Volume 2, No. 21. November 8, 2002
IAAPA Preview
For exhibitors listed alphabetically, click here.
For exhibitors listed numerically, click here.
Editor's Note: Our next issue of THE LOOP will post on Tuesday, November 26, to report on the news from the IAAPA Convention and Trade Show.
Bull-headed
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions offers members
and the industry on the whole a number of services, from education programs
to lobbying efforts around the world, from networking opportunities to safety
guidelines. But mention IAAPA to people within and on the outskirts of the industry
and they immediately think Trade Show.
Among those who have been—and even many who have never attended an IAAPA
but have only heard of these shows like bards' tales handed down from generation
to generation—the word “IAAPA” first conjures mental pictures
of rides, games, techno-gizmos, the scent of foods and the sound of bells and
whistles filling an expanse of convention hall. The mental visual then likely
shifts, like a slide show of memories, to seminars, to social gatherings in
ballrooms, hotel suites and nightclubs, to impromptu meetings in corridors,
to bus rides.
For the amusement industry, IAAPA is a week-long Super Bowl on an Olympic-like
scale of international participation with the emotional fervor of a high school
class reunion and the intimacy of a Friday afternoon happy hour gathering. If
you’ve never been, you should go at least once; and then you’ll always
strive to return at least one more time.
It is because of IAAPA’s emotional drawing power, competing nose-to-nose
with economic reality, that forecasting how well the show will do in any particular
year is problematic at best. For this year’s Convention and Trade Show
slated for November 18-23, in Orlando, Florida, predicting the outcome with
any certainty is well nigh impossible.
IAAPA officials say registration numbers are on pace with last year’s,
and the number of exhibitors has picked up since the summer to almost equal
last year's floor residents. The association is forecasting an attendance between
28,000 and 30,000. Industry veterans look at the trade show floor plan and note
its many gaps. They point to additional discounting on room rates among convention
hotels, and they cite anecdotal evidence—i.e. talk among colleagues—that
suggests traffic will be off; after all, the economies on most continents continue
to slide or are only tentatively rebuilding. The most optimistic say that at
least the serious buyers will attend, and a few of those is better than a lot
of tire-kickers.
Yet, one trend suggests that IAAPA may have solid cause for its optimism. Other
annual industry trade shows/conventions this fall—the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association, Fun Expo, the World Waterpark Association—far exceeded
their expectations. Rather than being inflated, IAAPA’s expectations might
be too conservative, for the could easily meet or improve on its five-year average
of 29,900.
As
for the amount of business that vendors will see, that depends on what sector
of the industry they service. High-tech amusements, theming, video and large-scale
ride systems continue to struggle, but smaller rides, customer service technologies
and redemption appear to be growing.
What economic trends can we map in the wake of a weird 2002 season? It is a
map filled with alternate routes. Zoos continue to be a growing market though
one that may be hampered by government budget restrictions and tighter purses
among philanthropists. Waterparks will see similar government budget issues
dampen growth in the public sector, but resorts are providing an exploding market.
Small amusement parks and family entertainment centers are wholly dependent
on the health of local economies: some are growing, some are stagnant. As for
the big chains, both Paramount and Six Flags continue to spend, albeit not at
levels of recent years, while Cedar Fair has embarked on a bullish series of
investments at several of its parks, and Palace cautiously considers capitalization
of its new properties.
That spectrum sums up the mood of many individual operators. Even those running
facilities in under-performing economies seem to be countering caution on one
side with a desire for bullishness on the other as they set their courses of
action for the 2003 season. Put kids like that in the candy store that is IAAPA
and the winners among the trade show’s exhibitors should outnumber the
losers.
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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