Jim Reid-Anderson, president and CEO of Six Flags, has praised the "huge potential" of the Chinese theme park market, welcoming new guidelines to up quality standards in the country.

Off the back of a record financial start to the year, Six Flags this week announced three more theme parks in China, bringing the total number of developments in the country by the operator up to its target of 10.

"When you look at the Chinese market, it's so encouraging," said Reid-Anderson, speaking during a conference call.

"There are massive cities in China which have a very little in the way of entertainment options and certainly not the quality of the sort of parks we have in the US, so a regional strategy in China makes a lot of sense to us.

"Looking at the demographics of China – the fact that the population is four times that of the US but there are half the number of parks – it's very encouraging."

Reid-Anderson went on to say that the operator would "not be stopping at 10 parks, adding that Six Flags and its China development partner – the Riverside Investment Group – are very excited about expanding the brand further across the nation.

China’s central planning body recently warned developers about the country’s ongoing theme park boom, raising concerns over potentially unpayable debts and low grade or copycat developments. When asked about the extra scrutiny that would now be placed on large scale theme park developments including those by Six Flags, Reid-Anderson welcomed the decision.

"There is no ban on theme park development in China," he said. "There are series of guidelines that were issued regarding theme park developments. They mostly focus on the real estate side of things but also touch on enhanced theme park standards. They're not laws, but they do portend greater regulation of theme park development in line with what we have in North America or Europe.

"I think it's really good to have regulations that make sense, so right now, barring some other decision that's made, all our parks are progressing nicely towards their anticipated opening dates."

As its theme park sector continues to thrive, China predicts spending at its parks to reach nearly US$12bn (€10.7bn, £9.5bn) by 2020, with visitor numbers surpassing 330 million people. As Chinese disposable income rises, attractions are reaping the rewards, with tourism numbers increasing as more leisure opportunities become available to tourists.