The amusement park industry, a sector that has 200 ventures in 21 provinces of the country that generate 10,000 jobs and $60 billion annually, recovered this year the activity level of 2019 after overcoming the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“After the brutal drop in activity, during the pandemic, The industry of the parks, attractions and family entertainment centers sector has shown a strong recovery this year”, indicated to Telam the executive director of the Argentine Association of Amusement Parks (AAPA), Daniel Catzman.
The manager also stressed that this year “some new parks have been opened, generally small,” and stressed that “people have been hired again.”
In addition, he indicated that “in 2022 the existing parks sales have greatly improved“But he pointed out that” expectations for 2023 are still uncertain.
“In 2022 the existing parks have greatly improved their sales”Daniel Catzmann
In this regard, he maintained that “although it is possible to think of continuing with an upward curve, inflation, which is deteriorating wages, may cause this improvement to be reversed.”
For his part, the vice president of AAPA and executive director of Mundo Cartoon Network, César Lagoremarked to this agency that “after going through two very difficult years due to the pandemic, we are only now recovering traffic levels similar to 2019″.
In the same line, the director of Le Parc Entertainment, Sebastian Reynosoaffirmed to Télam that “the balance of 2022 is very positive”, and stressed that “assistance levels returned to equal values and in some cases higher than 2019”.
“Although during the pandemic we had to close six locations, this year we were able to reopen a family entertainment center in downtown Buenos Aires, which is a flagship location for us, and we are working on opening a new location on the Atlantic Coast,” he said. Reynoso.
“Attendance levels returned to the same values and in some cases higher than 2019”Sebastian Reynoso
However, he pointed out that “the expectations for 2023 are ambiguous”, and specified that the company has “a very strong operation in summer season premises, with projections that the next one to start will be very good in terms of attendance and billing.”
But he indicated that “for after the summer the expectations are somewhat pessimistic”because he pointed out that “nominal salaries are very deteriorated”.
Along these lines, Catzman remarked that “Today there are two big problems”, and specified that “The first is inflation. because costs have skyrocketed and prices can’t keep up with that pace.”
“The other has to do with the foreign exchange market.. Almost all the epark equipment is imported. It is paid in dollars and the rates are in pesos and cannot be updated to foreign currency values. If customs costs are added to this, it becomes very difficult to open new parks or renew equipment in existing ones,” said the CEO of AAPA.
Activity of amusement parks It is a generator of tourism and also of first jobshighlighted Catzman, and specified that “AAPA has identified around 200 parks in Argentina, of which 75% are members of this association, in 21 provinces.”
In addition, he remarked that “visitors to the parks in Argentina reach almost 40 million people a year,” and added that “The economic movement of this activity is in the $60,000 annual million”.
He also indicated that “these parks gThey generate close to 10,000 direct jobs”and highlighted that “a very good part of the people who are hired are young people with no previous experience”.
“The activity is a great generator of first jobs”Daniel Catzmann
“The activity is a great generator of first jobs,” said Catzman, who also stressed that “the parks are very important for domestic tourism, since they cause an increase in average stays, especially in family groups.”
For his part, Reynoso explained that “after the pandemic, the openings were very gradual, with capacity limitations in all our stores,” adding that “little by little the restrictions were eased and visitors returned gradually but constantly.”
“One of our biggest fears was that people would be afraid of going to closed and crowded spaces, intrinsic characteristics of our business, but we were surprised to see that this fear did not exist, or if it did exist it was overcome by the desire to go out again to have fun and have a good time with the family”, concluded the executive.
