On the 22nd of June, the New York-based corporation Six Flags announced its decision to sell 6 of its 30 amusement and aqua parks. Considering its 2.1 billion dollar mountain of debt, this is a logical, albeit surprising, announcement. The following (...) read more
More than ever, fast food is getting a bad rap in the US. As previously reported, Gov. “Arnie” Schwarzenegger spoke up for a ban on fast food in California’s public schools last year. Pretty soon there won’t be any more Disney characters in (...) read more
A new amusement park for approximately 170 million euros is to open in 2009 near the Austrian border. Construction on the amusement and health park, hotel, and adjacent shopping centre is to begin this year. A Cyprus-based investment firm is (...) read more
The leisure centre SchiederSee (Schneider Lake) has acquired two solar-powered boats in cooperation with the SolarWaterWorld AG (Hameln/Berlin). Past experiences with the solar boats on Schieder Lake were used for the further development of the (...) read more
Rising costs parallel to stagnating revenue have led the US Department of the Interior to drastically increase the admission fees to 22 of the most popular national landmarks. In addition, visitor centres are to be closed or only open for short (...) read more
The Braunschweig-based company has contributed two novel driving simulators to the new Mercedes-Benz Museum that opened on 20 May. The simulators are rightly regarded as the highlight of the museum, forming a bridge between automotive history and (...) read more
On the 3rd of May, the Compagnie des Alpes (CDA) signed a letter of intent with Palamon Capital Partners on the acquisition of five amusement parks owned by the StarParks Group. The takeover was completed on 30 May and affects the following (...) read more
Park director Wolfgang Schneider and roller coaster guru Werner Stengel are linked by their longstanding collaboration: Stengel built the famous “GeForce” for the Holiday Park. The two have now founded the Roller Coaster Academy and started a (...) read more
The example of the new Intercontinental Hotel in Bora Bora shows that the termini “ecology” and “sustainability” so often used in Central Europe have triggered global contemplation and achieved some ingenious results: an innovative, (...) read more
A current survey of the population of Hawaii has shown that the majority of queried Hawaiians have “had it” with tourism and tourists, as reported by pte. The respondents named the following reasons for their resentment: the increased cost of living (...) read more
EU standards define precisely which prerequisites have to be fulfilled before a facility can call itself a zoo. The well loved and successful Stukenbrock Hollywood and Safari Park fulfils these regulations. It can now officially call itself a (...) read more
According to a recent study conducted by Reader’s Digest (http://www.readers-digest.de), prominent stars enjoy little public confidence as advertising spokespeople. Even though actors, athletes, and television stars and starlets are used more and (...) read more
The Berlin-based attraction designers at “flying saucer” were able to assert themselves in the competition held by the BASF AG with their vision of a new visitor centre in Ludwigshafen. Flying saucer’s newly planned and developed exhibition will (...) read more
In March, a 50-ton steel girder crashed and some 3,000 construction workers had to make a run for it so they wouldn’t get hurt. Shortly thereafter, underground pipes threatened to flood the entire facility… Actually, the new Wembley Stadium was (...) read more
The “monte mare” situated in Rengsdorf is to be completely rebuilt with a multi-million euro investment. The large wave pool and long slide will then be a thing of the past. As announced by the managing director of the monte mare group, Herbert (...) read more
Roland Mack is this year’s bearer of the honorary prize awarded by the Tourism Board of the German Parliament. The CEO of the Europa Park in Rust was presented with this award for his merit and success on the German tourism market. The statement (...) read more
Germany's first treetop restaurant will be opening this June in Fischbach, Pfälzerwald. Issue 1/2006 of EAP featured a full report on treetop facilities in general including the Pfälzerwald. The first restaurant in such lush, lofty heights is (...) read more
Vienna was one of Europe’s most popular tourism destinations of 2005. With 8.8 million overnight stays, the 2004 record was increased by four per cent. The Viennese tourism economy has thus set a new record for the third time in a row, getting one (...) read more
As IAAPA announced the IAAPA Attractions Expo has been accepted into the International Buyers Program from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) for 2006 and 2007. Each year the DOC selects 28 leading U.S. trade shows to promote worldwide through (...) read more
When unexpected masses of visitors recently flocked to Disneyland Hong Kong on the occasion of Chinese New Year celebrations, the operators were so overwhelmed that the only thing they could think of was to close the park due to maxed-out (...) read more
