When it comes to exports, British Columbia is best known for its lumber, metallurgical coal and copper. But B.C. has also become a major exporter of butterflies.
No, not the insect – but instead the kind of butterflies induced when pulling 2.5 Gs in the AquaLoop, a looping waterslide made by Richmond’s WhiteWater, or experiencing the sensation of flight in the Flying Theatre made by Port Coquitlam’s Dynamic Structures.
Both companies are in the business of big-scale fun, and both have been busy lately landing lucrative contracts in Asia.
One of the largest orders to date was a series of contracts worth a total of US$66 million awarded this year to Dynamic Structures to build new attractions for a theme park near Kuala Lumpur. The latest contract, worth US$24 million, is for a motorcycle-race simulator.
Meanwhile, on May 20, Richmond’s WhiteWater was at a groundbreaking ceremony in China for the new Yinji Xinmi Waterpark, where WhiteWater is building a new adventure park. That one contract is worth $36 million for the B.C. company.
“That’s the largest contract so far for WhiteWater, but also in the history of the industry,” said Sean Hinton, WhiteWater’s executive vice-president of Asia Pacific.
With a head count of 600 and 23 international offices, WhiteWater is the world’s largest builder of waterslides.
Dynamic Structures, a precision steel fabricator, specializes in designing and building rides for amusement parks. It also builds the housings for large telescopes and is expected to get the lion’s share of $247 million worth of design and fabrication work for the $1.2 billion Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii.
Guy Nelson, CEO of Empire Industries Ltd. (TSX-V:EIL), which owns Dynamic Structures, expects Dynamic’s head count – about 150 employees – to grow by 50, and expects similar job-creation numbers for its many suppliers in the Lower Mainland as a result of the telescope project and recent orders for new rides in Asia.
“Vice-president of human resources is our first hire because we will be in a hiring mode for sure,” Nelson said.
Dynamic Structures is one of six B.C. companies that will be exhibiting at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Asian Attractions Expo in Hong Kong, June 17–19.
So will WhiteWater and its new subsidiary, San Diego-based FlowRider. Other B.C. companies exhibiting at the expo are International Play Co. (TSX-V:IPC), Kelowna’s Waterplay Solutions Corp. and Victoria’s CAVU Designwerks.
CAVU Designwerks is the new kid on the block. Founded by a former Dynamic Structures employee, the company is focused on theatre and dark-ride attractions. (Dark rides are amusement rides that are typically indoors and that use audio, video and special effects.)
Waterplay Solutions specializes in installations for waterparks and employs 50 to 60 people in Kelowna. It just recently shipped $700,000 worth of installations to China.
The biggest markets for theme parks and amusement rides and attractions are in Asia and oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, like the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Countries like China and Malaysia are still playing catch-up to countries like Japan and South Korea in terms of developing amusement parks for their own growing middle class, Nelson said.
“My sense of the Asian expenditures, particularly the Chinese expenditures, for park development is [that they are] rising because of the growth of the middle class and the immature nature of the current entertainment infrastructure.”
In the Middle East, it’s tourism that is driving amusement and theme park development.
“It’s a different market there,” Nelson said. “It’s a conscious effort on the behalf of the governments of UAE trying to leverage the significant numbers of people that are using Dubai and Abu Dhabi as hubs. Theirs is a desire to increase the layover of those people [so that they] stay in that part of the world and spend money.”
Hinton said WhiteWater has been building water parks in China for 20 years, but most were small and served local communities. Since 2007, however, China has aimed higher.
“These projects are like nothing you’ve seen anywhere in the world,” Hinton said. “They are brand-new designs with cutting-edge attractions.”
Hinton added business is also good in the U.S. and the Middle East.
“Business has never been better, and we’ve been growing at record numbers year-over-year for the last five years.”•
