Hong Kong, with its rich experience in integrating with the world and wide‑ranging professional services, especially in compliance and auditing, is well‑positioned to offer companies great support and sound advice on developing their China business. The SAR is also an important gateway for international corporations entering the mainland market. Puy du Fou Asia, a limited company engaged in theme‑park operation, runs an office in Hong Kong that serves as a key vehicle for business communication, supervision and management by providing professional services to meet the relevant legal and regulatory requirements for expansion into the mainland market.

Unique conduit

Using Hong Kong’s compliance and auditing services to manage mainland investment projects

In an interview with HKTDC Research [1], an executive of Puy du Fou Asia pointed out that setting up an office in Hong Kong helps manage the company’s business operations in mainland China more effectively, especially where compliance and meeting auditing requirements on the mainland is concerned. The Hong Kong office collects information on Chinese laws and regulations and helps the company comply with the relevant rules and regulations in the course of developing its China business. It also submits the necessary information to senior executives in the company’s headquarters in France and serves as a vehicle for communication, supervision and management with the Chinese side.

Puy du Fou ’s core business covers theme parks, spectacular shows, themed hotels and restaurants. It runs theatrical theme parks that offer shows based on French culture, history and legends. One of the company’s development strategies is combining French history and culture with the local history and culture of its projects overseas.

Capitalising on its creativity and successful operating experience of more than 45 years, the company is extending its historical theme park and theatrical show business to the Asia market. Puy du Fou set up its Asia headquarters in Hong Kong and its mainland China headquarters in Shanghai. It is building SAGA Shanghai, an ultra‑immersive theatre project in Xuhui district, which covers more than 40,000 sqm. The project offers audiences an immersive journey through time back to Shanghai in the 1930s. In Yunnan province, the company is investing in a theatrical theme park in Dali as well as a lyric theatre complex project in the city centre of Kunming, the provincial capital. These projects aim to create the “new cultural tourism+” concept integrating culture with tourism. The operational headquarters set up in Hong Kong is mainly responsible for supervising investment projects on the mainland in such areas as compliance, risk management and auditing.

Lifting of Covid -related measures helps diminish negative impact

As the Covid-19 pandemic situation in Hong Kong subsided, the SAR government began to lift entry restrictions and most quarantine measures imposed on inbound travellers in the second half of 2022. Puy du Fou is happy to note that the easing of Covid ‑related measures helped facilitate the movement of its staff between Hong Kong and its headquarters in France. Moreover, the subsidies granted by the Hong Kong government to businesses operating in the city helped alleviate the financial pressure exerted by the pandemic on the business community.

Meanwhile, as China optimises and adjusts its epidemic control policies and opens fully to international travellers, the negative impact of the pandemic on businesses has gradually receded. Puy du Fou is greatly satisfied with the investment environment in Hong Kong and highly confident in the future development of its office in the city. It hopes Hong Kong will maintain its position as an international financial, trade and cultural centre and continue to strengthen and enhance its competitive edge.

Amicable ties

Puy du Fou is optimistic about the China market and recognises its huge consumption power. Amicable relations between China and France have provided the company with a driving force to tap the vast mainland market and implement its cultural tourism projects. Slowly but surely, Puy du Fou is on track to replicate its successful Europe business model in China, with the aim of capturing the boundless business opportunities the country offers.

[1] The China Business Adviser seconded from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce to HKTDC interviewed an executive of Puy du Fou Asia in the fourth quarter of 2022.