The Outlook for Themed Recreation Attractions at Bergen OP Zoom
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University of Central Florida STARS Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers Digital Collections 9-1-1982 Memorandum Report: The Outlook for Themed Recreation Attractions at Bergen OP Zoom Harrison Price Company Part of the Tourism and Travel Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/buzzprice University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Digital Collections at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Recommended Citation Harrison Price Company, "Memorandum Report: The Outlook for Themed Recreation Attractions at Bergen OP Zoom" (1982). Harrison "Buzz" Price Papers. 119. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/buzzprice/119 I I I I I I MEMORANDUM REPORT THE OUTLOOK FOR THEMED RECREATION I ATTRACTIONS AT BERGEN OP ZOOM Prepared for: I VVV , Breda , Holland September 1, 1982 I I I I I I Prepared by: I Harrison Price Company 876 South Bronson Avenue I Los Angeles, California 90005 (213) 937-3457 I I I I SECTION 1 I INTRODUCT I ON I At the request of VVV of Breda, Holland, through the offices of Mr . Joop Strijkers of The Hague , Harrison Price Company I was requested to visit the city of Bergen Op Zoom in the province of North Brabant to make a preliminary examination I of its potential as a site for major themed recreation pro jects. A specific site known as the Molenplaat on the wa I terfront on the west edge of the city was to be inspected and evaluated as a specific location for such projects. I HPC has evaluated recreation potentials in The Ne t herlands befor e and observations herein are based on that prior work, I recent field examination of existing commercial recreation project s and a visi t to the city of Bergen Op Zoom. Find I i ngs of the assignment were presented oral ly September 1 , 1982 to his excellency the Burgemeister of Bergen Op Zoom, I Drs. P. Zevenbergen, the plan ning director of the City lr. J . J . de Waal Malifijt a nd Mssrs . Horsten , Jansen and Zanfl i et representing VVV of Breda by Harrison Price , Presi I dent of Harrison Pr i ce Company. This memorandum summarizes I that oral presentation. The specific assistance of Mr. Harold Zanfliet , a senior I student of The Netherl ands Tourism Institute in the assembly of data and field visit s is acknowledged with gratitude . I This report is organized in four sec tions; {1) the introduc tion, {2) the commercial recreation marke t in The Nether I lands , {3 ) the nature of t h e competition, and {4) opportun ities for themed commercial recreation projects in Bergen Op I Zoom . I I I - 1- I SECTION 2 I COMMERCIAL RECREATION MARKET I Harrison Price Company staff members have studied the market for a major theme park in The Netherlands three times- I first, in 1973, then in 1976 and more recently in a critique of the 1976 ERA study performed in 1981. That body of in formation indicates that within Holland's borders, the resi I dent market by itself is presently some 14.1 million popula- tion and its center of gravity is computed to be about 12 I kilometers east and 8 kilometers south of the city of Utrecht. If the resident market is defined more appropri- I ately as a !50-kilometer ring centered in Holland and con taining the largest total population, the center of gravity I within this maximum ring moves south and east into North Brabant somewhere between Veghel and Uden. That maximum ring picks up Brussels to the south and Cologne, Essen and I Duesseldorf to the southeast and contains about 24 million people. It is the true maximum resident market centered I within Holland and crossing over national boundaries. I To determine what is the best practical location relative to this center point from the standpoint of maximum access, it I is necessary to look at freeway movements and locations. These freeway realities cause the optimum central location to move west within an oval area looped around the triangle I formed by the cities of Breda and Eindhoven on the south and the freeway intersection in Nieuwegein just south of I Utrecht. This triangular structure provides access to an optimum area. It is closer