Plopsaland, the popular Belgian attractionhas revealed plans to build150 cottages. Owned by TV production company Studio 100, the amusement parkhas invested€30 Million in order to allow visitors to stay close to the park.
The park is located near the town ofDe Panneon theBelgiancoast.The new accommodation will take up around10 hectares.
Plopsa CEO Steve Van den Kerkhof said, "If we really want to be up there withthe top theme parks in Europe such as Efteling and Phantasialand, then people need to stay close to the park.We want to increasingly move towards residential recreation."
The cottages will be built inthree phases. In the region of150 cottages will bebuilt, with each housingan average of six people. The cottages will be themed.The total investment will be30 million euros. Theaccommodation will be ready for 2018.
The plan at Plopsaland is toincrease the share of its revenue from accommodation up to 40%.The new cottages together with the 127 room hotel will put the park well on its way to doing so.
Increased revenue for the Belgian Attraction
Whilst Plopsaland will become Belgium'sfirst theme park where visitors can spend the night, another popular Belgian attraction, the zoo/garden of Pairi Daiza, also has plans in this direction.Aprivately owned zoo and botanical garden, Pairi Daiza is in Brugelette in the province of Hainaut. Styling itself as ananimal theme park it is sitedin the former Cistercian Cambron Abbey.It housesover 4, 000 animals.
The 55-hectare zoohasa series of suspension bridges allowingvisitors see the animalsfrom above. It also boasts the largest Chinese garden in Europe, "Dream of Han Wu Di".
Both Plopsaland and Pairi Daiza are examples of the trend for attractions looking to become destination resorts.The addition of hotels and other accommodation allow guests to stay overnight at or close to theattraction. Thiscan have a huge impact on the bottom line of the attraction. Recently aneventin the UK focused on just this issue. This was the Vision XS conference which ahd the tag line "Should IStay?".
