E_076_089_Special_ESA
22.10.2012
13:59 Uhr
Seite 2
SPECIAL The handmade glass sculptors for first place winning parks for the European Star Awards; in the background the Radio Tower Berlin and the exhibition halls
It’s not only the large parks such as
Disneyland,
PortAventura
and Europa-Park, but also the countless parks that are family owned in regional areas, which turn around large amounts of money in order to draw more than 145 million visitors annually. The over 300 theme parks in Europe invested more than 400 million Euro in 2012, and it appears that 2013 will see a similar investment amount. The European amusement branch alone spends an annual estimated 8.6 billion Euro,
and
employs
around
50,000 people – a whole lot of impressive numbers that speak for a professional award dedicated explicitly to the European theme park industry, at long last.
Photos:
Europa-Park,
European Star Award
Tim Beyer, Wolfgang Payer, Tim Herre, Frank Lanfer
76
T
his year’s Euro Attractions Show in Berlin was,
An international team of experts voted rankings in
with over 360 exhibitors from 80 countries, the
10 different categories, which acknowledged the
largest and most successful in its young history,
efforts within the European theme park branch,
and took place only for the third time in Germany
and brought attention to entrepreneurial courage
following Düsseldorf (2002) and Munich (2008).
and exceptional innovations.
And for the first time, Europe’s leading trade
For the expert ballots this year, we were able to win
magazine Kirmes & Park Revue presented the
the attention of the following personalities: Dr. h.c.
independent European Star Award – an award
Werner Stengel (founder Stengel GmbH, Ger-
honoring the successful European theme park
many), Dr. Dieter Brinkmann (University Bremen,
industry.
Applied Leisure Science and IFKA e.V., Germany),