Leisure Media Issue 3 2009 - Leisure Opportunities

NEWSAttractionsGreat North Museum opensThe Great North Museum: Hancock inNewcastle upon Tyne has opened itsdoors to the public following a £26mtransformation.The natural history museum,designed by Sir Terry Farrell, is locatedin the former Hancock Museum, whichwas closed three years ago to undergothe redevelopment.The new attraction houses 3,500items from collections from the originalHancock Museum, NewcastleUniversity’s Museum of Antiquitiesand the Shefton Museum.The University’s Hatton Gallery isalso part of the Great North Museumbut remains in its existing building.The museum also includes a planetarium,a bio-wall displaying thediversity of life on Earth, a life-size rep-MiddlesbroughWheel delayedPlans to establish a new 40m (131.2ft)wheel attraction in the centre ofMiddlesbrough, north east England,have been delayed after it wasrevealed that a suitable wheel is notyet available.World Tourist Attractions (WTA) isbehind the proposals for the attraction,which will be situated in the town’sCentre Square and will feature 30glass-sided observation pods capableof accommodating five people each.Middlesbrough Council approvedplanning permission for the schemeon 9 April, which will see the wheelMuseum manager Steve McLean with T-Rexlica T-Rex skeleton, Ancient Egyptianmummies and a large scale model ofHadrians Wall as well as examples ofGreek art.How the wheel would look on the siteremain in place for an initial six monthsat no cost to the council before a decisionis made on whether renew its stayfor a longer period.Lancashire’s Camelottheme park reopensCamelot theme park in CharnockRichard, Lancashire, has reopenedjust two months after itsowner, Prime Resorts, went intoadministration.The park was acquired by TheStory Group and has been leasedto Knights Leisure, a newly-formedgroup led by the former chief executiveof Prime Resorts, Roy Page.Although The Story Group is stilllooking to enter into negotiationswith Chorley Borough Council in abid to revive plans for a residentialmixed-use development on the site,it has agreed to lease the park toKnights Leisure, enabling Camelotto operate as a theme park until9 September 2009.Theme parks respondingresiliently to recessionThe annual Attractions AttendanceReport has shown that theme parksare coping well with the downturn.The report for 2008, compiledjointly by Economic ResearchAssociates (ERA) and the ThemedEntertainment Association (TEA),shows that 10 out of the world’stop 15 theme parks recorded anincrease in the number of visits –when compared to 2007 figures.According to ERA’s JohnRobinett, however, the growth innumbers could have been bigger,but for a fall in attendances duringthe fourth quarter. He also revealedthat large destination parks werehit harder by the late fall in visitornumbers than smaller parks.Cutty Sark to open next summerCutty Sark, the historic tea clipper situatedin Greenwich, south London, is setto reopen in summer 2010, three yearsafter it was ravaged by fire.A £25m restoration project wasalready underway to protect the historicship from corrosion and to make itmore accessible to visitors.The fire has increased the cost of therevamp by a further £10m.The cost of reconstruction has beenpartly funded by the Heritage LotteryFund, which awarded the scheme a£11.75m grant in June 2007. Once finished,the work will protect the vesselfrom corrosion and will also make itmore accessible to visitors.The restoration project will see theCutty Sark suspended 3m (3.8ft) aboveits current position in order to enablevisitors to walk underneath the shipand view its hull design.There will also be a glass canopyinstalled, meeting the ship at thewaterline and covering the dry dock,creating 1,000sq m of space for events.The ship was badly damaged in the fire14 Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digitalISSUE 3 2009 © cybertrek 2009