According to the report issued to shareholder when Merlin bought Gardaland it was getting 3.5 million visitors a year. At the time Port Aventura was getting 3.3 million visitors a year, so Gardaland was getting more visitors than Port Aventura. Given that Merlin paid £240 million for Gardaland it seems likely that they expected it to have more than regional significance, as this is really quite a lot of money to spend on a theme park (although admittedly substantially less than the figure being quoted for this Paramount Park). Themed Entertainment Association figures suggest that their visitor numbers have been in decline and anecdotal reports support this.
Looking at past editions of the Gardaland website achieved on the Internet, Gardaland’s prices did initially rise under Merlin, but from 2007 they began declining.
I’m not saying Gardaland has been quiet. According to the most recent TEA report it still gets more visitors than Alton Towers, and we all know Alton Towers can get pretty busy. In fairness they also get a high number of visitors given the small acreage of the site, while part of the money lost from lower ticket prices is made up with the introduction of Fast Track. It is also fair to say that competition in Italy has grown tougher. Gardaland doesn’t do badly by any means, but I don’t think Merlin have realised its potential, despite a significant improvement in the quality of coasters (when Merlin took over they had two off the shelf Vekomas and a Whacky Worm!).
Looking at past editions of the Gardaland website achieved on the Internet, Gardaland’s prices did initially rise under Merlin, but from 2007 they began declining.
I’m not saying Gardaland has been quiet. According to the most recent TEA report it still gets more visitors than Alton Towers, and we all know Alton Towers can get pretty busy. In fairness they also get a high number of visitors given the small acreage of the site, while part of the money lost from lower ticket prices is made up with the introduction of Fast Track. It is also fair to say that competition in Italy has grown tougher. Gardaland doesn’t do badly by any means, but I don’t think Merlin have realised its potential, despite a significant improvement in the quality of coasters (when Merlin took over they had two off the shelf Vekomas and a Whacky Worm!).