Coming soon: a wonderland of dreamsTHE Swanscombe peninsula, a wasteland strewn with rubbish south-east of London (pictured), draws few tourists. But if all goes according to a plan announced on April 27th, by 2020 throngs of them will be coming to visit London Paramount, a film-and-television theme park costing £2.5 billion ($3.8 billion). The theme-park business, which earns annual revenues of $7.5 billion in western Europe, is attracting other new entrants. Last July Cinecittà , an Italian film studio, opened its first theme park near Rome. And a giant theme park and resort with 15,000 hotel rooms, also based on Paramount Pictures’ films, is due to open in south-eastern Spain next year.
The developers’ enthusiasm is surprising, given the poor performance of Disneyland Paris, Europe’s largest theme park. Hit hard by the recession and heavily debt-laden, its owner, Euro Disney, last turned a profit in 2008. In October it had to ask shareholders to approve a €1 billion ($1.3 billion) recapitalisation plan. On May 5th it said its losses had shrunk slightly, to €119m, in the six months to March. Such financial woes can...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1ESApgo
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