The Interpreter Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 '06 a good year for Michigan's Adventure Saturday, January 13, 2007 By Dave Alexander CHRONICLE BUSINESS EDITOR Amusement park operator Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. saw a slight overall drop in visitors at its parks last year. That apparently was not the case for Michigan's Adventure, however, though Cedar Fair -- which owns and operates Michigan's Adventure -- declined to release 2006 figures for individual parks. Muskegon County tourism officials speculate that Michigan's Adventure had another record year after posting 550,000 customers in the 2005 season. But park General Manager Camille Jourden-Mark said she cannot provide specific attendance numbers for her park. "All I can say is that we had a very good year," Jourden-Mark said. "We had excellent weather the entire summer season." Attendance was down less than 1 percent at Cedar Fair's amusement and water parks, the company said this week. That does not include five parks the company acquired last year when it bought Paramount Parks Inc. Combined attendance at the parks was 19.3 million people, the company said. Guests last year spent roughly the same amount as they did in 2005 once inside park gates, Cedar Fair said. Not breaking down attendance by park has become a corporate policy since the company has become significantly larger with the Paramount acquisitions, said spokeswoman Stacy Frole. Cedar Fair's attendance numbers are intended for the investment community and not for individual park communities. The lack of specific numbers, however, is not a big deal, said Sam Wendling, director of the Muskegon County Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Numbers would have been nice but we know what happened," Wendling said. "There is absolutely no doubt that '06 was a spectacular year for Michigan's Adventure. Looking at our (room tax) numbers up 8 percent and the weather the way it was, they had a record year." (emphasis added) http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/inde....xml&coll=8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubaman Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Cedar Fair's attendance numbers are intended for the investment community and not for individual park communities. So, could somebody with more knowledge on the industry explain in further detail why they do not list individual park figures? *Winks at The Interpreter* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 I can think of many reasons, from dealing with local tax officials, to giving general managers some breathing space to improve their parks over time, without being under a public microscope every year (think Geauga Lake here...) Amusement Business long published estimates for each of the top parks, but that publication is now defunct. I often suspected that someone leaked what they wanted others to believe were attendance figures to that publication. Some of the figures they often cited just didn't seem to jive with many parkgoers' experiences... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Picard Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I can understand wanting to hide Geauga Lake attendance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tubaman Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thank you very much for your responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I can think of many reasons, from dealing with local tax officials, to giving general managers some breathing space to improve their parks over time, without being under a public microscope every year (think Geauga Lake here...) Amusement Business long published estimates for each of the top parks, but that publication is now defunct. I often suspected that someone leaked what they wanted others to believe were attendance figures to that publication. Some of the figures they often cited just didn't seem to jive with many parkgoers' experiences... Well you know that even if figures are not released to the general public that they would be available to communities for tax purposes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted January 15, 2007 Author Share Posted January 15, 2007 And I also know that one of the best forms or internal control is public scrutiny. Less information is usually NOT a good thing. The more eyes that get to look at something, the more apt it is to be right. On the other hand, most other companies also do not release individual parks' attendance figures. Cedar Fair is just doing the same now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WooferBearATL Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 Personally I think it's a good thing. I hardly think it's important as to how many people were or were not at a park. The important thing that needs to be focused on is guest experience and of course profitability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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