Wonderla Holidays Aims To Offer Disney-Like Experiences In Resort Space
There was a need for some kind of differentiated offering in resort space, says Executive Chairman and Managing Director Arun Chittilappilly.
Amusement park operator Wonderla Holidays Ltd. has diversified its portfolio by launching a boutique resort, the Isle, in Bengaluru.
As of now, the resort will complement its core amusement park business, but it can also become a standalone vertical, according to Executive Chairman and Managing Director Arun Chittilappilly.
"Yes, it's complementary to what we already do. And in terms of how we want to expand into this, it's too early for me to say this, but we will go to other cities where we already have projects," he told NDTV Profit in a conversation on Tuesday.
"Will we do this as a standalone? As of now, no, but if we see potential, there's no reason why we can't do it. But as of now, we are focused on being an amusement park operator first and then a resort provider," he added.
The company aims to provide a "differentiated offering" in the resort space along the lines of what Disney Experiences and Universal Studios offer.
"Post-Covid, what we felt was that travellers were looking at more differentiated, more curated experiences for their short holidays. We saw that people are taking shorter and more expensive holidays. So, we really felt that there was a need for some kind of differentiated offering in our resort space," he said.
The newly launched resort, spread over 4.5 acres, houses 39 rooms. The company invested Rs 39 crore in developing it. Rooms are priced at around Rs 10,000 per day onwards.
Chittilappilly said the resort's return ratios and margin were expected to align with or exceed the company's existing operations.
Regarding the overall outlook for FY26, he said: "FY26 is slightly unpredictable for us because we are opening a new park." He was referring to the Chennai amusement park, which will be opened in December.
“We should be doing better than last year in terms of numbers. But we will not get a full year of Chennai. So we are going to get only Q4 from Chennai.
"This is the first full year of the Bhubaneswar park. We are not seeing great growth there. We are seeing some marginal growth," he said.
He expects the company to see better margin in FY26 compared to FY25 but cautioned that increased marketing costs for the Chennai launch may impact margin.
