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From The Industry: Government interference in heritage, the attraction rewarding vaccination and the Disney IP that nearly started a Tunisian war

Rounding up all the biggest news from both publications and associations, here is your latest edition of From the Industry from Planet Attractions

In this week’s edition of From The Industry, is government interference in heritage threatening freedom of speech? Meanwhile there’s an attraction rewarding its customers for getting vaccinated against COVID-19, and we hear the story about the time a major Disney IP nearly started a war in Africa.



Starting this week with the Museums Journal, leading historical bodies in Britain have warned that government interference in heritage risks stifling historical research and freedom of speech.

In an open letter, signatories including the presidents of the Royal Historical Society, the Historical Association and the Economic History Society wrote that they were “deeply” worried by reports that the UK Government is seeking to deny funding for academic Corinne Fowler and her Colonial Countryside project, which explores links to empire and slavery at National Trust properties.

Meanwhile, Apollo International Art Magazine says it’s time museum leaders stopped talking to themselves and started listening instead.

From the April 2021 issue of the magazine, Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, suggests that rather than listening with intention while others are talking, we spend the time thinking about what we will say next, something museums in particular should be taking into account.

Park World has announced that entries to its Park World Excellence Awards are now open, with two new categories added to this year’s event.



A report from RePlay has taken a look at the Up-Down arcade bar in Kansas City, Missouri, which has taken a interesting step in launching a tokens reward programme to thank local people for receiving their COVID-19 vaccination.

From IAAPA’s official publication Funworld, several facilities, such as the National Comedy Center, the Knock Knock Children’s Museum and the Rijksmuseum have shared how they found new profit by adopting and revisiting existing e-commerce to expand retail.

Over at Blooloop, Steven Swaby of Sarner International has written about how the right technology can turn food & beverage at attractions into immersive experiences.



For the first time in 21 years, the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex has a new addition, with the March 23 debut of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket covered in Attractions Magazine.

Some big news this week has been reported by Amusement RC, which sees industry leaders Rob Hetherington, Kevin Williams and a consortium of founding partners establishing Spider Entertainment – a full turnkey operator and provider of strategy, design, project management and operations services to the retail property market and to entertainment brands.

The Frazier History Museum sits at the center of a community divided along racial, political, and social lines. The American Alliance of Museums has taken a closer look at the institution, which was inspired to develop programming aimed at addressing that polarisation.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums has something to celebrate, with the organisation welcoming the Greater Vancouver Zoo as its first new member for 2021. Disney fans living in Florida are in for a treat, with the Disney Parks Blog revealing the first-ever Walt Disney World Resort License Plate.

The plate is currently available for presale, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Make-A-Wish of Central and Northern Florida and their work granting wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions.



Our final story comes from Inside the Magic, which has looked at the time Disney’s Star Wars IP almost caused an actual war.

When filming A New Hope in the Tunisian desert in 1976, tensions between Tunisia and neighboring Libya were running high, so high that when Libya saw offensive measures were being taken, it demanded that Tunisia immediately cease its provocative deployment of a massive military vehicle near the border. The only problem was that the massive military vehicle turned out to be a Jawa Sandcrawler...