An icon of entertainment in the capital of São Paulo between the 1970s and 2010s, Playcenter announced the arrival in Olímpia (438 km from São Paulo), in an incursion into the interior city in search of extending the stay of tourists.
Municipality that is based on water tourism, with its two thermal parks, Olímpia has encouraged the emergence of dry attractions, to occupy the time of visitors when they are not at Thermas dos Laranjais or Hot Beach, which together are able to receive 28 thousand bathers per day.
The arrival of Playcenter will take place with a panoramic Ferris wheel, the group’s first in the country and which follows the molds of Rio Star, in Rio de Janeiro.
According to Playcenter, it will be 88 m high and have 54 air-conditioned transparent cabins, with capacity for up to eight people in each. With this, it will accommodate 432 visitors simultaneously.
The partnership between Playcenter and Olímpia was announced at the city hall, where the manager of the operation, Juan Espeche, said that the Ferris wheel is already being designed and that it will also have other attractions, such as souvenir shops, a food court and space for events. .
It will be installed in an area of 6,000 square meters at the intersection of avenues Aurora Forti Neves and 32 Constitucionalista, in the region of water parks and resorts, and is expected to start operating later this year.
“It’s another option for tourists and we expect tourists to stay a day longer than we are used to receiving them. They will have more places to go and visit”, said Ronald Remondy Júnior, executive secretary of the tourist district of Olímpia and representative of the local trade.
A survey by the city’s Tourism Department points out that, on average, tourists currently stay four days in the city.
Of the approximately 3 million visitors it received a year before the pandemic, 56% were from the capital and metropolitan region. Eight out of ten are from São Paulo, usually couples aged between 26 and 50, with children.
The arrival of the Playcenter will join other dry developments that have emerged in the city, such as the Valley of the Dinosaurs and the Wax Museum — which opened at the end of last year.
In 2021, the park tried to buy Hopi Hari, in partnership with Beto Carrero World and other companies, such as Wet’n Wild, Senpar, RTSC and KR Capital, but the approval of Hopi Hari’s judicial recovery plan made the deal unfeasible. .
Olímpia, with a population of 55 thousand inhabitants, has a hotel chain with 34 thousand beds, divided between 8 resorts, 21 hotels, 47 inns, 2 farm hotels and 392 vacation homes. The city is expected to reach about 40,000 beds by 2025.
Among the future steps of the city, which in September last year became the first tourist district in the state, is the project to build an international airport, whose concession was authorized by the National Secretariat of Civil Aviation and which depends on private investors.
