Nagasaki’s Huis Ten Bosch to gain Chinese partner

Huis Ten Bosch President Hideo Sawada has announced that His Sasebo-based, Dutch-themed park will be welcoming a Chinese partner, the Fosun Group, as a major investor—a move that would likely have ramifications for the shape of an IR consortium in Nagasaki, should that location be selected for one of the three available licenses.

According to Sawada, the Fosun Group will take a 25 percent stake in Huis Ten Bosch, though his own major travel agency H.I.S. will remain in control with a 50.1 percent share after the sale. The Fosun Group will be given one seat on the board of directors.

The objective of bringing in the Fosun Group is to boost efforts to attract Chinese tourists to the theme park. Huis Ten Bosch currently receives about 60,000 Chinese tourists per year and the aim is to see that number jump to about 200,000 Chinese tourists.

The Fosun Group was founded in Shanghai in 1992. It also owns Hoshino Resorts Tomomu, a ski resort in Hokkaido.

Nagasaki’s plans call for an IR to be built inside the grounds of Huis Ten Bosch, though the precise business relationship between the theme park and prospective IR consortium remains to be determined.

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