Brussels/Belgium: Positive Prospects for Mini-Europe and Océade
Brussels’ Mini-Europe miniature park and Océade waterpark were actually supposed to close on August 31st, 2013 following a decision by the city of Brussels (we reported on this among others in our EAP news from February 13th, 2012). All of Bruparck’s attractions should make way for the real estate project “NEO”, which will include the construction of a shopping center, a conference center and further tourist attractions in this very spot. Despite this quite hopeless situation for Mini-Europe and Océade, which have been very popular among Brussels tourists ever since, owner and operator Thierry Meeùs has every reason to be happy for the time being: as announced this summer, both attractions will stay open until January 8th, 2017. Although the future of the attractions beyond this time remains uncertain, both operators and visitors are happy about this hard-won result. According to Meeùs, there are three reasons for the positive outcome of the negotiations with the city: an online petition started in the spring of 2012 with 60,000 votes from visitors, inhabitants of Brussels, tourists, embassies etc. against the closure and demolition of the complexes, the supporting press as well as the city who discovered the importance of the attractions for tourism and the recreational image of Brussels. The overwhelming support gave the operators a lot of strength and motivation to carry on and to see how good their image has been. According to Meeùs, new investments in both parks are already planned. (eap)
