news

From The Industry: The Louvre’s first female leader, more big cat controversy and bumper cars in VR

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, the Louvre has its first female leader, the AZA has called on congress to act following big cat seizures and VR and bumper cars are combining for a new attraction in Denmark.



Starting this week with Art News, for the first time in its 228-year history, the Louvre will be directed by a woman.

Laurence des Cars, the current leader of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, has been selected by French President Emmanuel Macron as the next leader of the Louvre. She takes up the role in September.

Sticking with Europe’s museums, NEMO reports that as of May 26, he European Commission officially launched the Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027.

With a budget of €2.4bn (US$2.93bn, £2.07bn), the new programme will support the European cultural and creative sectors to reach their full potential and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.



Following the seizure of nearly 70 tigers, lions, big cat hybrids, and a jaguar from the former Tiger King zoo, the AZA has once again called on US Congress to act now and pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act.

“I hope all senators and representatives will join 195 of their colleagues as cosponsors of the Big Cat Public Safety Act and quickly pass this needed legislation,” said AZA president and CEO, Dan Ashe.

Following a one-year delay, Expo 2020 Dubai is preparing for its public opening.

InPark has looked at the event, which represents an investment by Dubai’s government of more than US$7bn (€5.76bn, £4.94bn).

The Universal Orlando Resort is raising base pay for team members to US$15 (€12.30, £10.60) an hour, effective next month, Robert Niles at Theme Park Insider has reported.

The resort is calling the pay raise "the single-largest wage increase in Universal Orlando history," up from the resort's current starting pay of US$13 (€10.69, £9.18) an hour.



Over in Australia, there’s a rather surprising forecast for snow, as InterPark reports that Adventure Park in Geelong Victoria, is playing host to an immersive winter festival, with snow, lights, fire and ice.

The festival will be home to a giant snow play zone where children can build snowmen and snow angels, says the publication. Local artists will hand-carve sculptures made from ice. Visitors will be able to witness daily fire displays and the park will come alight at night with hundreds of glittering installations and two million lights.

Over to Blooloop, which has gone into detail about why museums should join TikTok.

From Funworld, IAAPA’s official publication has looked at Denmark’s Sommerland Sjaelland, on how the attraction managed to successfully weather the COVID-19 storm.

How has COVID-19 affected booking trends for museums and attractions? This is the question posed by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) as venues around the world start reopening and travel restrictions start lifting.

In March 2021, Tiqets conducted a survey with more than seven thousand participants in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US about their tourism choices post-COVID. The results showed a readiness to return to museums and attractions, and interesting insights into how booking habits might change.



According to the Museums Journal, projects like the V&A’s new Curious Alice experience are at the vanguard of a major technological shift, with 2021 finally being the year that VR technology in museums goes mainstream.

From Attractions Magazine, the Graceland Exhibition Center in Memphis, Tennessee, will host Inside the Walt Disney Archives, an exhibition celebrating the legacy of The Walt Disney Company with behind-the-scenes access never before granted to the public.

The 10,000sq ft traveling exhibit (currently at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California) showcases more than 450 objects, including original artwork, costumes, and props like rarely-displayed sketches for Fantasia, a maquette from Frozen and a Wolverine costume.



Combining VR and bumper cars, the Universe Science Park in Denmark is launching a new attraction developed by Germany’s VR Coaster in cooperation with SPREE Interactive.

As reported in EuroProfessional, the VR Bumper Cars will feature the new “Cyber Blaster” game content by Spree and the cars will again be supplied by I.E. Park Soli Car from Italy. Up to 20 guests will be able to experience the new attraction at the same time.