The Attraction Resort Model, Part I: How a Waterpark Hotel Works
In this series, we’ll examine the business model of attraction or theme park resorts. These resorts work, simply, by the attraction raising the value of the land uses around them. In this post, we examine the business model of a waterpark hotel and propose a framework for decision-making. And although this is mostly about waterpark hotels, the […]
Case Study: Panama Adventure Park
Project Location: Panama Project Type: Adventure Park, Resort Waterpark Client: Isthmians Development Advisers/NSB Caribe Scope of Work: Executive Brief It’s an understatement to say that we’re living in unprecedented times. With the pandemic shutting down the entire leisure and hospitality industry, it’s the unfortunate reality that we’ll be seeing the cash crunch and liquidity problems that shut down […]
The Chinese Megaparks: Disney, Universal, Chimelong
In the last decade, China has gone from being an attractions backwater to one of the world’s most significant theme park and attractions markets. But perhaps more than in any other market in the world, China’s theme park industry is extremely bifurcated, with what we can call top-tier, world-class theme parks on one end, and […]
The Definitive Guide to Attraction Concepts
Behold! In our latest post, we’ve taken a pass at categorizing every major type of attraction or amusement facility in the world. What follows is a field guide of sorts for planners, consultants, and designers when considering potential anchor tenants, partners, or developments in entertainment-oriented master plans. These types all have the characteristic that they can […]
Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park
Courtesy of Parques Reunidos and IQPC Middle East, the content below is a summarized version of a talk that Jose Maria Letamendia delivered at an IQPC Theme Parks conference. Mr. Letamendia is VP of Business Development at Parques Reunidos. Be sure to download the entire presentation here. Common Mistakes in Opening a Theme Park […]
An Overview of Indoor Ski Resorts in China
Why Do They Matter? The Chinese Government has recently launched an ambitious campaign to develop the winter sports industry within the country, fueled by China’s selection as the host of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Although the Chinese winter sports industry is still in its early stages of development, the Government intends to see 800 […]
Start Here
This blog is intended to serve as a primer to the business of the theme park and attraction industry. Here is a list of our most popular and informative articles. Concept Development: The Definitive Guide to Attractions The Business of Theme Parks: Part I – The Importance of Revenues Part II – Development Costs and […]
Attraction & Theme Park Funding and Financing – A Primer
Due to their size, theme parks and attractions are typically financed through creative and diversified sources. When done right, attractions generate enormous economic impacts. Daily, they can become engines driving a population of people the size of a city within their gates. This results in trickle down impacts to neighboring businesses, like restaurants, parking lots, hotels, and […]
Managing Extremes: Seasonality & Peaking of a Theme Park
Variability causes chaos. And variability when it comes to the attraction world, is perhaps nowhere so present or prominent as it is when designing and operating a theme park. Compared to other types of real estate or property, theme parks might be the most extreme in terms of variability. Compared to commercial properties that provide […]
Attractions and Leisure Development Middle East (22-24 October 2018)
We’ve long maintained that Saudi Arabia is the next potential leisure market to monitor in the Middle East. With a population 3 times the size of the UAE, superior resource wealth, and almost zero development of leisure and entertainment, the market is fertile ground for our industry. As part of the Vision 2030 plan, not […]
