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Parques Reunidos has acquired Belantis
- Thread starter CSLKennyNI
- Start date
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
CSLKennyNI
Giga Poster
Local newspaper, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, had interesting interview with the manager of Belantis...
https://www.mz-web.de/leipzig/belan...ert--noch--nicht-in-vergnuegungspark-32102120
Belantis' problems - New owner has not (yet) invested in theme park
About a year ago, the Spanish amusement park operator "Parques Reunidos" took over Belantis outside of Leipzig. Shortly after the purchase, the new owner announced plans to expand East Germany's largest amusement park.
Belantis CEO Bazil El Atassi wanted to present a "master plan for future development" by the end of 2018. But little has happened so far. In the new season, which starts on April 6, there will certainly be no new attractions in the amusement park. "We have lost momentum," admits El Atassi in conversation with Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.
New themed area planned for Belantis
According to El Atassi, changes in the Spanish top management are responsible for "slowing down processes". In the summer of 2018, the old leadership stepped down, only in February 2019, José Díaz was appointed as the new CEO, he already led the company between 2004 and 2013.
The Belantis boss has designed according to his own data a new attraction. "The Spanish headquarters has yet to rate this and agree," said El Atassi. He gives no details about the project. But did reveal that it would be a further themed world/area in the park's circuit. It should cost millions.
Belantis is the youngest of the major German amusement parks. In the former mining area south of Leipzig, it is embedded in a newly emerged lake landscape. The concept is a journey through "space and time".
The biggest attraction is the red steel giant "Huracan", a roller coaster built in 2010. El Atassi is sure that the park will be invested in: "For an amusement park to function, it must constantly evolve."
Currently, the Spaniards in Germany are also on a shopping spree. At the beginning of 2019, the purchase of the bathing resort Tropical Islands near Berlin was announced for 226 million euros. Shortly thereafter, the acquisition of the bird park Walsrode in Lower Saxony. As early as 2010, the "Movie Park" was acquired in Bottrop (North Rhine-Westphalia). With Belantis, the company now has four German locations. "Parques Reunidos" is one of the largest operators of theme parks worldwide. The industry giant claims to own more than 60 amusement parks - about 30 of them in Europe.
El Atassi assumes that the German parks will cooperate with each other in the future. There is already a small cooperation. "Anyone who buys a Gold Annual Card will also have free entry to Tropical Islands," El Atassi says. In addition, Belantis is increasingly withdrawing from fixed entry prices. "We now have a dynamic pricing system that gives early bookers significant discounts," says the managing director.
Last season, the Belantis boss was satisfied. Due to the dry and sunny summer, "sales increased slightly". He did not comment on visitor numbers however. That should have been declining. Business events have also declined. In 2017, five companies rented the entire park on a single day to hold staff parties with a few thousand guests. In 2018 there was only one such event.
El Atassi and his team are currently working hard to prepare for the start of the season. Thus, the access way to the visitor car park has been enlarged and new beverage machines are set up across the park. The biggest challenge is currently to attract enough staff. In addition to 50 permanent employees, up to 350 seasonal workers are needed. During the holiday season many students work in the park.
"From April to June we struggle to fill all positions," says the managing director. Therefore, new concepts are to be examined, such as the employment of pensioners. El Atassi also hopes for help from the Spanish mother: "In Spain, youth unemployment is high, we could well use young Spaniards here."
https://www.mz-web.de/leipzig/belan...ert--noch--nicht-in-vergnuegungspark-32102120
Belantis' problems - New owner has not (yet) invested in theme park
About a year ago, the Spanish amusement park operator "Parques Reunidos" took over Belantis outside of Leipzig. Shortly after the purchase, the new owner announced plans to expand East Germany's largest amusement park.
Belantis CEO Bazil El Atassi wanted to present a "master plan for future development" by the end of 2018. But little has happened so far. In the new season, which starts on April 6, there will certainly be no new attractions in the amusement park. "We have lost momentum," admits El Atassi in conversation with Mitteldeutsche Zeitung.
New themed area planned for Belantis
According to El Atassi, changes in the Spanish top management are responsible for "slowing down processes". In the summer of 2018, the old leadership stepped down, only in February 2019, José Díaz was appointed as the new CEO, he already led the company between 2004 and 2013.
