Open to Question Djurs Sommerland
IP: When and how did you become involved in the theme/amusement park industry? HN: Djurs Sommerland has been open since 1981 and has always been family owned, having been started by my father and a colleague of his. I came into the business in 1996 when my father became ill and we wanted to find a way to continue the business. My father’s partner wanted to sell his share too, so we bought his part of the business. My brother Michael has also been involved since 2000 and today we run the park together with around 35 permanent staff and a further 425 seasonal staff.
IP: Like Djurs Sommerland, many parks, notably in the US and Europe, have strong family connections and in many cases remain in family ownership. These days, however, more ‘corporates’ are involved in park ownership. Do you think this is a good or bad thing or is it simply inevitable that more and more parks will be taken over? HN: We see a consolidation in the business and for some years now. One reason is the competition for family leisure time gets stronger so there is a very strong demand for product development and therefore bigger investments in parks. But some of the smaller parks are not able to keep up and stay attractive to their main target group, so I think we will keep seeing this situation (consolidation) for the coming years too. However, it is better that parks don’t look the same and some of the family parks have a big advantage in this respect because they are able to provide a very special atmosphere, which is good for the business as a whole. There is a population of only five million in Denmark so we need to bring in guests from a wider distance. They just won’t travel if the offer is going to be the same at each place or very similar, so privately owned, family run parks that offer something different and unique have an important part to play in the industry.
IP: What do you feel have been the most significant changes and developments in the theme/ amusement park industry in the past 10 years? HN: We do a lot of travelling to see other parks in both Europe and the US, to see what they are doing and what works. We’ve seen the transformation of some parks into resorts with big and small accommodation offerings. This aspect has had an impact on the business in Europe. In Denmark, there are only a couple of projects like
this. Legoland is developing into a big resort and we’ll probably see more in the future. The result will be bigger parks becoming bigger and smaller ones staying small, so there will be a bigger difference in size and attractiveness in parks because the ability to invest will be so different. People want to have quality leisure time and a successful visit for the family, so bigger parks that can provide better guest value will be the most successful in the future, along with those that can develop the product best. It won’t necessarily be just those running accommodation but also those developing with partners, such as where there is a cluster of facilities run by different organisations. We see developments like this around here but particularly of theme parks, where a cluster is run by either one organisation or several different ones. I think we’ll see more of this in the future elsewhere, as well as in Denmark.
IP: What do you feel are the park industry’s biggest challenges at the present time? HN: I would only comment from a Danish perspective as it is different from country to country. In about the last 10 years we’ve seen a big decline in foreign visitors to Denmark so there is increased competition for guests which in turn has led to bigger product development to enable venues to stay interesting for their target groups and to stay in their minds. Looking at parks and zoos, aquariums and science centres, there seems to be a big loyalty for theme parks compared to other venues, so it is a big challenge for the tourism industry generally, as well as parks.
IP: What, in your opinion, is the industry’s main competition for people’s leisure spend? Is it purely other leisure venues, or do other things come into play too? HN: We see the competition as being very broad. Our competitors are other parks and cinemas, zoos and other things people can do in their spare time. We are 100 per cent for families so modern-day products like mobile phones and iPods that teens spend their money on don’t really affect us. It does change their behaviours but doesn’t impact on us. If teens come to the park they are usually part of a group, as a family, so it doesn’t impact on us in this way. And we get the local teenagers coming anyway.
IP: Do you think it is necessary for parks to invest in new attractions every year or can other things be done to keep people coming back?
www.InterPark.co.uk 53
Henrik B. Nielsen
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