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2020: Europa-Park General Discussion

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Danny said:
Absolutely gutted to not be spending a sixth consecutive year at EP for New Years, and more so for the park for not being able to open at the time of year when it's so beautifully presented.
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Which of EP’s New Year’s event do you usually visit Danny? Any particular tips or advice you could offer?
 
An interview with Roland Mack about the 2nd lockdown in Germany and the 3-digit million loss the park will make this year.

In Europa-Park around 3,000 Christmas trees with 10,000 glittering Christmas tree balls and 6,000 fairy lights are waiting for visitors who won't come. The magical winter landscape that Germany's largest amusement park wanted to offer its guests during the high-turnover Christmas season will initially have to do without the spectators.

With the extension of the lockdown to January 10th, the Mack family's company will probably have no winter season at all. Already in summer it was only open to a limited extent. “Not knowing what's going to happen next is a situation I've never experienced in my 45 years in this job,” said 70-year-old Roland Mack in an interview with the park's own radio station a week ago. "I am not doing very well psychologically and morally."

On December 1, around 3,500 park employees were put on short-time work. The operators had avoided this step since the partial lockdown began in November and initially managed the closure by reducing vacation and overtime. Now, in their own words, they have no choice but to shut the park down completely.

After the “huge show of strength”, this hit the employees and himself very hard, especially before Christmas, “financially and personally”, explained Roland Mack when asked by the BNN. "But there is no question about it: the health of employees and visitors comes first."

The Corona year 2020 will end with a three-digit million loss for the successful South Baden company. The Macks have come up with a few ideas to keep operations going under pandemic conditions. After it was closed for months from February, the maximum number of visitors to the park was limited to 10,000 and later to 15,000 to reopen in order to reduce the risk of infection. All visitors had to pre-book the tickets in the online shop.

There was also a sophisticated security concept with disinfection, a mask requirement, virtual queues and a new distance app that measures the distance to the next cell phone owner. Guests were asked to enter the park area only if they were in good health. The measures were largely found to be effective. The park only made headlines once, when the Ortenau health department reported a visit from a “probably contagious person” there in August. The risk of infection was very low because of the hygiene regulations, it was said at the time.

"The second lockdown surprised me very much because it was said for weeks that they wanted to avoid it," said Roland Mack in a frustrated video interview with his Europa-Radio. He spoke of thousands of cancellations in the hotels. “With the Rulantica water world, an investment of more than 200 million euros is closed for the second time in one season. You go through the valley of feelings, I don't wish that to anyone. "

The leisure paradise, which has just been awarded the “European Star Award” as the “best amusement park in Europe”, will have to forego sales in the millions due to the complete elimination of the winter season. Usually around 500,000 people visit the park in winter.

In order to reduce the losses, the operators have brought the start of spring forward by a week - to March 20, 2021. But the persistently high number of infections means further uncertainty. The 7-day incidence value rose in the Ortenau on Sunday to 149 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Lahr also had a high number of Sars-CoV-2 infections.

“So far, all of this has only been manageable because we have operated solidly for decades. But the reserves are melting away”, regrets Roland Mack. Marion Gentges, member of the state parliament from Lahr, is also concerned about the financial plight of the park. “Europa-Park, with its 4,450 jobs and the added value that arises from operations in the region, is of enormous importance for the entire region. Therefore, the consequences of the park closure extend far beyond Europa-Park, ”said the CDU politician to the BNN.

The effects on the community of Rust and the region are already noticeable: In November, the unemployment rate rose to 4.1 percent (2019: 3.4 percent). As a result of the sharp drop in tourism, Rust will only collect one million euros this year instead of the expected ten million euros in business tax.

To get by, the municipality just passed a supplementary budget with a loan of one million euros. "We need help for the companies concerned - quickly and easily," demands MEP Gentges.

Roland Mack doesn't want to give up hope yet. "If the infection process relaxes significantly, we are always ready to start our planned winter season," he says. “We have a great and effective hygiene concept that has proven itself over almost half a year. Amusement parks, water parks, hotels and restaurants are not driving the pandemic.
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https://bnn.de/mittelbaden/ortenau/...ir-psychisch-und-moralisch-nicht-hervorragend
 
Is there a translation error? 3,000 Christmas trees with 6,000 lights is only 2 lights per a tree? Unless it means 6,000 lights per a tree, but I can’t imagine that the average tree has 10,000 glittering balls.

Also, when it says that Rust would normally collect 10s of millions in business taxes, I presume some of this gets passed on to the wider region or central government? I can’t see how a small town like Rust would be spending tens of millions of euros a year from business taxes? Rust has quite a nice nature area, but that presumably doesn’t cost that much?
 
I think there are a few mistranslations. The description of the 3-figure million loss suggests a loss of 100 million+ which is obviously not correct. It perhaps means a loss of around 3 million.
 
Not a miss-translation those decoration figures are in the newspaper article as such - but seemingly misreported.
venny said:
I think there are a few mistranslations. The description of the 3-figure million loss suggests a loss of 100 million+ which is obviously not correct. It perhaps means a loss of around 3 million.
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How can we say its obviously not correct? They will have certainly lost a lot more than just 3 million.
A third of annual income would be lost was previously stated.
The parks haven't been at full capacity and were and are now again closed for months. Reduced income from gastronomy, hotels + shops during opening, etc.
Obviously who knows the specifics - but even just theoretically ignore the rest if they only lost 3 million park visitors paying 55€ each you already have a 3-digit figure in the millions.
 
I guess there is a distinction here between a 'loss in revenue' i.e. the money that would have been spent by guests who couldn't visit, and a 'loss' in terms of the overall 'profit or loss' that the Mack company has made for the financial year.
 
Revenue will be down by many hundreds of millions of euros this year vs. last. How that translates to profit/loss is harder to guage.
 
CSLKenny said:
Not a miss-translation those decoration figures are in the newspaper article as such - but seemingly misreported.

How can we say its obviously not correct? They will have certainly lost a lot more than just 3 million.
A third of annual income would be lost was previously stated.
The parks haven't been at full capacity and were and are now again closed for months. Reduced income from gastronomy, hotels + shops during opening, etc.
Obviously who knows the specifics - but even just theoretically ignore the rest if they only lost 3 million park visitors paying 55€ each you already have a 3-digit figure in the millions.
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The translation directly says loss. As has been pointed out, that’s distinctly different to a reduction in revenue. I can believe that figure as a reduction in revenue, but if it were a loss, then the resort running costs, after the mitigation measures they have discussed, would have to be multi-million euros per week. That would ignore the fact that they still have maintained some revenue for their opening periods and ancillary activities.

It just doesn’t stack up if it were a true straight loss.
 
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Funcone said:
I3,000 Christmas trees with 6,000 lights is only 2 lights per a tree? Unless it means 6,000 lights per a tree, but I can’t imagine that the average tree has 10,000 glittering balls.
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It's 6000 fairy lights. That's a lot more than 6000 lights ( I assume a fairy light has 15+ lights).
 
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