Are theme parks solid business propositions?

Abstract

Before joining KPMG some five years ago, the writer had appraised the business plans of Alton Towers and Flamingoland in North Yorkshire for grants purposes and the prospective ventures at Corby Wonderworld and Battersea, thus gleaning expertise from the experience of a range of actual and proposed theme park ventures. What is important to establish at the outset is that it is very difficult to write about typical theme parks — the ones in the USA, Continental Europe and the UK can all demonstrate different characteristics — and this is what makes the job of the financial institutions, whether it is a bank or a venture capital house, so difficult when asked to finance new developments. The paper aims to explore these difficulties, to examine differences in approach and to look at the prospects for a variety of theme parks, in the USA, the UK and Continental Europe.