Amusement park industry prepares for new normal

MANILA, Philippines — The amusement park and attractions industry is eviewing its policies and procedures as it adapts to a new normal due to the coronavirus.

 Philippine Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (PHILAAPA) president and Enchanted Kingdom Inc. chairman Mario Mamon estimates about P600 million in losses from March to June.

“We are not operating right now, so one of the busiest time of the year, summer is out. We’re still very cautious of what will happen in the second half,”he said.

Mamon said amusement parks would now have to consider the reduced number of allowed guests in crafting their plans and policies as social distancing measures would have to be in place.

“First and foremost, with our reduced number of guests allowed into the park how will have that impact on our top line. At the same time, with the limited number of guests, how can we manage our costs and operate our facility at the optimum cost so that we can still come up with a positive bottomline,”he said.

Mamon said attracting guests into their parks is another issue.

“(We have to) be able to show them how safe it is at the park and what kind of measures we’re doing. And of course, in the long term, we hope that a vaccine is fully developed so that we can go back to the operation level that we’re doing before,”he added.

Mamon said Enchanted Kingdom is targeting to open by the third quarter or fourth quarter.