The entrance to Disneyland Paris, in January 2023 (AFP/Alain JOCARD)
With ever more visitors, the success of French leisure parks is undeniable and, despite inflation, the 2023 season promises to be just as flourishing, thanks in particular to investments in new attractions.
On the forecourt of Disneyland Paris on this weekday, the French rub shoulders with Italians who are enjoying a public holiday in their country, Spaniards or even Americans. Mickey’s park, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, does not give attendance figures but welcomes 56% foreigners and 44% French.
“It’s quite common for us to come here, we usually do it once a year,” said AFP Adélaïde Gautier, 38-year-old Frenchwoman, who came with her two sons and her husband. “But this year it is mainly because the children had entries as a Christmas present so we only had to pay for our places”, underlines the mother of the family, who monitors her budget.
“We come during the week for the prices (lower), we take the picnic and we don’t sleep on the spot”, she explains.
Inflation could be the little cloud in 2023 on a season which promises to be radiant for leisure parks, which seek the parade of falling purchasing power.
In the Oise, the Sea of Sand, which is blowing out its 60 candles, “favors spontaneity” and does not take reservations, even if it means refusing people as was the case three times in May. The gauge of 6,000 visitors had been reached.
With an entry “less than 30 euros” and “children’s menus at 8.50 euros and adults at 14 euros”, “we felt that people were sometimes close to one or two euros”, underlines with AFP the director of the park Antoine Lacarière.
“We therefore worked upstream to keep these prices by modifying the content,” he explains. Thus, the ice cream offered as a dessert from the children’s menu having become too expensive was replaced by a donut.
– “We have earned our letters of nobility” –
A few kilometers away, Parc Astérix also adapts. “We have certain days in the week call rates that start at 40 euros”, instead of the usual 62 euros, explains to AFP François Fassier, director of the Leisure parks branch of the Compagnie des Alpes group.
The group’s 12 parks (Parc Astérix, Futuroscope, Walibi, etc.) welcomed more than 10 million visitors in 2022, an increase of 6% compared to before the pandemic, and the average expenditure per visitor increased by 17% .
“It’s a hobby that has evolved a lot in recent years, with major investments. We have won our letters of nobility,” said François Fassier.
At the Futuroscope in Poitiers, in August 2022 (AFP/Archives/GUILLAUME SOUVANT)
Among the levers used to support growth: regularly offering new products, in addition to offering “special days” such as Halloween or Christmas. “When you offer a quality product, customers are willing to incur the necessary expense. Anything mediocre is rejected,” says Fassier.
It highlights the new ecolodges of Futuroscope or the new attraction of Parc Astérix, the Toutatis festival, which opened in the spring after two years of work and a budget of 36 million euros.
In Vendée, the Puy du Fou has invested more than 20 million euros for its new show around the beginnings of cinema.
“The 2023 season is really very encouraging,” Nicolas de Villiers, president of Puy du Fou, told AFP, “the French are there and the foreigners are back”.
“We have already broken attendance records in the first few weeks. We are on a very spectacular progression in the number of visitors, shattering our records,” he said.
In 2022, the Vendée park had welcomed 2.34 million visitors.
Same enthusiasm at the Compagnie des Alpes. “With equivalent weather, we should have a better summer than last year in all the parks”, assures François Fassier.
© 2023 AFP
Did you like this article ? Share it with your friends with the buttons below.
