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processes faster and easier and - as a result – letting employees focus on the guest interaction and hospitality towards visitors. Within the leisure sector, we have seen increasing blurring of the various segments, such as entertainment, culture, accommodation, retail and F&B. Of course, since the end of February everything has changed: in almost every country of Europe and many other countries across the globe, there are complete lockdowns, which have had a huge effect on the visitor industry. We are quite worried about how this will affect the industry and how it will recover. For Imagine Leisure it also had quite an impact: various assignments have been postponed or even terminated. Because we owe our existence to this great industry and all the various leisure operations within it, we have shifted our attention towards helping them in any way we can and providing information which is useful. We believe that we can emerge from crisis stronger than before and we have to try to do everything we can to help the industry in coping. A couple of projects are still ongoing, but have been delayed because of the lockdown. Work on analysis, location studies and setting up business cases can still be done from home, but at the same time, what will a business case look like in the future if the need for social distancing remains in the industry?
Slowly, there is light emerging at the end of this lockdown tunnel, and various countries are testing re-opening strategies and adjusted ways of operation. In some countries visitors are showing little fear of going out and experiencing leisure activities. In others, however, especially in the short-term, people are staying close to home and within their own country.
44 APRIL/MAY 2020
This will have an effect on the occupancy rates of the various leisure operations. Operators that are focused on international tourists will be struggling, just like operations that have close proximity or are mostly indoors – small museums, wellness centres or tourist attractions in particular. Operations that are outdoor and spacious, that can be experienced in small groups, and that are targeted at local or regional visitors can benefit most – for example, a fantasy play forest, a trampoline park or walk-through experience. We also expect quite a difference in facilities that are seasonal and have their peak attendance in spring or summer, as well as those who have less seasonality or have their peak in winter. The companies that are most likely to emerge stronger from this crisis are the ones who have a healthy financial balance and a significant reserve. In the longer term, history has
shown that the industry is very resilient and that over the years the demands can return quickly and stronger than before. Spending spare time in an
active, positive way has become a necessity instead of a luxury. Whether it will return to normal is at this point difficult to say, because we don’t know how long the virus will last and if it has changed the way people look at hygiene permanently. Imagine Leisure will focus the upcoming year on helping the industry adjust and emerge stronger.
Helping a client becoming the owner of a small theme park and further developing the park. We’ve been involved in finding the right park, negotiations, finding financing, quick-wins after takeover and improving the guest experience and marketing. Creating a concept for
a beautiful old city hall, including creating the storyline, sketches and setting up the business case. Analysing and developing
scenarios for future developments of a location of one of the biggest leisure operators of The Netherlands, Libema Not every project is easy or
ends with success, especially projects that are developed for governments, which are often related to political influences. These can change the objective or can even result in the termination of a project before it has been finalised.
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