On the Impacts of Amusement Parks in Regional Economies

Amusement parks are artifi cially created commercial facilities designed to off er visitors new experiences and entertainment. Among the broad term ?amusement parks? belong several sub-categories: theme parks, water parks, some shopping centers as well as some types of zoological and botanical gardens. Th ere haven?t yet been many amusement parks in the Czech Republic. However it is quiet probable that more of them will be created in the future. Th is article aims to explain the impacts of amusement parks in surrounding regional economies with the help of foreign examples as well as to formulate some suggestions for the Czech environment. Th e German theme park ?Legoland? has been examined as a case study example. Th e most important economic impacts of amusement parks are connected fi rst of all with the increase of tourism intensity. Amusement parks can provide an important pull factor for tourism in the destination. However, the less interesting the locality is for the tourism, the lower are also the impacts, because the amusement park itself is able to attract almost exclusively one-day visitors. Th erefore the cooperation and connection of the facility with the local tourism infrastructure and local stakeholders is necessary. Another risk arises from the fact that these facilities have a short life-cycle. Th ey are largely trend-dependent and the probability of their eventual closure is quiet high. Th erefore the touristic destination should avoid absolute dependency on the amusement park for tourism revenues and diversify it?s touristic portfolio, off ering a wide variety of leisure activities, among which amusement parks could play a part. Large amusement parks also off er signifi cant employment opportunities. However most are poorly paid seasonal jobs. Th e impacts of amusement parks on the regional economy are oft en overestimated in the praxis. Th erefore the regional context must always be taken into account. Important is the size of the catchment area and ability of the newly created facility to connect to the greater tourism infrastructure.