PROFILE
TIM FISHER
A double-dip global recession and high Aussie dollar hasn’t stopped Village Roadshow expanding. CEO Tim Fisher explains why he always looks on the bright side
Jennifer Harbottle, journalist, Attractions Management A
merican-born Tim Fisher is a glass half full type. Never mind dwelling on the negative, he likes to see the positive in things
and relishes turning a challenge into an opportunity. This kind of can-do approach to business may be typically American, but on Australia’s sunny Gold Coast, where he’s the CEO of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, he fi ts right in.
PORTFOLIO Dubbed the home of the theme park Down Under, the Gold Coast is to Australia what Orlando is to the US. As well as an established MICE mar- ket, the beaches and theme parks on the Gold Coast attract many tour- ists. Fisher’s based here, as are fi ve out of eight of Village Roadshow’s theme parks. These include Warner Bros Movie World, Gold Coast Wet ‘n’ Wild, Sea World, Paradise Country and Australian Outback Spectacular. Overseas, the company owns
Wet‘n’Wild Hawaii – the fi rst over- seas theme park acquisition for Village Roadshow – and Wet‘n’Wild Phoenix in Arizona. The company also has three new parks in the pipeline, Wet‘n’Wild Sydney, Wet‘n’Wild Las Vegas and Ocean Paradise in China. Fisher is well versed in heading up an operation of this scale. Before join- ing Village Roadshow in 2007, he was executive vice president of Paramount Parks and Viacom Recreation in the US, responsible for the company’s day- to-day operations and capital project
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attendances of 2.8 million. First half EBITDA is up nine percent on 2012, despite heavy fl ooding in Queensland over the summer months. Although pleased, Fisher isn’t complacent. “I’m very happy with how the business is performing, but we manage every business unit with the idea that they can improve,” he says. “Our more mature parks still have room to grow in terms of food and retail.” Fisher puts the good fi gures down
Tim Fisher initially joined Village Roadshow in 2007 to manage US operations
development. It was a role that called for him to test his yield management, capital strategy and cost cutting skills – things that have shaped his manage- ment style at Village Roadshow and helped to create a healthy bottom line for the business, now worth AU$275m (US$285m, £186.2m, 217m) annually.
ATTENDANCE So far this year, attendance at the Gold Coast parks is up 20 per cent, with the fi rst half of 2013 showing record
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to the success of their key business drivers, primarily the VIP annual pass programme. So far, the Gold Coast parks have sold nearly a mil- lion annual passes in the fi rst seven months. Fisher says it’s the fact they’re being bought primarily by consumers in the core and regional markets that makes the difference. “The VIP programme has increased our admissions revenue by driv- ing up non-holiday performance, which, in turn, drives revenue in non-peak periods and helps our overall costs.” He says a successful special events programme for key holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas, has also been good for the Gold Coast business. Fisher admits that prior to the Global
Financial Crisis, the company had already begun the process of shifting its demographic target, “Before, our business was more tourism oriented, whereas now, regional and core mar- kets play a more signifi cant role,” he explains. “One of the ways we’ve been able to grow our profi t is by plugging
AM 2 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
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