A striking tourist attraction was opened on 11 August next to the time-honoured central railway station of Dresden: a 60-metre high Ferris wheel, an “R 60” from Ronald Bussink Professional Rides with 42 gondolas including a luxurious VIP gondola (...) read more
Bobbejaanland, the large Belgian amusement park, has been chosen as the “most innovative park of 2006” by users of the Dutch website www.rides.nl. This vote was surely influenced by the two new attractions at Bobbejaanland this year: “Desperado (...) read more
Five new sections are included in Landal’s 2007 holiday catalogue. All together, the company now offers 60 holiday parks in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria and, for the first time ever, even in Switzerland. Starting (...) read more
Not far from Manama, the capital of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and just a few kilometres from the country’s Formula 1 racetrack, “The Lost Paradise of Dilnum” is being built on 80,000-square metre large premises. After its completion in autumn 2006, (...) read more
The Canadian manufacturer Whitewater West Industries Ltd. was established in 1981. As a manufacturer of fibreglass waterslides the facilities and team have grown straight. They have over 300 employees in offices worldwide today. Whitewater has (...) read more
The Icelandic government has decided on a significant reduction of VAT on groceries starting next year. From March 2007 on, VAT on groceries will drop from 14 to 7% according to the new resolution. At restaurants and taverns, it will plummet from (...) read more
At Minimundus Bodensee (Lake Constance), the number of visitors continues to lag far behind the estimated figures of 300,000 visitors p.a. that were originally expected after the opening phase. The Minimundus management board was therefore (...) read more
What might seem to some as a jump on the organic bandwagon is a profitable business idea for a brewery in Greenland (http://www.brewhouse.gl). Its “hand-brewed” beer is made with water from Greenland’s inland ice. The brewery believes that this (...) read more
South Germany’s largest convention centre recently opened in the Lower Bavarian town of Bad Gögging with a number of large conventions. The Kuwaiti hotel operator concern REFAD Hotels & Resort invested more than seven million euros in the (...) read more
An “infernal ride through the desert” will soon be possible at Heide Park Soltau. Together with park director Hannes W. Mairinger, Lower Saxony’s Minister President Christian Wulf laid the foundation for the new attraction in August. Germany’s (...) read more
The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) recently held its 61st annual meeting in Leipzig. In a series of lectures, 250 zoo directors and scientists from 50 countries presented their zoological work and efforts in species protection. The (...) read more
The World Tourism Organization UNWTO (http://www.world-tourism.org) recently calculated that travellers spend more than two billion dollars daily. In 2005, tourists spent an estimated 682 billion dollars – a substantial three per cent more than (...) read more
Led by the Aquapark Management GmbH, which was contracted with the conceptual consultation and operation, Darmstadt’s art nouveau-influenced “Volksbad” (people’s bath) from 1909 is being reconstructed and expanded for around 18 million euros. (...) read more
From 27-30 September 2006, the interbad 2006 in Düsseldorf will be presenting the latest trends in the pool, sauna and spa sectors. At the European trade fair for public and private pools, the European Waterpark Association (EWA) will organise a (...) read more
For the second time in a row, Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio is America’s most popular amusement park. In a survey recently conducted by the American “Theme Park Magazine”, readers voted once again for their favourite park in the US. (...) read more
At this year’s WorldMediaFestival in Hamburg, Alaska Ice Adventure, a film about the breathtaking trip of an ice floe through the Arctic sea, was awarded the Intermedia Globe Gold prize. The award-winning film created by the Munich-based multimedia (...) read more
The amusement park located in Lichtaart, Belgium inaugurated another new attraction called “The Dreamcatcher” in early July. The approx. 600-metre long roller coaster is a remodelled “Air Race”. The 25-metre high ride was reengineered and furnished (...) read more
The 20 million euro expensive attraction was originally scheduled to open on Easter. After numerous rumours about further delays since then, the company’s headquarters have now definitely “grounded” the attraction for this year. Ronald van der Zijl, (...) read more
As made public by Swiss media, the financially strained park (as we’ve reported a number of times in past issues) is now trying to avert looming bankruptcy at practically the last minute through a moratorium on debt enforcement. The district court (...) read more
Instigated by the US Government, Homeland Security representatives recently met with high-ranking managers from the American leisure industry. The meeting focussed on the potential terrorism threat to amusement parks and the entire US entertainment (...) read more
