Legoland Korea to exclusively hold festival in Asia in May

Advertisement poster of "The Lego Festival" / Courtesy of Legoland

Legoland Korea Resort, owned by Europe's largest theme park operator Merlin Entertainments, said Thursday it will hold the world's first festival in May to woo customers.

Legoland Korea plans to hold "The Lego Festival" for six weeks from May 3 as part of the Lego Group and its parent Merlin's global campaign, the company said in a press release.

"As a first festival for Merlin, we wanted to be sure Lego Festival is a place for fun and (offer) memorable experiences for the entire family. The festival will embody what Legoland is all about — play as a way of life," Merlin Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fiona Eastwood said in the release.

The move comes as Legoland Korea struggles with poor performance in Asia's fourth-biggest economy.

Lego Group opened the world's 10th Legoland resort in Korea in May 2022, but it reported net and operating losses in the 2022-23 period.

Net losses deepened to 28.86 billion won ($20 million) in 2023 from 11.07 billion won a year ago. Operating losses widened to 20 billion won from 5.9 billion won during the same period.

Sales fell 20.5 percent to 49.45 billion won from 62.21 billion won over the mentioned period.

The financial results for the 2024 fiscal year will be available in late March or early April.

The Lego Festival is aimed at highlighting the importance of play as a fundamental right for all children and promote "World Play Day," a day established following a U.N. General Assembly resolution in March last year, the release said.

To celebrate the 2nd annual World Play Day, seven Legoland parks, including Legoland California and Legoland Deutschland, will simultaneously hold the festival, it said.

Merlin had invested more than 330 billion won in the Legoland theme park in Korea as of March last year. (Yonhap)