to local Dutch population cen I ters and it is bounded on its two north/south legs and its southern leg by strategic freeways. On the left leg of the I triangle is the Amsterdam-Breda-Brussels freeway, on the right leg is the due south route Amsterdam-Eindhoven-Liege. I The bottom leg runs east and west right into the Ruhr via Eindhoven and Duesseldorf. The oval area described serves a big market; 24 million local people in a !50-kilometer ring I (see Figure 1). I -2- I I v 5" E long I Amsteroam Cap1tal I Groningen Prov1nc1al cap1tal Town w 1th moro than tOO,OOO 1nhab1tants Town w1th loss than 0 I 100,000 1nhab1lilnts Prov.nc1al boundary I M ajor canal I I N 0 R T H I S E A I r 0 I Essen 0 f •-n 'I (j) ~~ I ,;z I I E L GI L I II ll INFORMATION ANO DOCUMENTATION ANo ~l'lltJ f*~ CO..M Figure 1 RESI DENT MARKET CENTERS WITHIN HOLLAND I -3- I Th e east / wes t moveme nt with i n this oval i s mo s t favor able . I I t consis t s of three major cross coun t ry r o utes ; Ut r e cht I Arnhem, Rott e rda m-Ni j mejen a nd Br eda-Duessel dor f . Th e po int of this e xe r c i se i s t o compare this ma x i mum popu I l atio n c o ntainme nt ring to a s imilar 1 50-kilome t e r ring around Be rge n Op Zoom. In it the re i s a l o ss o f a pproxi mate l y 5 million population in the reside nt marke t (minus 7 I million in the Ruhr against a gain o f some 2 million in Belgium). Thus the t o tal r eside nt marke t for Be rgen Op Zoom I is approximate ly 19 millio n . This compares very favorably to 1978 r e sident marke t s in the s e cities: I 1. Atlanta 8 .4 million 2. Houston 6 . 2 millio n 3 . St . Loui s 5.4 millio n I 4 . Dallas/Fort Worth 5.2 million 5. New Orleans 4 . 6 million I In r e gard to c e ntrality of access , there is a tangible loss. Unlike the are a in the maximum oval, Bergen Op Zoom i s not I on the main roads sout h from Amste rdam and Rotte rdam. The east/ west access is excellent into the Ruhr, but the loca I tion is to one side . I Tourism is difficult to measure in Holland because of mixed data. Available data concerns foreign visitors staying in hotels , camping facilities, pensions and youth hostels which I is about 3 milli on, but this e xcludes unrecorded visits by per sons from beyond the !50-kilome t e r range and it includes I fore igners who are already counted in the r eside nt marke t . I HPC wrote the following statement in its 1981 report : " In our opinion , hotel and facility registrants are but a f raction of Netherlands tourism. In o ur I estimation subject to eventual r e fine ment , at least 5 to 6 million tourists float through the Netherlands excluding Be lgium and Ruhr residents alr eady coun ted in the !50-kilomet er resident I ring. Many stay with f r iends or t hey are day I visitors or are simply unrecorded." I -4- I Thus, the total market for a park located in the maximum I oval in The Netherlands is about 29 million . In the 150- kilometer ring around Bergen Op Zoom , the total market is I approximately 24 million. I This compares very favorably t o 1978 total markets (resi- dents plus tourists) in these cities of the u. s . : Atlanta 14.4 million I New Orleans 11.2 million Houston 8 .1 million I Dallas/Fort Worth 7.7 million In addition to its large size , it is a high quality market ; I average family and per capita income is comparable to that in the u. s. The same is true of neighboring countries, West I Germany , France and Belgium. I It is a stable family market constructi o n wi th relatively less single parent families and fewer two working parent families than in the U.S. In general, it is a family market I looking for things to do as a family unit--much as in the I U.S . or more so . I It is a growing market--slow but steadily increasing. It is the conclusion of the HPC staff based on our reviews I of the commercial recreation market , that the market for commercial recreation in Holland is much like that of the U.S.A . In this business field , the respective cultures are I more alike than different . I I I I I -5- I SECTION 3 I THE COMPETITION I In terms of overall competition in the market area-- a large I number of zoos, sea life parks, towers, amusement parks and related enterprises are operating.