Spain & theme parks; what’s the problem?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. After hearing numerous reports from Parque de Atracciones de Madrid and Parque Warner Madrid recently where the reviewers writing them commented on the parks being absolutely deserted, it got me thinking; Spain seems to have a bit of a problem making major theme parks work, and I’m struggling to pinpoint why. So my question to you today is; what issue does the Spanish theme park industry have, in your opinion?

I should probably clarify what I mean by Spain having an “issue” with theme parks.

On paper, Spain seems like an ideal place to host major European theme parks. It’s hot for much of the year, has a huge tourism industry particularly in coastal areas, and has a lot of flat desert land ripe for development; on paper, Spain has it all, and many major US operators like Disney & Universal have heavily considered the prospect of building European resorts in Spain. Many of the theme parks planned for and eventually built in Spain have been quite grand-scale, masterplanned affairs; Spain certainly has a greater proportion of these types of parks than other European countries. It looks like the closest thing we have here in Europe to Orlando, and it could have come close to Orlando had some of the planned resorts come to fruition.

However, many of these considered resorts never got off the ground, and the ones that did often struggled. Some of Spain’s older theme parks also seem to be struggling a bit, or have been somewhat stagnant in recent years; not too much seems to be happening in Spain’s theme park industry these days, and many parks are struggling. In terms of some major examples I can think of, they include:

• PortAventura: PortAventura is certainly Spain’s biggest theme park success story, and I’m certainly not going to deny that it’s a very popular park; according to the TEA report, 3,750,000 guests went through the gates of PortAventura Park alone in 2019, making it the 6th most popular park in Europe. However, the original targets for the resort were allegedly much loftier than this, and many of its previous benefactors, particularly Universal, supposedly backed out due to the park’s disappointing performance and financial problems. The recent major investment into Ferrari Land also doesn’t seem to have done terribly well for them in spite of having Europe’s tallest & fastest roller coaster within it; while PortAventura Park is 6th in Europe, Ferrari Land doesn’t even scratch the top 25, and many trip reports paint it as deserted. Given this resort was once the Universal Studios of Europe, and many had rather high hopes for it, attendance is seemingly lower than expected.
• Parque Warner Madrid: 4 fairly large coasters, lavish theming, famous IPs, and a location fairly close to Spain’s capital city seems like the recipe for a theme park success story, right? Sadly, however, Parque Warner Madrid never seems to have prospered too much since its opening in 2002; from what I’ve heard, this is another one that was built with very high hopes in terms of attendance, but never really lived up to expectations, with the park often being absolutely deserted. The fact that the park in 2002 is fairly similar to the park nearly 20 years later in 2021 aside from a Mack YoungStar Coaster and a small water park is perhaps rather telling with regard to the park’s overall success as a venture. The park’s 2019 guest figure of 2.2 million does seem somewhat low for a year-round park with Parque Warner’s ride selection. However, this one does admittedly show some promise; in spite of guest figures being somewhat on the low side for a year-round park, they have skyrocketed within the last 5-10 years (which as amazing as that is, is perhaps even more inexplicable than the park’s initial failure given that not much has really happened in that time), with the park having gained over a million additional guests per year since 2013, and a new coaster rumoured for 2023 should really help to inject some new zest into the park!
• Terra Mitica: This is another one that I’m led to believe was billed as a major up and coming European resort prior to its opening, and had it all in theory; a pretty good ride selection, very elaborate theming, resort hotels (I think?), a water park, and a prime location close to Benidorm, one of Spain’s most popular tourist destinations. Weren’t Paramount even involved with it at some stage? However, you never hear much from it these days, and what you do hear is rarely good news; since I started following theme park news when I was 10, the place has always seemingly been in various states of turmoil, whether that be financial turmoil (I seem to remember the place going bankrupt numerous times, and I also remember hearing about their operating season having been slashed hugely), safety turmoil (when that boy fell out of their ZacSpin and died) or some other kind of turmoil entirely (attendance seems cripplingly low, from what I can gather, and hasn’t the park’s main coaster, Magnus Colossus, not operated in years?). Reports from people who’ve been to Terra Mitica suggest that it offers a very surreal experience, with the park containing infrastructure built to withstand millions and millions of guests a year, and the park generally having the vibe of a pretty major park, with lavish theming and fairly high-end ride hardware, but there barely being any guests visiting at all, even during peak tourism season; every report I’ve ever read paints the park as being absolutely deserted.
• Parque de Atracciones de Madrid: Now this one I’ll admit I’m a little more unsure on, but yet again, I’ve heard reports of the park being pretty quiet most of the time, and the last new thing they built was a small family coaster in 2012. PdA have also disappeared from TEA’s top 25 most visited European theme parks in recent years, and visitor numbers seem oddly low given the park’s fairly expansive ride selection and prime location within Madrid.

