the US, there are two cities renowned for entertainment – Orlando and Las Vegas,” he explains. “Vegas has casinos and night life, but there’s also a core market of two million – many of whom are families looking for entertainment – that Wet‘n’Wild will appeal to.” Waxing lyrical about the potential in the Sydney market, Fisher says the decision to expand the Wet‘n’Wild brand on the east coast of Australia was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up. The $120m (US$125m, £81m, E95m) Wet‘n’Wild Sydney is under construction and opens at the end of this year. “Sydney’s one of the world’s great
cities, yet there’s no waterpark there. Finding a property in the geographical centre of the city’s population wasn’t easy and we believe that has been one of the barriers to other operators, so
About tim Fisher
What are your hobbies? My hobby is running and each week I cover around 60km. I feel strongly about trying to stay in decent shape because it helps me manage the stress that comes with this type of job. I’m also a movie buff. My daughter
Carrington and I have been watching movies together since she was three- years-old. Now that she’s 16, there aren’t many new releases that we miss.
AM 2 2013 ©cybertrek 2013
What drives you? I enjoy being successful, but over the years I’ve come to learn that the key to professional success is making sure that the people around you are successful as well. True success is always shared.
What’s your favourite film? The Impossible starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. It’s about how a fam- ily survived the impact of the tsunami.
Village Roadshow’s attractions are marketed and promoted through its chain of Village Cinemas
we’re very pleased to have found such a large parcel so well placed in the Sydney suburbs,” he says. “But as a business opportunity, it has
so much potential. There’s little com- petition from a leisure entertainment perspective, we already have appeal and the power of the Wet‘n’Wild brand to leverage, and a core and regional population of five million that’s rela- tively affluent. It just makes good financial sense for our company to be there. Also,” he continues, “we think the brand exposure for our company that will come from the incremental one mil- lion visitors in Sydney can only benefit the Gold Coast parks long term.”
Competition Ironically, the stiffest competition will come from Merlin Entertainments Group, the group Village Roadshow sold its Sydney Attractions business to in 2011. Merlin operates some of the most popular non-theme park attractions in Sydney, including Sydney Aquarium, Wild Life Sydney Zoo, Sydney Tower Eye and Madame Tussaud’s. Fisher doesn’t seem too worried how-
ever. “It’s always good to have other companies in the attractions industry in Australia. Merlin’s willingness to invest here is a sign they have a similar con- fidence in the Australian market. I have great respect for them as a company.” Just as Merlin’s targeting the Asian market with its Legoland brand, Village
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