Amusement parks: a firework display of emotions

" Leisure parks came into being at a time when we realised that a change of scenery could be found close by; that it's not about distance, but about a break. Our lives are made up of many small breaks. The challenge today is to unplug. Hence the success of amusement parks and theme parks.", analyses sociologist Jean Viard in the 2016 social and economic activity report of the national union of leisure, attraction and cultural spaces (Snelac).
Having reached maturity, the French market is now booming, with almost 52 million visitors in 2015, with sales of €2.2 billion. The top ten French theme parks even recorded average growth of 10 % compared with 2014. "With around a hundred sites, France is the European country with the most leisure parks, with a dense and varied offering spread across the country."says Sophie Huberson, Managing Director of Snelac. According to the economic research institute Xerfi, this trend is set to continue in 2016, with an expected increase in attendance of 1.5 % for amusement parks and theme parks and 3 % for zoos and aquariums.

Five of the twenty most-visited parks in Europe are French - in fact. Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios, Le Puy du Fou, Parc Astérix and Futuroscope - and alone account for almost 40 % of total park visits in France. In a way, this healthy market is the repercussion of the economic crisis and the international geopolitical situation, which are forcing the French to travel less far and for shorter periods. Jean Viard offers another explanation for this phenomenon: "we now move in tribes. People need to get together as a family, the three generations together, or with friends. They want to do things together, but with a difference. That's what the parks offer: fun for all, or separate activities for different ages, but all in the same place.".
This unity of place and sharing of high points also appeals to companies. In fact, many sites are equipped to receive business customers on weekdays and outside the holiday period. In this context, most requests come from companies based in the region where the park is located. This is the case, for example, at La Récré des 3 Curés in Brittany, where the majority of the 200 business groups welcomed each year are from Brittany. The park has reception rooms with a capacity of 200 people, with accommodation in mobile homes or chalets.
One exception to this rule of proximity is Disneyland Paris, whose vocation is clearly international. "20 % to 25 % of our business customers are international, the vast majority of them European. We organise almost 850 events with between 50 and 5,000 participants every year. Our teams draw on the power of Disney's DNA, the creator of storytelling, and mobilise their expertise to put emotion at the heart of events and transform them into unforgettable stories."explains Nicolas Dupeux, Director of Disney Business Solutions.

Companies are attracted by the unity of the venue and the opportunity to share special moments, and many sites are equipped to receive business customers.

Served by the A4 motorway, the park benefits from an exceptional geographical location with its TGV hub serving 54 cities, including London and Brussels, while being only 10 minutes by TGV from CDG airport and linked daily to Orly by 24 shuttles. This explains why Disneyland Paris is so much more than just a theme park. a conference destination in its own rightIt will offer 19,300 m2 of conference space on a single site, with two convention centres, 95 meeting rooms, an exhibition hall, a 570-seat auditorium, two event facilities, seven hotels with a capacity of 5,800 rooms, 55 restaurants, a golf course and a lake...".Requests are increasingly pragmatic: customers want a complete and effective response. They often want a meeting format combined with an incentive."says Nicolas Dupeux.
To meet organisers' requirements, Disney Business Solutions has launched a virtual application, available on the App Store and Google Play, offering prospective customers a 360° tour of its facilities, enabling them to discover the different possible layouts and visualise their event before it takes place. Another new feature is an interactive rally entitled Roadmap to Adventure. For two and a half hours, groups of up to 300 participants, guided by a digital tablet, compete in teams in the park.
Only one other leisure destination can rival Disneyland Paris as an event destination in its own right, located not in France, but in Germany: Europa-Park. With its 450 m2 conference centre, 3,000 m2 hall, some thirty meeting rooms seating between 10 and 6,000 people, five themed hotels, over 100 attractions and dinner shows, including one with a menu designed by Peter Hagen-Wiest, the two-star Michelin chef of the Ammolite-The Lighthouse restaurant, the venue hosts over 1,300 business-to-business events every year.

