Germany: VDFU Pushes Tourism-political Dialogue

Yesterday, representatives of the Bavarian member companies organized in the German Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (VDFU) met at Bayern-Park with Rita Hagl-Kehl MdB, member of the SPD parliamentary group in the tourism committee of the Bundestag, to discuss the current challenges facing theme parks in Germany. Already last week, the tourism policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Nico Tippelt MdB, accepted the VDFU im Freizeitpark Plohn invitation of the VDFU and its Saxon member companies to the Plohn Amusement Park to discuss the most “burning” issues and demands of leisure and theme park entrepreneurs on politics. One of the core topics in both dialogue rounds was the acute deficit of labour force. Here, the amusement park operators see a clear potential in the reduction of bureaucratic obstacles and processing times. Especially in the employment of foreign or immigrant skilled and seasonal workers, application processing times and bureaucracy would have to be made much more efficient. Other topics of discussion were the looming energy shortage, the partly inadequate traffic infrastructure, especially in rural regions, and the demand for the applicability of the reduced VAT rate.

On this basis, the VDFU wants to continue to push the tourism-policy dialogue between the politicians in authority, the members of the Bundestag and the leisure companies in their respective constituencies in order to make the concerns and justified demands of an important tourism industry branch concrete and understandable at first hand. (eap)