So my question to you today is; what do you think the problem is that’s seemingly facing Spain’s theme park industry? Why do so many Spanish parks struggle, and why haven’t they been able to capitalise on Spain’s many redeeming features that would really lend themselves to a thriving theme park industry?

I’d be really keen to know some of your thoughts, as I’ll admit that it’s a bit of a head scratcher for me…

 

[StevenX]

Most Spanish theme parks aren't really nearby Spanish tourist resorts, is the main thing, I think. From my perspective as a British person - who has been to a couple of these parks - most tourists just don't go near these parks. Madrid is an incredible city - but nobody goes there; everyone goes to Barcelona or Bilbao or Granada or whatever instead. And then the parks nearer those other cities aren't really nearby either. The only one which is kind of near anything is Port Aventura, and that isn't even particularly convenient for most tourists.

 

[Tulum]

At least Spain has some parks in contrast to Portugal, which might not have any parks because of the same reasons Spanish parks are struggling.

I guess the problem might be that even tourists that are close are looking for another kind of tourism (party, party, party) and the economic crisis has left traces in Spanish society, which means that especially young people are still economically struggling and cannot afford frequent visits at theme parks.

The parks in Madrid are struggling because tourists do not really feel attracted to go there by WBM being far away from the city and PDA lacking innovation for years. When it comes to WBM, imagine being from Madrid and having been to the park some times ... why would you visit again when there hasn't been ANY slightly major new attraction for years? Then your money is perhaps better spent in the nightlife downtown.

I first visited Port Aventura in 2003 as a young teen when it still belonged to Universal and though the park is still very solid and has imo totally done right with Shambhala, it lacks some of the old quality which can best be seen in the simulator ride. The try to invest into something innovative with Ferrariland turned out in a park that lacks atmosphere and high quality attractions (except for Red Force). The flying theater is nice, ok. The other simulator is boring. I guess they have noticed and with their LaLiga-Attraction announcement tried to create a new kind of attraction, which fans seemingly don't understand and don't want.

When it comes to Terra Mítica and Isla Mágica. What even are those parks? I haven't been there but they look rather sad and dull.

I am not an expert but I guess problems like:
- economical struggles
- underestimating the power of local tourism

are best faced with:
- constant new ideas in marketing and elsewhere (seemed to have worked for WBM the last years)
- regular new investment into new attractions

There are so many parks out there doing well by investing in relatively affordable attractions on a regular basis. Looking at Tripsdrill it says they have 780.000 annual visitors and regularly invest into new coasters and other attractions. I guess there the money goes directly into the park and not back to any shareholders or other businessmen. Same counts for Farup Sommerland with only about 700.000 visitors.

I am still hoping for the best when it comes to Spanish parks, they do have great potential and need new ideas.

 

[Rupert]

I don’t think I really buy that the primary reason for Spanish parks not doing well is the distance for tourists to travel to get to them. Spain easily has a big enough population to support the domestic theme park industry on its own. Port Aventura, Parque Warner and Parque de Atracciones are all pretty easy to access with public transport, especially for natives!

I’d compare it to Germany, which has a pretty large number of parks, many independent, that can sustain themselves through as much a domestic audience as a tourist one. How many foreign tourists really go to Tripsdrill or Hansa Park? There is an element of places like Europa and Phantasialand being within an easy drive of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, but in that sense their typical catchment areas simply straddle across countries - Europa Park is near enough on the border with France.

