Several things attracted attention: on the one hand the company settled in Sandusky/Ohio has hired a top quality partner in Merrill Lynch, in order to reduce the debts of the company by around $200 million through sales in the next three years. To (...) read more
Dramatic worsening of the future of the Six Flags group: the reason is the payment of $300 million to the owners of Six Flags preference shares, which Six Flags doesn’t have the money for. For months there have been internal discussions about (...) read more
Busch Entertainment and its investment partner Nakheel announced in early February that their collaborative, thoroughly ambitious project in Dubai, the “Worlds of Discovery”, has been “pigeonholed” for at least another year. The planned facility (...) read more
Keukenhof is opening its doors for the 60th international flower show on the 18th of March 2009. The show will run for eight weeks and around 800,000 visitors from all around the world are expected in Lisse during this time. Keukenhof will thus be (...) read more
The Disney Corporation (amusement parks, TV station and film studios) suffered a massive collapse in profits over the last quarter due to the global financial crisis. Compared to the previous quarter, profits dropped by around one-third to 845 (...) read more
Germany’s largest toy manufacturer attained its eighth turnover record in a row in 2008: Due to the (ongoing) booming business abroad, Playmobil’s proceeds could be increased by around six percent, climbing to 452 million euros. The sales trend (...) read more
On 4 February 2009, Professor Dr Horst W. Opaschowski (68) informed the trade public of the results of the 25th tourism analysis before handing over the academic direction of tourism research to Dr Ulrich Reinhardt (38, photo). Dr Reinhardt has made (...) read more
In October last year, Werner Stengel, the uncrowned “rollercoaster king”, was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by German President Horst Köhler upon nomination by the Bavarian prime minister and at the initiative of Wolfgang Schneider (Holiday (...) read more
Efteling, the largest Dutch family amusement park, is planning some ambitious investments over the next few years: 40 million euros are to be invested in the construction of three different projects, which should spur on the year-round use of the (...) read more
In November 2008 a new attraction opened at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg: the “FahrSchule”, a driving school with driving simulators. The well-known Braunschweig-based company Simtec supplied ten New Beetle kids’ cars for the ride, which were (...) read more
The Ruwaad Holding, an enterprise of the Dubai 9 Group, is planning a gigantic leisure destination in South Africa for around five billion US dollars. The massive complex is to be constructed on a coastal site with 16,500 hectares in the province (...) read more
“Aquaworld” opened in December in the Hungarian capital (as reported in detail in issue 3/2007 of EAP). This is one of the largest combined recreational pool and hotel complexes (the Ramada resort has 309 rooms and suites) in Europe. The swimming (...) read more
In the wake of Dubai’s island projects, Prince Albert of Monaco had planned the construction of a man-made island on the coast of his tiny sized princedom for around five to nine billion euros. Among other things, a hotel and museum were to be (...) read more
According to some unisonous reports from various media outlets in Hong Kong, Disney is currently negotiating with the local authorities on the expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland, which only just opened in 2005 and is the smallest Disneyland Park to (...) read more
Right before Christmas, the South Korean government gave the Lotte Group the go-ahead for construction of “Lotte World II”. The Lotte enterprise expects that the construction work in Shincheon-dong will be able to commence at mid-year. By this (...) read more
After 30 years, the first area of the Roman emperor’s Diocletian baths has finally been reopened, a hall 40 metres long and 25 metres high. This is to be turned into a “Museum of Daily Life in Ancient Rome”. The Diocletian baths (built between 298 (...) read more
Right in time for St. Martin’s day in 2009, the St. Martins spa currently under construction (previously referred to as the “Seewinkeltherme” thermal spa) is to open in Frauenkirchen at Lake Neusiedl—including an adjacent lodge with 150 rooms and (...) read more
Aqualand in Cologne will be the first German waterpark to build an AquaLoop with AquaRocket (Hartwigsen/Aquarena). Construction on the 54-metre long looping slide will begin in January 2009. Guests can then make a rocket start from a height of (...) read more
Up until now (!), many racetracks around the world have courted the favour of Formula 1 bigshot Bernie Ecclestone for consideration in the annual Formula 1 circus. Now for the first time ever though, some audible protest against a potential (...) read more
The Munich-based 3D firm Virtual Experience is expanding its portfolio with another 3D ride film called “Boat Trip”. Through its collaboration with Boat Trip c.v., Virtual Experience has secured the exclusive distribution rights to the film for (...) read more
