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15 Aug 2017
Brexit won't affect business in Canary Islands, says Loro Parque founder
BY
Tom Anstey
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Wolfgang Kiessling opened his first attraction in the Canary Islands back in 1972 with the launch of Loro Parque
Wolfgang Kiessling, founder of the Canary Islands’ Loro Parque and Siam Park, has said that Brexit won’t affect business for the popular holiday destination, with predictions that holidaying Britons will be the main source of revenue for his latest project – a €30m (US$35.1m, £27.3m) aquarium development in Gran Canaria. Called Poema del Mar (Poem of the Sea) – the 12,500sq m (134,500sq ft) Las Palmas development will focus on sea creatures from the Atlantic Ocean, and is being developed to boost tourist activity in the city and complement other tourism attractions in the area.
“We’re right in the harbour, next to where the cruise ships arrive, so that’s a whole new market for us,” said Kiessling, speaking to Attractions Management.
“We can also count on the tourists who come to Gran Canaria because, up to now, this kind of attraction has been missing. I think we can draw quite a lot of people.”
The Canary Islands rely heavily on British tourism, which accounts for around a third of the 14 million tourists that visit the holiday destination each year. Despite the impending Brexit, Kiessling isn’t concerned that it will affect business.
“The industry is changing continuously,” he said. “At the moment, British people visit more than anyone else. When Brexit comes, we don’t know how this will change, but there is always change. Four years ago we had a lot of Russian people visiting. Now those numbers have declined but in their place more French and Italian people have arrived.
“Brexit or no Brexit, Britons will still want to go on vacation. They come here now and they will still come here when Brexit arrives.”
The attraction, designed by Spanish architecture firm VDR Designs, is the first Loro Parque development not built on Tenerife. The aquarium, which is set to open before the end of 2017, isn’t the only development for Gran Canaria, with the Kiessling Group also planning a €60m (£52.7m, US$67m) waterpark, which is scheduled to open in 2020.
For more from Wolfgang Kiessling, check out the Q3 edition of Attractions Management, available soon.
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