The company Compagnie des Alpes, parent company of the Belgian amusement parks Walibi, Aqualibi and Bellewaerde, has achieved an annual turnover that is higher than before the corona pandemic, according to a press release on Thursday. The revenues from the amusement park activity exceeded the ski revenues for the first time in the past fiscal year, which ended at the end of September.
In concrete terms, the group achieved a turnover of 958.5 million euros. That is almost 18 percent more than in the 2018-2019 financial year, the last before corona. As a result of the pandemic, amusement parks had to be temporarily closed or restricted.
For the amusement park activity alone, the turnover amounted to 468.5 million euros, 23 percent more than before corona. Not only were there more customers (+6 percent), they also spent more on average (+17 percent). In its press release, the group explicitly refers to the good performance of Walibi Belgium.
Profits should reach a higher level than in the reference year 2018-2019, according to the group.
“We are optimistic but also remain vigilant,” said director-general Dominique Thillaud on Thursday. For example, energy costs will weigh much more heavily in the next financial year than in 2021-2022. The economic impact of expensive energy could be partly offset by energy savings and higher tariffs. But those energy savings should not be visible to the customer, Thillaud reassured.
The group plans to keep Walibi our country open during the Christmas holidays of 2023, it says.
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