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Robbers, Bandits, and Pirates

If the good old-fashioned pirates - mind you, I'm speaking of real pirates and not those who indulge in modern-day waylays - if the real pirates and their brides had not left behind such colourful, adventurous lore, we'd certainly be out of a few new wonderful attractions this year. The pirate theme is namely a top trend. At the start of this season, the old "navel warhorses" had settled into some of the German and European amusement parks, indoor parks picked up on the maritime adventure theme, and even big attractions like the Flying Dutchman at Efteling are pursuing the pirate legend. At Walibi Rhône-Alpes, the StarParks Group opened France's first themed waterpark called L'Ile aux pirates, the island of pirates. This issue of EAP presents a number of this season's new attractions, including those with non-pirate themes.

The VDFU-association of German amusement parks and leisure corporations-recently took another clearly public step towards political dialogue. In late March 2006, a delegation of the VDFU board met with members of the tourism working committee from the CDU/CSU parliamentary party in Berlin, in order to discuss the current situation of amusement parks in Germany. "The discussion took place in a very pleasant, very constructive atmosphere," said VDFU President Klaus-Michael Machens after the talks. According to Machens, a "positive attitude towards the problems leisure entrepreneurs are faced with, e.g. the VAT problematic, competitive climate, and labour legislation" was clearly evident. At the end of the discussion, Klaus Brähmig, chairman of the working committee, promised the delegates that the major issues would be acted upon and worked out. It remains to be seen if these are just hollow words. After all, the date for the increase in value added tax is drawing closer... Who's going to be the first to get creative in this new "game"?

Speaking of creativity! Have you ever heard of the Creative Worlds Wertheim? No, you're only familiar with the Factory Outlet Centre Wertheim Village? If so, you're already pretty close! Interested in finding out more? Look no further: we've compiled all of the most important facts on this interesting project in this issue. As always: we hope you enjoy gaining some new insights while reading.

Yours,

Petra Probst