Disneyland Paris, the theme park which is part-owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, reported this week that third quarter revenues decreased four percent to €340 million ($454 million) and nine-month year-to-date revenues decreased five percent to €873 million.
The decline in performance was due to a drop in attendance, mainly from guests from France, while officials are confident the launch of the Ratatouille: l’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy attraction in July will help to attract more visitors going forward.
A lack of special event activity and a temporary reduction in hotel room inventory related to the hotel renovation program have also been blamed for the drop in revenues.
Philippe Gas, Président of Euro Disney S.A.S., parent company of Euro Disney Associés S.C.A., the operator of Disneyland Paris, said: “In our third quarter, the challenging economic environment resulted in decreased Resort volumes, notably from France, partially offset by higher visitation from Spain, the United Kingdom and Germany.
“However, we delivered increased guest spending in theme parks. As part of our commitment to invest for the long term in the quality of the guest experience, we opened our newest attraction on July 10 in the Walt Disney Studios Park, Ratatouille: l’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, which has already received very positive guest response. Offering unique immersive experiences and Disney magic, thanks to our Cast Members, is at the heart of what we do.”
Overall theme parks revenues decreased four percent to €196.4 million from €204.7 million in the prior-year quarter, due to lower special event activity than in the prior-year quarter and a three percent decrease in attendance, partly offset by a six percent increase in average spending per guest.
Hotels and Disney Village revenues decreased three percent to €133.5 million from €137.9 million in the prior-year quarter, due to a 2.2 percentage point decrease in hotel occupancy and a two percent decrease in average spending per room, partly offset by a two percent increase in Disney Village revenues.
In a bid to attract more visitors form the Gulf region, Disneyland Paris announced in February it had struck a deal with Qatar’s Regency Travel & Tours.
“There is a huge demand for Disneyland Paris from this part of the world,” Regency Travel & Tours CEO Tareq Abdullatif Taha was quoted as saying by Gulf Times.
The Paris-based theme park, which is 38.9 percent owned by the Walt Disney Company, was rescued from bankruptcy in 1994 when Prince Alwaleed injected $350m into its parent company Euro Disney.
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