Bengaluru: Wonderla to finally reopen after 8 long months
Bengaluru based amusement park Wonderla is set to open after 8 long months after it was shut down in March due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown. The opening of the Bengaluru park is more of a trial with the resort opening only 3 days a week.
FollowBengaluru: Wonderla Holidays, a theme park, and resorts company in the outskirts of Bengaluru has recently announced resumption of partial operations, and this may literally be a rollercoaster ride for the company with the ongoing pandemic.
Starting next week, after it closed in March due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the theme park will be open only three days a week.
Though amusement parks can operate at 50 percent capacity, Wonderla will operate at 1/3rd capacity. The company says business will return to pre-COVID levels only after six months to one year.
As quoted by Business Today.In, the company's Managing Director Arun Chittilapilly has said the opening of Bengaluru park was more of a trial with the resort opening 3 days a week.
"We are selling tickets only online and will do exclusive digital marketing for these tickets. It's a very different ball game right now, especially during the pandemic since normal demand will not be there and we have to generate new demand," Arun stated.
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However, the Managing Director added that it was too early to predict the extent of recovery the company could see. Wonderla hopes to get approval soon for resumption of operations in Hyderabad, while there is still no certainty around the Kochi park.
With nearly three quarters of non-operations, the company also undertook a massive cost rationalisation exercise resulting in expenditure of  Rs 9.32  crore in the second quarter as against Rs 11.90 core in the previous quarter of this year, with cost of people being the main overhead.
The company also started Wonder Kitchen, a food takeaway and home delivery division in June as an alternate source of revenue.Â
