China conglomerate Dalian Wanda has tapped former Disney executive Andrew Kam to spearhead expansion of its theme park division.
Kam was previously managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland.
"He is hired as the vice president of Wanda culture group and will be the head of the theme park business line," an unnamed Wanda source told Reuters.
Kam will have overall responsibility for operation of all Wanda theme parks and hotels, theatres, shopping malls and residential developments.
Wanda opened two parks in Nanchang and Hefei this year and has several more in the pipeline.
The firm said 1.7 million people visited the parks during the recent Golden Week national holiday.
The move is likely to intensify the rivalry between Wanda and Disney in China, which had been stoked by Wanda’s billionaire chairman Wang Jianlin who criticised Shanghai Disney’s high entry prices.
He also said Disney’s ‘tiger has no chance of beating (Wanda’s) pack of wolves.’