Sure, Benidorm has a permanent population of just 70,000 - no wonder Terra Mítica struggles? But of course that’s not the reason - the catchment area is much larger. How long do we think the limit people will drive to a park is? An hour? 90 minutes? Two hours? People will certainly drive a couple to get to Alton Towers. Terra Mítica is just a 40 minute drive from Alicante (population 340,000); 1 hr 20 drive from Murcia (population 700,000); 1 hr 30 drive from Valencia (population 2.5 million!); and 1 hr 45 drive from Cartagena (population 410,000). The park has a catchment area with a pretty huge population - it shouldn’t need to rely on tourists to survive, even to thrive.

I’d argue the key reason why parks in Spain don’t do as well as further north in Europe is down to the climate - it’s simply too hot for much of the year for many people to commit to going. Think what your ideal temperature would be for a day at a theme park - for me it’s 20-25°C. Warm, enough so that you’ll dry after a water ride, but not so hot that your energy is sapped and you’re constantly searching for shade. With the expectation at parks that you’ll be queuing for a pretty big chunk of the day, those temperatures can be a bit off-putting, definitely to the non-enthusiast. With climate change the problem is only getting worse.

A recent article in the Guardian addressed the plans the National Trust (major UK heritage/tourism body) has to deal with the changing climate - find it here. Sure it has a pretty headline, but there are some interesting parts, particularly these two paragraphs:

It is also expected that the peak visiting times will shift to later in the year. At the moment, it is in July and August, but trust executives believe that due to rising temperatures making long walks uncomfortable, the majority of visitors will come in the autumn.

Analysis of visitor data over the last five years found that numbers of tourists increase as the mercury hits 24C, but drops off dramatically at temperatures over 28C.

So already in the UK we’re seeing temperatures affecting people’s behaviours when deciding to visit an attraction, and these are places where you wouldn’t expect to queue for hours of the day.

Spain will suffer this problem much more acutely. Think Seville would be a good place for a park? The average august temperature is 35°C. Despite Madrid being the highest capital in Europe, it will average a high of 31°C each day. Of course it also goes much higher - earlier this month it reached 42°C for three days in a row - I wouldn’t go at that temperature. With this in mind I’m quite impressed Parque Warner is getting well over 2 million guests a year.

The flip side of this is that maybe parks further north in Europe will continue to see attendance, and operating window length, increase.

 

[Pokemaniac]

I also wonder if the Spanish theme park industry is a little down because the parks were perceived to be failed investments. At some point, there was enough faith in them to warrant huge investments, and that's clearly not the case anymore. But what happened back then?

Spain currently has 52 coasters operating. 17 of them were NOT built between 1995 and 2009. Almost all the big coasters in Spain were built during an intense boom period that started right before the turn of the millennium and lasted until the financial crisis. It started with the opening of PortAventura in 1995, then other parks followed: Isla Mágica (1997), Terra Mítica (2000), Parque Warner Madrid (2002), and the expansion of Parque de Atracciones de Madrid (in which five coasters were built between 1999 and 2007). At one point, a lot of money was poured into amusement parks in Spain. Then it mostly stopped after the financial crisis. Of the 12 coasters built in Spain in 2010 or later, only three have been notable enough to gain any sort of attention in here: Shambhala, Red Force, and TNT Tren de la Mina. This thing is the last of the 12 not to have been a kiddie or family coaster. Otherwise, the pickings are quite slim and getting slimmer. It's starting to become a really long time even since Red Force, and Shambhala will soon be a decade behind us. We're a long way off from years like 2007, when three Spanish parks built large-ish coasters.

It appears that the big operators expected theme park tourism in Spain to become big business around the turn of the millennium. To some degree, it did, but apparently not big enough to warrant continued investments to compete for a larger market share. Either, they figured the parks to be "complete" after the 1995-2009 boom, without a need for more attractions, or the money spent did not return as much of a profit as hoped. Either way, faith in the parks seems to have left the industry altogether. Somebody put big money into Spanish parks twenty years ago, but that certainly isn't the case these days.

