Tamil Nadu planning a Disney-like 100-acre amusement park outside Chennai 

Tamil Nadu plans to develop a large-format 100-acre theme park along the lines of those run by Disney and Universal Studios on the outskirts of Chennai through private sector participation, according to its new tourism policy.  

The state government’s tourism department on Tuesday released its tourism policy, under which it has outlined twelve priority tourism segments -- Adventure Tourism, Recreation Tourism, Caravan Tourism, Rural and Plantation Tourism, Coastal Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Medical and Wellness Tourism, Religious Tourism, Eco Tourism, MICE Tourism, Heritage Tourism and Film Tourism.  

The proposed amusement park is part of recreation tourism.  

“The Department envisages creating one large-format Amusement Park, similar to global theme parks like Disney and Universal Studios, with an area of at least 100 acres on the out-skirts of Chennai. The Amusement Park shall be developed through private sector participation,” the document said.  

The Indian amusement park sector is pegged at $500 million, only about 1 per cent of the global industry of $49 billion. There are only 15-20 amusement with more than 0.5 million footfalls a year, according to IBEF. Some of the major ones include Imagica Adlabs (Lonavala), Kingdom of Dreams (Gurgaon), WonderLa (Bangalore and Kochi). 

This tourism policy, which will be valid for a period of five years from the date of the policy notification, or till a new policy is announced, has also highlighted golf tourism as another area of interest under recreation tourism.  

“Tamil Nadu has several golf courses, largely located in hilly areas, which offer picturesque views of the hills and plantations. These golf courses attract significant numbers of visitors from surrounding towns and expatriates living in Chennai and Coimbatore. The department shall engage with golf courses located in hilly regions for the development of accommodation facilities, which can be promoted as part of recreation tourism,” the document said.  

Besides, the southern state is also planning to promote film tourism across all segments – Bollywood, Kollywood, documentaries, TV productions, foreign movies and shows and other regional movies. “A Film Tourism Scheme will be separately launched outlining guidelines and incentives for film shooting in Tamil Nadu,” it said. Similar film tourism schemes have already been announced by the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. 

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