The past is connected

"The atypical aspect of the parks, the escapism and sensations they provide, the fact that they are increasingly equipped with accommodation, but also that they can be fully or partially privatised and that they offer new features including live shows, all explain their success."says Sophie Huberson. The Puy du Fou is a fine illustration of this.. With 2.2 million visitors from April to September and sales growth of +21 % in 2016, it is the second-largest theme park in France after Disneyland Paris. Opened in the middle of the Vendée countryside, an hour from Angers, it is totally atypical in the theme park landscape, self-financing at 100 % and reinvesting its profits each year in new attractions. In 2017, for its 40th anniversary, the park is presenting four new creations, including two musical shows with special effects: the Grand Carillon and the Sappers' Ballet. Two restaurants and a medieval-inspired hotel, La Citadelle, also opened their doors this year. "Our five themed hotels offer unique experiences, a real journey back in time," explains Laurent Albert, General Manager.

In June, Parc Astérix launched a new attraction, Pegasus Express, a rollercoaster offering a breathtaking journey through the ancient world.

The business offer is tempting, with a hotel capacity of over 400 rooms, around ten meeting rooms that can accommodate from 10 to 3,000 participants, a team totally dedicated to business customers, and 27 catering outlets. The venue also offers four period villages, 60 daytime and night-time shows, including the famous CinéscénieThis explains why Le Puy du Fou receives almost 200 MICE groups every year, for a total of 2,500 people. "These great historical experiences make us a destination in our own right"says Laurent Albert. Buoyed by its success, the Puy du Fou has exported its concept abroad, to the Netherlands and the UK, and plans to open a park in Spain, near Madrid, in 2021.

Irreducible Gauls

On the historical front, 35 kilometres from Paris, in Plailly in the Oise department, the Parc Astérix proposes a totally different experience. With its mix of humour and thrills, the site welcomes 1.8 million visitors between April and November and hosts around a hundred events over the same period. MICE. The park, which aims to attract more than two million visitors, has launched a €100 million investment plan for the period 2017-2020. As part of this, a new attraction opened in June, Pegasus Express, a rollercoaster offering a breathtaking journey through the ancient world. For the moment, the majority of business customers come from the Paris region. "However, we want to take advantage of our location, 15 minutes from Roissy-GDG airport, to attract MICE visitors from all regions, and even from the UK and Benelux."That's why Asterix is expanding its hotel offer. For this reason, Asterix is expanding its hotel offer. Its Trois Hiboux hotel is offering 50 extra rooms, a new restaurant and a new 350 m2 seminar room. At the same time, two establishments with 150 rooms each have been added, the Cité suspendue and the Quais de Lutècewill be launched in 2018 and 2019 respectively. "The ability to organise an event all year round, even when the venue is closed, is one of our key selling points."adds Marylin Monet.
Compagnie des Alpes, which owns Parc Astérix, has also embarked on a plan to invest around €30 million over ten years in another of its leisure parks: Walibi Rhône-Alpes. Located in Avenières, Isère, half an hour from Chambéry and an hour from Lyon, the site aims to grow from 420,000 visitors in 2016, a record year, to 650,000 by 2025. Nearly €11 million has already been invested in this project. the creation of the Adventure Explorer zone including a flagship attraction, Timber, a vertiginous wooden rollercoaster 446 metres long and 17 metres high. Also recently opened is a 120 m2 room fully equipped with audio equipment. "We are expanding our range of seminars and incentives so that within the next seven years we aim to offer around fifty events a year with between 80 and 300 participants."says Thomas Mondon, Marketing & Sales Director. The park already has a 1,200-seat amphitheatre and a 300 m² modular space dedicated to business customers, the Walibi Studio. Located at the entrance, it can be used to organise events that may or may not be linked to the attractions.

Aiming for the planet

In a completely different genre, Vulcania is also targeting business customers. Located in Saint-Ours-les-Roches, in the Puy-de-Dôme region, the French scientific centre specialising in volcanism welcomes "According to François Heid, deputy director, some one hundred MICE operations take place every year. 60 % of these events take place during the day, the rest in the evening."Enabling everyone to better understand the workings not only of volcanoes, but also of the planet, the park offers companies an exceptional natural setting for their operation, with rooms for up to 200 participants, all with a breathtaking view of the Auvergne volcanoes.
"We want companies to use our strong identity, particularly in terms of sustainable development, to give meaning to their event."adds François Heid, who has plans to create eco-lodgings. Several half-day and full-day incentive modules have also been designed to meet a wide range of needs. "More and more customers want to integrate our entertainment into their operations or dramatise the park for an event."he continues.

