France: New Park Name – Walibi Sud-Ouest to Open New Chapter in Its History

Due to the latest Covid-19 restrictions, the Walibi Sud-Ouest amusement park in the south of France (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region) also had to end its season early. Actually, the Halloween festival in the park was supposed to be celebrated with “Walloween” until 1^st of November, but the season ended two days earlier on 30^th October (cf. EAP News of 29 Oct 2020 on the second lockdown in Europe). One day later, this past Saturday, park director Sylvain Chatain announced via video conference that the park, which was founded 28 years ago, will open up a new chapter in its history in 2021.

More precisely, the park will bear the new name Walygator Sud-Ouest as of next season (starting in April), in line with the Walygator Parc located in Lorraine in the northeast of the country, which does also belong to the same operator group. In addition to a new name, the park will also receive a new branding in the future. The aim is “to start a new adventure to make the local leisure offerings for families even more accessible to everyone.” According to Chatain, the changes are not related to the current crisis, but have been planned already for some time. The park was last rebranded in 2011 (see EAP Issue 1/2012). Since 2015, the French amusement park has been part of the Spanish Aspro Group (cf. EAP News of 19 Jan 2015). (eap)