IAAPA Summer Meeting 2004: International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions holds the IAAPA European Conference at Europa-Park

International summer meeting of the amusement industry will take place from September 14^th to 16^th 2004 at Europa-Park in Rust near Freiburg - Participation and speech by Martin Lindstrom, one of the world's leading marketing and branding experts, is expected - International experts discuss trends and future of amusement industry - Short trips in the region Baden/Elsass are planned.

From September 14^th to 16^th 2004 the European Conference of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) will take place at Europa-Park, Germany's biggest theme park. IAAPA is the largest international trade association for permanently situated amusement facilities worldwide. The organization represents over 5.000 facility, supplier and individual members from more than 85 countries. IAAPA strives to help members improve their safety, efficiency, marketing and profitability while maintaining the highest possible professional standards in the industry. The importance of IAAPA can be documented: 48 of the 50 biggest leisure parks in the world are members of IAAPA. Together, they alone have a total number of visitors of over 242 million per year. The growth of the industry is impressive: 2 billion people visit leisure parks annually, increasing tendency.

Also the host Europa-Park can look back on a successful balance in the past years, constantly increasing visitor numbers confirm the entrepreneurial ability of the Mack family. In the leisure industry the market leader among German leisure parks is considered as an example of innovation with an intuition for business trends, recently with the development towards a destination for short vacations with three hotels.

With the theme "A New Era of Creativity and Innovation?, the European Conference of IAAPA will feature a keynote address by Martin Lindstrom, one of the world's leading marketing and branding experts. During his carreer, Lindstrom has developed successful marketing strategies for top-level clients including Mars, Pepsi, American Express, Mercedes Benz, Ericsson and the Yellow Pages. At the IAAPA European Conference, Lindstrom will address the need for amusement parks and attractions to develop strong international brands.

"The amusement industry is pleased that Mr. Lindstrom will share his expert knowledge of branding at the IAAPA European Conference?, said Clar Robinson, IAAPA President and CEO. "His development of new and groundbreaking marketing techniques has proven extremely effective for high-profile clients, and we are confident that his presentation will provide attendees with the tools they need to enhance their branding strategies.?

The IAAPA European Conference will also include presentations by a multitude of other amusement industry leaders, including Roland Mack, CEO of Europa-Park; Robert Masterson, President of Ripley Entertainment, Inc.; Richard Pawley, Chair of the British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions; Zoltan Kun and Gerben Weening of PAN Parks; Salem Bin Dasmal of the Dubai Tourism Development Company and Fabio Massimo Giuseppetti, principal of Palamon Capital Partners.

The supporting programme of the IAAPA European Conference includes short trips in the region, for example to Freiburg and Strasbourg. In addition, the workshop in Waldkirch can be visited.