Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: Amusement park chain Wonderla Holidays, which has completed 25 years of operations, will open its Chennai park next month. About Rs 600 crore investment has gone into this new park, and the company is also planning to expand to newer Tier-1 locations, such as Delhi and Mumbai.
“We are looking at Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. We are also talking to different state governments to see whether we can firm up something, and are awaiting a response from them,” Wonderla Holidays Ltd Executive Chairman and Managing Director Arun Chittilappilly told DH.
“Also, we hope that by next year, our Bhubaneswar park, which we opened last year, will become profitable. I think next year will be good for us. We will consolidate a lot of our investments and also look for new opportunities to see how we can grow faster,” he added.
Wonderla’s total income in the second quarter ended September 2025, stood at Rs 8,852 lakh, up 24% y-o-y. It also saw record footfalls of 5.05 lakh during the quarter. While the Bengaluru park witnessed 1.96 lakh footfalls, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar saw 1.92 lakh, 0.93 lakh, and 0.24 lakh, respectively.
In India, the amusement park business remains at a nascent stage. “India doesn’t have too many players and the problem here is real estate. Land acquisition remains the biggest challenge. Another issue is import duties, as there are technologies that need to be imported,” he informed. “The industry is still developing, and there are many opportunities to grow. India has about 150 amusement parks. When people start consuming more and are also willing to spend more on entertainment, the industry will begin to witness growth,” he added.
Currently, the GST rate on admission to amusement parks is 18%. Chittilappilly said, “This ‘18%’ is still too high. It used to be 28% because it was clubbed with all the other sin taxes. Ideally, it should be around 10%, because that’s a good global standard of taxation. For consumption items, 18% for luxury is okay. But for our industry, it is not a necessity, but it is definitely not a luxury.”
He also stressed on the need for more clarity on safety protocols, even for small operators. “The lack of proper safety guidelines is another big challenge. Larger players obviously follow safety norms. We don’t take any shortcuts when it comes to safety or investing in new technology. But smaller players tend to not do that, thereby creating a negative impact for the industry as a whole. There is a need for proper safety guidelines and also support from the government, because this industry is a very high-cap one, with a long gestation period. Even abroad, it takes several years to build a big amusement park. Every new park has to ensure that it creates its own customer base, so it takes a lot of time to build a profitable business,” he said.
Wonderla, which opened its park in Bengaluru in 2005, recently launched a new water-themed resort — The Isle. “We are doing about 65% occupancy. We have practically sold out most weekends. The new concept of a water-themed resort is what we wanted to do, because we already have a history of doing water-based attractions, so this was easy for us,” Chittilappilly concluded.