Summer season 2004 with a record attendance in the company´s history: Europa-Park is a leading company in the German tourism industry

3,4 million visitors/ hotel "Colosseo? is a great success/ numerous awards for innovations/ largest economic factor in the region

Rust, November 7^th. Europa-Park in Rust near Freiburg sets positive trends in the German tourism industry: With more than 3,4 million visitors, Germany´s biggest theme park has established a new record in the company´s history (almost 30 years). Also the new hotel "Colosseo? proves to be a great success: The capacity utilization is around 95 %. With approximately 1450 beds, the hotel "Colosseo? is the first hotel at Europa-Park which is open all year round. The Europa-Park Hotel Resort is the largest hotel resort in Germany.

Roland Mack, managing director of Europa-Park, about the new hotel "Colosseo?: "The risk of building a third hotel at Europa-Park (investment: approx. 50 million Euro) has absolutely paid off. We believe that leisure parks are an ideal destination for short holidays. Today, we offer almost 4.000 beds in our hotel resort. In the future we will even increase the number of beds and offer more attractions and leisure facilities. This also includes the realisation of new theme concepts. However, this is only possible step by step, with a balanced growth.?

Mack emphasizes how difficult it was to achieve a leading position among European leisure parks and says that it is just as difficult to keep this position. Roland Mack: "Today, approximately 50 to 60 % of our visitors stay at Europa-Park for just one day. One of our visions is to increase the number of guests who stay here for several days, which would be another enormous improvement for our company. Regarding our attractions, it is important to mention that not only "higher, faster, longer? are key factors. Our most important target group is the family. We can only be successful if we offer attractions for all age groups.?
With the opening of the new hotel "Colosseo?, the number of visitors staying at Europa-Park longer than one day has increased from 15 to 20 %.

Just a few weeks ago, the hotel "Colosseo? has been honoured with the award "Hotelproperty of the Year 2004?. Among industry insiders, this award is known as the "Oscar for Hotels?. The entrepreneurial achievements of Roland and Jürgen Mack, managing directors of Europa-Park, have been honoured with the "Innovation Award 2004?. Roland Mack: "With innovation, quality and emotions we can face the crisis in the tourism industry.? Approximately 3.000 people are employed at Europa-Park and with the opening of the new hotel "Colosseo?, 300 new jobs have been provided.

October, which was one of our weakest months for a long time, now is one of the strongest months of the season. This example shows how important good ideas and innovations are for success, because the reason for this improvement is Halloween as an additional attraction for our visitors. With a creepy decoration, a 4D horror film and many Halloween shows, among them a giant spectacle with laser and firewords, Europa-Park has developed into a visitor magnet also in autumn. On October 31^st 2004, almost 40.000 visitors came to Europa-Park - more than ever before in the history of Germany´s biggest theme park.

From November 8^th to 26^th, Europa-Park will close its doors in order to redecorate the park for the winter season. On November 27^th, we will start our "magical Winter Weeks? with the 3^rd Santa Claus Gathering. The hotel "Colosseo? is open all year round and therefore it is an attractive destination for conferences and meetings also during the wintertime.

In 2004, approximately 800 conferences and special events have been organised at Europa-Park. In addition, the park has developed into an important location for media events, such as TV productions, etc.

During the magical Winter Weeks from November 27^th 2004 until January 9^th 2005 (except December 24^th/25^th), Europa-Park is open daily from 11 am until 7 pm.