From the first pleasure gardens to the global theme park companies, this book provides an understanding of the nature and function of theme parks as spaces of entertainment. It portrays the impacts of theme parks as global competitive actors, agents of global development and cultural symbols, in the context of their role in the developing economy.

Planning and implementing successful tourism programmes requires in depth predictions of tourist behaviour. This title provides coverage of sense making, planning, implementing, evaluating and administering tourism marketing and management programmes. It offers useful descriptions, tools, and examples of tourism management decision-making.

This essay sheds light on the future of the theme park industry, explicates how advanced technologies can revolutionize the theme park industry, and demystifies the benefits of companies leveraging robots in the theme park industry. The future of the theme park industry will not only be characterized by dynamism as it continues to metaphorically evolve, but will also be eminently auspicious for competitors in the theme park industry. Technological advancements are profoundly changing the theme park industry and are rendering it all the more of a technology-driven industry. The behemoth theme park industry shows no signs of contracting anytime in the imminent future. Theme parks are also known as “a type of amusement park”. The rides and attractions of theme parks are often based on “a central theme”. Theme parks often feature a multitude of “areas with disparate themes”. Competitors in the theme park industry are aptly poised to have lucrative and auspicious futures as more tourists visit theme parks and as the popular franchise-based attractions of theme parks garner more interest worldwide among customers. “The global amusement parks market size was valued at $45,200,000,000 in 2017” (“Amusement Parks Market,” 2018). “Amusement Parks market size is set to grow at a compound annual growth of 6.2% during 2020-2025, projected to reach $72,440,000,000 by 2025” (“Amusement Parks Market,” n.d.). There are a multitude of reasons as to why the theme park industry is projected to expand in the pending future. “Innovative rides, accommodation facilities, and merchandise in amusement parks are gaining popularity among visitors of all age groups. As a result, there is a rise in the number of adults and children visiting amusement parks, thus expanding the size of the target audience. Sale of merchandise and food and beverages through retail outlets and restaurants located inside the amusement parks are anticipated to be the key sources of ancillary revenue for amusement parks. Additionally, increasing urban population, international tourism, and rising disposable income of middle-class population are providing an upthrust to the amusement park market worldwide” (“Amusement Parks Market,” 2018). There are ample factors that are able to accelerate the growth of the behemoth theme park industry. The rapid growth of the global population can also contribute to the robust growth of the theme park industry. Theme parks are replete with franchise-based attractions that manage to garner interest worldwide among customers. Theme parks allow people to experience unalloyed excitement and provide a thrilling divertissement which causes people to divert their attention away from dwelling on stressors. In the coming years, more virtual reality technologies will be apt to be ushered into theme parks. Virtual reality technologies can be utilized (“How Technological Advancements,” n.d.) in order to render “rides more entertaining and immersive, transporting riders to a world entirely separate from their own. Virtual reality technologies allow theme park owners to revitalize existing rides and create a brand-new experience through a software update instead of an overhaul of physical infrastructure” (“How Technological Advancements,” n.d.). Virtual reality technologies can allow existing rides to become all the more immersive, engrossing, and dynamic. It is possible for theme park companies to furnish customers with a robust virtual reality experience without the customers needing to wear bulky virtual reality headsets to experience virtual reality. Virtual reality technologies can allow creative theme park ride designers to eminently revamp rides to the extent that the customer feels as though they have been transported into a vibrant fantasy world. Ample “rides at Universal Studios Hollywood, for instance, already feature HD and 3D screens that create an immersive ride experience without the hassle of a headset” (“How Technological Advancements,” n.d.). It stands to preponderantly reason that the future of the theme park industry will be apt to feature more virtual reality rides for customers to indulge in experiencing. In the coming years, more augmented reality technologies will be apt to be ushered into theme parks. Augmented reality technologies are able to digitize the real world by “overlaying digital elements on top of the real world” (“How Technological Advancements,” n.d.).

Placing theme parks from the United States, Europe and Asia in a comparative, multidisciplinary framework, this fascinating book argues that these fantasy environments are an extreme example of the totalization of public space. By illuminating the relationship between theme parks and public space, this book offers critical insights into the ethos of total landscape. Illuminating the relationship between theme parks and public space, the book offers an insight into the ethos, design and expectations of public space in the twenty-first century.

This book offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary introduction to theme parks and the field of theme park studies. It identifies and discusses relevant economic, social, and cultural as well as medial, historical, and geographical aspects of theme parks worldwide, from the big international theme park chains to smaller, regional, family-operated parks. The book also describes the theories and methods that have been used to study theme parks in various academic disciplines and reviews the major contexts in which theme parks have been studied. By providing the necessary backgrounds, theories, and methods to analyze and understand theme parks both as a business field and as a socio-cultural phenomenon, this book will be a great resource to students, academics from all disciplines interested in theme parks, and professionals and policy-makers in the leisure and entertainment as well as the urban planning sector.