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Executives admit the company might have been naive in the past. "We had not yet had an on-the-ground experience in a multicultural environment," says ceo Jay Rasulo, a Disney veteran who took the helm of Euro Disney in 1998. "It was really the first park that had the majority of its guests coming from very diverse cultural backgrounds." Still, Euro Disney at first believed that Europeans wanted an American product. They didn't - and lessons have been learned. The refreshment stands sell espresso, and you can now have wine or beer with your sit-down (and often tasty...
Today, following a series of management changes, massive debt restructuring and strategic shifts, Euro Disney is profitable. It made ?37.7 million on revenues of just over ?1 billion last year. Attendance is stable at about 12 million visitors a year, up from a low of 8.8 million in 1994. Occupancy at Euro Disney's six hotels is strong, with 86% of rooms filled in 2001. While analysts say the company is "settled" in comparison with years past, investors still shy from Euro Disney stock, which hovers around ?1, less than one-tenth of where it traded 10 years ago. That...
...Europeans rely more than Americans do on travel agents and tour operators, which Disney had largely neglected. Now the company actively cultivates relationships with these intermediaries, and Airtours, Britain's biggest tour operator, will manage one of the three new hotels that Disney is building. A continuing challenge for Euro Disney is to develop the German market, which accounts for only 8% of visitors. (By comparison, 40% come from France, 18% from the Benelux countries and 15% from Britain...
...visitor to the California or Florida parks. Nigel Reed, an analyst at BNP Paribas, says part of that difference is a function of factors like climate - you'll drink more sodas on a hot, sunny Florida day than on a drizzly, gray one in the Paris suburbs. While Euro Disney knows the U.S. isn't necessarily the best predictor of Continental attitudes toward amusement, both analysts and executives say there is room for spending growth...
...Euro Disney isn't alone in seeing the European theme-park market as under-developed. This summer, Vivendi will open a new water park and two hotels alongside its Universal Studios Port Aventura park near Barcelona, making it the first competitor on a Disneyesque scale. At least three other large regional parks will launch in 2002. Bear, Stearns' Abramson sees the competition as a positive for Disney because it familiarizes Europeans with American-style theme parks. "Parks here have historically been some small amusement with a juggler and music playing somewhere," he says...