The Belantis boss has designed according to his own data a new attraction. "The Spanish headquarters has yet to rate this and agree," said El Atassi. He gives no details about the project. But did reveal that it would be a further themed world/area in the park's circuit. It should cost millions.
Belantis is the youngest of the major German amusement parks. In the former mining area south of Leipzig, it is embedded in a newly emerged lake landscape. The concept is a journey through "space and time".
The biggest attraction is the red steel giant "Huracan", a roller coaster built in 2010. El Atassi is sure that the park will be invested in: "For an amusement park to function, it must constantly evolve."
Currently, the Spaniards in Germany are also on a shopping spree. At the beginning of 2019, the purchase of the bathing resort Tropical Islands near Berlin was announced for 226 million euros. Shortly thereafter, the acquisition of the bird park Walsrode in Lower Saxony. As early as 2010, the "Movie Park" was acquired in Bottrop (North Rhine-Westphalia). With Belantis, the company now has four German locations. "Parques Reunidos" is one of the largest operators of theme parks worldwide. The industry giant claims to own more than 60 amusement parks - about 30 of them in Europe.
El Atassi assumes that the German parks will cooperate with each other in the future. There is already a small cooperation. "Anyone who buys a Gold Annual Card will also have free entry to Tropical Islands," El Atassi says. In addition, Belantis is increasingly withdrawing from fixed entry prices. "We now have a dynamic pricing system that gives early bookers significant discounts," says the managing director.
Last season, the Belantis boss was satisfied. Due to the dry and sunny summer, "sales increased slightly". He did not comment on visitor numbers however. That should have been declining. Business events have also declined. In 2017, five companies rented the entire park on a single day to hold staff parties with a few thousand guests. In 2018 there was only one such event.
El Atassi and his team are currently working hard to prepare for the start of the season. Thus, the access way to the visitor car park has been enlarged and new beverage machines are set up across the park. The biggest challenge is currently to attract enough staff. In addition to 50 permanent employees, up to 350 seasonal workers are needed. During the holiday season many students work in the park.
"From April to June we struggle to fill all positions," says the managing director. Therefore, new concepts are to be examined, such as the employment of pensioners. El Atassi also hopes for help from the Spanish mother: "In Spain, youth unemployment is high, we could well use young Spaniards here."
oriolat2
Giga Poster
I would assume when parks choose to be part of Parques Reunidos it's because they must not have any other options other than filing for bankrupcy. Who else would want to leave their property on the hands of such mediocre money-grabbing company? Parques Reunidos is the epitome of Spanish worst management policies.
TheCoasterCruiser
Giga Poster
^ Without a doubt. I realize that it's most likely a last resort for parks and thus they probably don't seek it and then expect tons of investments (although they probably hope for some).
I just had to make the meme after reading that quote.
I just had to make the meme after reading that quote.
I suspect it's not as desperate as that. TusenFryd was making good money when Parques Reunidos took over, for instance, and I think BonBon-Land was doing quite well before the dark days fell upon them as well. It seems like Parques Reunidos pay the owners well for their takeovers, and I guess at least some park owners have been genuinely convinced that they left their parks in good hands. After all, they are the 10th biggest amusement park operator worldwide, with 20 million guests every year, which seems like a record of success unless you check the trend over time (which is - for good reasons - not something they talk much about, but most of their parks were bought before the decline anyway). I think it's simply a case of Parques Reunidos marketing themselves as successful to the parks they take over, maybe even also promising some investments. Again, to take TusenFryd as an example, SpinSpider was ordered just after the takeover. This might have been the case with iSpeed in Mirabilandia as well. "Sell your park to us, and we will build cool things like this, and maybe also other things like it at some unspecified time in the future, no promises though!" The previous park owners might not look deep enough to find the reputation or visitor number trends of Parques Reunidos's parks, but I'm optimistic that threads like this one might be helpful in the future in case a park owner decides to do a Google search before signing the contract.
Besides, we don't know how many parks have been approached by Parques Reunidos, only to tell them to go F off and sit on a cactus.