Warner Bros. Discovery: IP Is Becoming a New Gateway to Tourism Consumption

Key points

• Qiu Huang, Senior Vice President of Warner Bros. Discovery, shared at the 2026 TravelDaily Summit main forum how IP drives tourism consumption growth.
• Tourism competition logic is shifting from destination competition to content competition, with scarce resources moving from geographic location to story assets that create emotional connections.
• China's theme park market revenue reached US$12.5 billion in 2025, the world's second largest, and the park economy is expected to exceed RMB 110 billion by 2028.
• Warner Bros. Discovery's Global Experiences business covers theme parks, studio tours, themed touring exhibitions, pop-up retail, dining, and hotel accommodation.
• The business model is dual self-operated and licensing: self-operated projects deepen experiences in strategic markets, while licensing partnerships enter high-growth markets quickly.
• The Tokyo Harry Potter Studio Tour opened in 2023, drew 2.7 million visitors in its first year, achieved retail conversion near 80%, and holds a Google rating of about 4.7 to 4.8 stars.
• The Shanghai Harry Potter Studio Tour is jointly developed by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences and Jinjiang Group at the former Jinjiang Action Park site, expected to be completed and open by the end of 2027.
• The 'Back to Hogwarts' annual brand celebration at Universal CityWalk Beijing ran for three days and attracted about 180,000 participants.