Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda opens $2.5b China resort

Beijing: Dalian Wanda Group Co, controlled by Asia’s richest man Wang Jianlin, said it opened a $2.5 billion (Dh9.2 billion) resort in southeast China’s Yunnan province Saturday with the target of earning 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) revenue in the next five years.

The Xishuangbanna resort, spanning 5.3 square kilometres, includes a theme park, theatre, retail street, Wanda shopping mall and a hospital, in addition to high-end hotel chains with 1,050 rooms, the company said in an emailed statement on Saturday. Wanda aims to attract 200 million tourist visits in the next five years, according to the statement.

The resort, the company’s third tourism project in China, “will be a landmark to showcase the upgraded tourism industry in Yunnan,” Chairman Wang said in the statement.

The company also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Yunnan province Saturday to invest 95 billion yuan to build 19 Wanda shopping plazas and more tourism projects, Wang said.

Wang has a net worth of about $32 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.