Christian Aaen is a founding Principal of Entertainment + Culture Advisors (ECA), specializing in entertainment development, attraction destination projects and leisure and tourism economics. Prior to co-founding ECA, Mr. Aaen opened the legacy ERA (now AECOM Economics) Hong Kong office as the Managing Principal in January 2009. As Regional Director, Mr. Aaen was responsible for the entertainment and leisure practice in Asia, including China.

Mr. Aaen has participated in a broad range of themed entertainment facilities and cultural development projects worldwide. Mr. Aaen brings a wide background of experience to ECA’s assignments through his involvement in a variety of consulting assignments in the recreation area as well as his direct strategic planning experience in international attraction, theme park and cultural development. Mr. Aaen has consulted for clients in Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, Mexico and Latin America and throughout North America. Mr. Aaen has conducted feasibility studies and provided advisory services for key international clients such as Universal Studios, LEGOLAND Parks (Merlin Entertainments), MGM Studios, Village Roadshow, Khazanah Nasional/TAR, Sanrio, HIT Entertainment, OCT Group, Ocean Park (Hong Kong), KidZania, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Genting Group, among others. Mr. Aaen has extensive experience throughout Asia with projects in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Vietnam, India, and Thailand, among others.

Mr. Aaen has a Bachelor of Arts (B.Sc), Economics and Business Administration, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark as well as a Master of Science (M.Sc.) with distinction, International Marketing and Management (IMM), Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark. Mr. Aaen also participated in the MBA-program, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, S.C. Johnson School of Graduate Management, Cornell University, New York as part of the master’s degree program.