Ground Breaking with Luc Besson at Europa-Park

Europa-Park is breaking new ground! The construction site for the largest and most elaborate indoor attraction in the theme park’s history was recently opened with a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony. The French star director Luc Besson, known for his movie projects such as “The Big Blue”, “Léon: The Professional”, and “The Fifth Element”, traveled from Paris especially to begin the construction work with the Mack family. The French film production company EuropaCorp began working with Europa-Park as early as March last year. EuropaCorp and Luc Besson are both delighted about the joint project, which will open in 2014.

With this concept, Europa-Park is following an international trend for large theme parks to enter into long-term partnerships with companies from the film industry. For instance, in 2010, Universal Orlando Resort enjoyed phenomenal success with the opening of its themed area “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”, and the hype surrounding Harry Potter helped Universal achieve a record year. Renowned trade publications consider this kind of partnership to be the recipe for success in the future.

This partnership is not least with regards to the rapidly growing French market. During the 2012 season, the greatest growth within one visitor group was experienced among visitors from France. This group displayed significant growth of 25 and 20 percent for park visits and overnight stays in the hotel respectively. These successes confirm the long-term strategy on the French market. The record visitor numbers clearly show that guests from France feel especially comfortable at Europa-Park and that the concept is popular. Almost half of all members of staff come from the neighboring regions of France and help to add a feeling of being “at home” among the French visitors by speaking their language.

In the future, Europa-Park will offer its French neighbors a further offering that is especially tailored to them in close partnership with the world-famous Frenchman Luc Besson:

The new major attraction, an innovative new development by the internationally renowned manufacturer Mack Rides, will whisk visitors off into an incredible, highly detailed theme and experience world. Mack Rides, the production company of the Mack group, is among the leading companies in the development and production of theme park attraction. “Arthur and the Invisibles”, which already enjoys cult status in France, will soon find a new home at Europa-Park. As further film projects with “Arthur” are also being planned in Germany, with this new offering Europa-Park will be particularly well-equipped not only for its French guests.