Plopsaland, the popular Belgian attraction has revealed plans to build 150 cottages. Owned by TV production company Studio 100, the amusement park has invested €30 Million in order to allow visitors to stay close to the park.
The park is located near the town of De Panne on the Belgian coast. The new accommodation will take up around 10 hectares.
Plopsa CEO Steve Van den Kerkhof said, “If we really want to be up there with the 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 in three phases. In the region of 150 cottages will be built, with each housing an average of six people. The cottages will be themed. The total investment will be 30 million euros. The accommodation will be ready for 2018.
The plan at Plopsaland is to increase 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’s first theme park where visitors can spend the night, another popular Belgian attraction, the zoo/garden of Pairi Daiza, also has plans in this direction.
A privately owned zoo and botanical garden, Pairi Daiza is in Brugelette in the province of Hainaut. Styling itself as an animal theme park it is sited in the former Cistercian Cambron Abbey. It houses over 4, 000 animals.
The 55-hectare zoo has a series of suspension bridges allowing visitors see the animals from 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 the attraction. This can have a huge impact on the bottom line of the attraction. Recently an event in the UK focused on just this issue. This was the Vision XS conference which ahd the tag line “Should I Stay?”.