 

[StevenX]

I think there's also something about the Spanish temperament which just doesn't really resonate with theme parks. The Spanish don't seem particularly interested in visiting - or operating - them.

I'm not sure Spain is even particularly unique in this. Another poster mentioned Portugal - and you could argue it's pretty much the case across the continent with the notable exceptions of Germany, the BeNeLux, the UK, and to a lesser extent France and possibly Poland and Sweden more recently too (although I'd say these are mostly outliers in any case).

The UK has a history with seaside amusement parks, similarly to the USA, and Germany a history with funfairs and so on, which might explain our historical fondness for parks. No idea on the BeNeLux, but there might well be some history there. There are some parks in France but there have been many well-discussed issues there, particularly around culture clash and the French really not taking to Disneyland for a very long time.

In theory, European parks in France, Spain etc. seem like a no-brainer and tick all the boxes of wide catchment areas and so on - but there just doesn't seem to be the cultural inclination towards theme or amusement parks that exists in some of the other countries. They're just interested in different things, it seems - and in some cases seem ambivalent or even somewhat hostile (in the case of France and their reception of Disneyland) towards commercialised theme parks - in a way that is not the case with, for example, China.

Worldwide, the same can be said of most countries - if you think about it, there aren't really that many countries with a significant number of thriving parks, although of course there are many countries where they're far from top of the priority list. The UK, Germany, France, BeNeLux, the USA, Japan and more recently China are the main ones that spring to mind, with most of them having some long history or affinity towards parks and/or, in the case of e.g. Japan an embracing of technology and immersive entertainment.

I did have this in mind previously when writing about the distance from resorts in Spain, and someone else mentioned the type of tourists Spain attracts. I think those are really the nails in the coffin of Spanish parks. They could do well with either significant Spanish interest (as in Germany or the BeNeLux) or significant tourist interest (as in France) or some combination thereof - but for the most part, I can't see they have either in Spain.

 

[cookie]

Didn't Parque Warner's attendance spike after they added the water park? Apparently, they nearly doubled their numbers from 2013 to 2019. Maybe becoming a full-fledged resort is what the park's missing.

 

[Smithy]

Whilst there may be ad-hoc reports of the parks being quiet, do the facts actually bear that out? Are their attendances actually down year on year?

PA is the anomaly purely because it's more of a 'resort' and it pulls in both tourists and locals, especially during the summer, but parks like Terra Mitica, Parque Warner and Parque d'Attracciones have been in business for at least 10 years a piece now and given the financial situations in Spain during that time, that's no small feat. Yes, they may not have added anything major recently, but consolidating what they've got is nothing to be shirked at if they've been able to keep afloat imo.

 

[bladeboy]

When it comes to PortAventura and Terra Mítica, I genuinely think it comes down to quality. It might be a bit simplistic but PortAventura opened with a good quality of quality attractions and a solid line up of shows too. Very good level of themeing too - especially for a European park in the 90s. You can’t go wrong with a world record either - again very 90s. Salou was also a growing family holiday resort. I also think that different owners brought something different. Tussauds laid the ground work for a very good theme park. Universal added Templo del Fuego and Sea Odyssey - two good dark rides. It also developed the park into a resort. And the new owners have added more good quality rides.

Terra Mítica I think opened too small. From a GP perspective, I don’t think a wooden roller coaster has the same appeal as a big multi looper steel coaster. It also lacked a really good family coaster and the other supporting rides lacked in quality and quantity. It also had too many mediocre dark rides. And when the park underperformed, there was a lack of serious investment. I haven’t been since 2006 but I happened to look at their website today. Large swathes of the park are currently mothballed and damning reviews on TripAdvisor. I think the park could’ve been a success given the amount of tourism Benidorm gets but it just missed the mark.

I have just booked today to visit Parque Warner for the first time next year. I’m really looking forward as the ride line-up looks good and the theming also looks impressive. I think the lack of initial success could be tied to location. On a tourism level, I think most people go on city breaks to do more cultural things as opposed to going to theme parks.