The leisure park market - Italy

1.1 Definition and scope of study

The first amusement park (Dinseyland) was created in the United States in the 1950s with the idea of creating an area characterized by the presence of attractions and shows that would allow customers to enjoy them against the purchase of an entrance ticket. In addition to this, most of the amusement parks existing today also offer hostelries, catering, the possibility to buy merchandising and other additional services. The main difference between an amusement park and an amusement park is that, amusement parks are characterized by the presence of a specific theme that allows the creation of a sort of parallel reality in which customers can immerse themselves thanks to the attractions.  

The global market of amusement parks has good growth prospects: it is expected that the market will reach a value of over 3 billion dollars by 2025 growing, starting from 2021, at a CAGR of about 3%. 

In Italy, the amusement park market is expanding rapidly and for this reason it is expected to represent an increasingly important part of the Italian tourism industry. 

Of particular relevance is the tendency on the part of clients, in line with the dynamics of the global market, to prefer longer stays, thus increasing recourse to the hostel service offered by many amusement parks as well as the wide range of other services offered. Despite this, the market is strongly conditioned by a high level of seasonality: for this reason, one of the objectives of this industry is to aim at de-seasonalization in order to make the most of the high spending power of tourists who opt for amusement parks.  

Within the Italian panorama, the most established and well known amusement parks are Gardaland, Mirabilandia and Rainbow Magicland, which, despite a period of stalemate due to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic that led to the closure of the parks for long periods of time, are starting to attract again a large pool of tourists.