Video games will finally get the kind of museum treatment typically awarded to other forms of visual art.
Texas will open a Texas-sized entertainment district.
And everyone’s favorite, Hello Kitty, will finally take a stab at Mickey Mouse with her own lavish theme park.
Below is our cultural calendar for 2015, highlighting the most anticipated new attractions opening around the globe.
Each of these multi-million dollar projects will have a major impact on local tourism, and every one of them is sure to make headlines in the coming months.
Hello Kitty Park (Zhejiang Province, China)
Opening date: January, 2015
This joint venture between Japan’s Sanrio Corporation and China’s Zhejiang New Insight Leisure Tourism Development opened to Hello Kitty’s adoring fans on New Year’s Day.
The new attraction includes 11 themed facilities, such as performance venues, amusement rides, a luxury resort and even a grand mahjong hall.
The $215 million project is the first Hello Kitty theme park outside of the cartoon’s native Japan and is expected to attract up to one million visitors per year.
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Add to the price tag the cost of the building, about $100 million, and you’ve got yourself one of the most expensive cultural institutions ever conceived.
Inside the domed structure, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, will be 65,000 square feet of permanent installations and 22,000 square feet more set aside for temporary exhibits.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, Cultural District, Abu Dhabi
Renovated attractions
– A project aimed at restoring Mont Saint-Michel’s original tidal character will be completed in 2015, revitalizing both the approach to the famous Normandy abbey and the spirit of its maritime setting.
– One year too late to coincide with its centennial celebrations, the Panama Canal’s $5.2 billion expansion project should finally be completed by December with much fanfare to mark the occasion.
– With a concourse 90 feet longer than the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal further uptown, the new wing-shaped World Trade Center Transportation Hub will serve more than 200,000 daily commuters and millions of annual visors from around the globe when completed in December 2015.
– Another New York City institution, the Whitney Museum of American Art will move into its new building between the High Line and the Hudson River in May, vastly increasing its exhibition and programming space.
MORE: 14 amazing cruises setting sail in 2015
