the agreement, Wanda Group will invest another RMB100 billion in Hunan with the construction of Wanda Cities and Wanda Plazas across the province.

The Group will invest RMB60 billion in Changsha with RMB50 billion allocated to the construction of a Wanda City. In addition, Wanda will also look into organizing international sporting events in Hunan. Together with the group’s earlier investments, Wanda is set to invest a total of over RMB120 billion in Hunan. The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Xu Dazhe, acting governor of Hunan Province, and Wang Jianlin, Chairman of Wanda Group.

Changsha Wanda City will be the second Wanda City to be built in central China following Nanchang Wanda City. It will be designed and constructed in accordance with the highest international standards and, once completed, it will drastically strengthen the tourism sector in Changsha, making it a world-class vacation destination and adding a new super IP to Changsha, which is called China’s Entertainment Capital.

Wanda Group plans to invest RMB50 billion to build 15 Wanda Plazas in cities across the province including Changsha, Yueyang, Hengyang, Changde, Zhuzhou, Chenzhou and Yongzhou; 5 of which in Changsha. This also marks the group’s first investments in Yueyang, Zhuzhou, Chenzhou and Yongzhou. With the new Wanda Plazas, the Group will have complete coverage of Hunan. The Wanda Plazas will significantly improve Hunan’s commercialac sector and promote consumers’ spending in the area. This, in turn, will ensure stable tax sources, create jobs in the service sector and promote the economic transformation of Hunan.

SINGAPORE: uberPOOL Grows In Singapore

Those who have travelled to places like Los Angeles and New York in recent years may have come across a service called uberPOOL, an option within the Uber app that allows you to share your journey with strangers to reduce the cost of your trip. You save around 25% on your journey, with the only downside being occasional delays as you pick up another uberPOOL rider.

It first launched in San Francisco in August 2014, before expanding to cities like LA, New York, Boston, London and Paris. Already, uberPOOL accounts for 20% of all Uber rides around the world. Just take a look at the large number of cities to get their hands on the service so far:

US & Canada: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington DC
Mexico: Mexico City
Brazil: Sao Paulo
France: Paris
China: Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzen, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan
UK: London
India: Bangalore, New Delhi

This month, the service continued its international roll out, with the focus now on South East Asia, a region which has already adopted similar services like GrabHitch, launched in Singapore and Malaysia in November 2015. Earlier this month, UberPool made its debut in Manila, while Jakarta got it last month. Singapore is next on the list, with the service set to launch tomorrow – July 1st.

So what about Australia? Though no plans have been officially announced, the South East Asia expansion would suggest that Australia will be next on their list. It was reported all the way back in September 2014 that the service was eyeing Sydney, and the Daily Telegraph reported in February of this year that Sydney’s uberPOOL services weren’t far off.

While we wait for the carpooling service to launch, however, Australia has had plenty of other updates: Last week, Uber launched service to Canberra Airport, finally introduced Uber X to Adelaide in May (with unlimited free rides to roll it out) and has been rolling out the popular UberEATS around the country. Here’s hoping uberPOOL is soon added to the list. But in the meantime, our friends in South East Asia have the new service to enjoy!