SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast
Maintaining the Magic Nigel Benton considers Merlin Entertainments’ 12 years in Australasia
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t’s not widely known, but Merlin Entertainments, the world’s second largest attractions operator after Disney, has been operating in Australia for almost 12 years. Better known for the brands of its individual attractions such as SEA LIFE, LEGOLAND and Madame Tussauds, Merlin Entertainments entered the Australian market in 2010, paying $115 million to acquire the Sydney Attractions Group from Village Roadshow. The deal saw Merlin gain three of Sydney’s top tourist attractions - Sydney Aquarium, Sydney Wildlife World and the Sydney Tower Observatory and Skywalk, as well as Manly Oceanworld, the Hamilton Island Wildlife Park and Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World in Auckland. To align with its global brands, in 2011 Merlin relaunched the Sydney Tower Observatory and Skywalk as the Sydney Tower Eye while rebranding Sydney Wildlife World to WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo. A decade ago, the group expanded further with the $140 million acquisition of Living and Leisure Australia Group (LLA), including the two ski resorts at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek (the group’s only ski field operations) and Melbourne Aquarium. 2012 also saw the group open its first, and thus far only all-new attraction, Madame Tussauds at Sydney’s Darling Harbour while commencing the rebranding of its marine attractions under its global SEA LIFE banner - Oceanworld Manly as Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary, the Sydney Aquarium as SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and Kelly Tarlton’s as Kelly Tarlton’s SEA LIFE Aquarium. This process continued in 2013 16 Australasian Leisure Management Issue 149
Sydney Tower Eye Skywalk experience
with Melbourne Aquarium relaunched as SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium and UnderWater World relaunched as SEA LIFE Mooloolaba (now known as SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast). While globally Merlin has expanded dramatically since 2012 with new LEGOLAND attractions around the world and licensing arrangements with leading entertainment brands, its