It is also the scientific theme that attracts business customers to the Futuroscopein Poitiers. "She is attracted by the image conveyed by our name: modernity, innovation and a pure French product!says François Gires, head of the business tourism department, with pride. There are two other strong arguments: its proximity to the Poitiers Convention Centre and the fact that it is located in the heart of the city. an hour and a half by train from Paris. "Futuroscope has a range of meeting facilities, including a 750-seat amphitheatre."says François Gires. Overall, Futuroscope's appeal continues to grow: 1.9 million visitors in 2016, 80,000 more than in 2015. The events launched in 2017 to mark its 30th anniversary are enhancing its reputation. They showcase the scientific and technological expertise of the park, which also aims to be a laboratory of the future. The "Extraordinary Journey" attraction takes visitors on a unique sensory experience as they fly over the entire planet with their feet in the air! The new nocturnal aquafeerie, La Forge aux étoiles, designed in collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, is also a technical and artistic feat. The Futuroscope is open to the public after 5pm. the perfect setting for an exceptional eveningThe day is also a great opportunity for team-building activities such as challenges in a Twizy or workshops that put all the senses to the test.

Another major French park with scientific connotations is the Cité de l'Espacein Toulouse, is making its mark not with a journey into the future, but into space. "It's a unique place in Europe, right in the heart of Europe's aeronautics capital."says Bertrand Brichet, B-to-B Sales Manager. Boosted by the news that astronaut Thomas Pesquet has been posting daily photos and mini-stories of his life in weightlessness on Twitter, the city is attracting interest from MICE groups. "We welcomed 325,000 people in 2016. B-to-B accounts for around 13 % of visitors, representing almost 210 packaged events per year, ranging from team-building to private evenings and conferences led by experts."says Bertrand Brichet.

The Cité de la Mer in Cherbourg offers original events, such as a dinner in the canteen of the Redoutable nuclear submarine in the presence of a former submariner.

It's an opportunity for a company to embrace the values of the site: surpassing oneself, team spirit, humility... Groups come for an unusual experience, to take a step back from their objectives and strategy. "Discovering space projects and put yourself in the shoes of an astronaut allows you to look at things differently afterwards"observes Bertrand Brichet, who also notes "since 2016, companies have been taking an interest in the ecological aspect of space travel". All the technologies used in space are innovative in terms of energy saving and sustainable development.

Life-size

Animal parks are also equipped to welcome professional customers. For example, in Allier, at PALGroups of around sixty can stay in African lodges on stilts surrounded by antelopes, zebras and wildebeest, take a behind-the-scenes tour of the site, meet the keepers, take part in a falconry workshop and other unique activities. The Pal also includes a leisure park with 27 attractions, which can be reserved for a minimum of 1,000 people.
The City of the SeaCherbourg's Titanic & Emigration exhibition centre also has a large capacity. The former transatlantic ferry terminal offers a wide variety of spaces, with the former train hall (5,500 m2), the Titanic & Emigration space (600 m2) and several rooms of various sizes. "We host around 150 conferences a year, as well as a host of trade fairs, incentives and meetings."says Marion François, Marketing Manager. The site's added value includes original events, such as dinner in the nuclear submarine canteen le Redoutable in the presence of a former submariner, a cocktail in the middle of the aquariums or an immersion in the history of the famous liner Titanic, part of which has been reconstructed. "Next year, to mark our 15th anniversary, our spaces will be completely revamped. Around the aquariums, sound and light, touch screens, digital technology and 3D will immerse visitors in the underwater world, culminating in a 15-metre sea fault."Marion François promises.
The race for thrills, part of the DNA of the leisure parksThis is in line with the quest for unforgettable moments led by companies. And that augurs well for many more years of collaboration.