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Nature Resort. The tree houses are equipped with their own bathroom and even underfloor heating. Guests in our shepherd’s wagons use shared sanitary facilities. Of course, it’s amazing for our guests to hear in the evenings the howling of the wolves or the roaring of the deer from their own tree house’s terrace.” As Tripdrill’s offer has continued to grow, so too has
its visitor base: “Traditionally, we used to attract visitors from the surrounding areas in South-Western Germany. The more we extended the offer, our catchment area increased. Most visitors are still domestic, but especially among our overnight guests, many are from neighbouring countries like Switzerland, Netherlands or France. Oversea visitors are still rather the exception, but nowadays theme park enthusiasts from all over the world include Tripsdrill in their itineraries when they are touring Europe.”
The show must go on Tripsdrill may be shut at the moment due to Covid, but the team is still hard at work in both locations – all the animals still need looking after and preparations for the season start on the theme park side are also underway. Revealing what’s going on behind the scenes, Birger says: “Our theme park is currently in the regular winter break. We plan to start into the season on March 27th – if the Covid situation allows. Of course, our staff is busy with the required maintenance work and technical checks so that we are prepared for the upcoming season. We are also using the remaining time to complete the station building of “Hals-über-Kopf” and the theming inside. Our gardeners are taking care of all green spaces so that the park will be in full bloom when the season starts. In the theme park, things are therefore going on as usual. “However, our wildlife park and nature resort, which
are usually open all around the year, are now closed due to the corona regulations. Our animals of course need good care each and every day. And it’s not only about feeding them and cleaning their enclosures: We also need to continue training with them so that we can resume our flight demonstrations and feedings as soon as we are allowed to resume. So, in the wildlife park, our staff are continuing their daily business – but unfortunately without visitors. The big challenge for everybody is: we have no guarantee of when business can resume, but we need to be prepared for when it does.” “Of course, the pandemic has an impact on our
business. We had to spend already in the 2020 season a six-digit amount for all necessary measures for the protection against the coronavirus – costs which were never expected. Also marketing activities had to be re-thought, especially considering that we need to cap our daily number of visitors in the park. We had to introduce a system which only allows the purchase of online tickets for a fixed date. Only for some exceptions (e.g. visitors with disabilities who receive special rates) physical tickets can be bought at the counter. On the one hand, it was not that easy to introduce this system, also considering that many Germans are not as familiar with online ticketing and payment as some other nationalities. On the other hand, we now have the possibility to know in advance how many visitors will come to our park the next day – which creates the potential for new, dynamic and measurable online marketing.”
Looking ahead As Birger says, 2020 saw the opening the new coasters ‘Hals-über-Kopf’ and ‘Volldampf”. However, the theming was not complete at that point in time. He explains, “In Tripsdrill, theming is essential and therefore needs a certain amount of time. Currently, we are working on the station and theming of Hals-über-Kopf. The station building is designed as a historic tavern. With multimedia effects we will tell the story of the “Seven Swabians”. This bunch of clumsy dare devils once decided to start into an epic journey to the Lake of Constance, where a huge monster was thought to be hiding. Our theming will tell the whole story.” As our conversation comes to an end, I ask Birger
what he is personally most excited about seeing when the season begins, and he speaks for everybody in Europe when he says, “First of all, I am excited to see the park full of happy faces again. Since November, the whole leisure and tourism sector in Germany was closed down – everybody is so much looking forward to things getting back to normal.”
I am excited
to see the park full of happy faces again. Everyone is so looking forward to things getting back to normal.
WINTER PART 2 2021
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