Maintaining the Magic

SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast

Nigel Benton considers Merlin Entertainments’ 12 years in Australasia

It’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 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

Sydney Tower Eye Skywalk experience

Australasian attractions have relied on steady additions to its locations.

Between 2014 and 2018, this included: 2014 •WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo launches the WILD FLIGHT experience •A zip line added to the Illawarra Fly Treetop Experience 2015 •SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium launches Ice Age 4D experience (pictured below) 2016 •SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium launches Sub-Antarctic

Penguin experience 2017 •LEGOLAND Discovery Centre opened in Chadstone

Shopping Centre, Melbourne 2018 •SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium unveils Day and Night on the

Reef and celebrates turning 30 (pictured above) •Sphen and Magic - a same sex penguin couple gain international fame with the adoption of their chick, Sphengic 2018 also saw Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary close its doors after 50 years of operations, based on Merlin finding that the business was no longer viable in the ageing building where it was located. At SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium, Pig the Dugong - who usually thrives from seeing thousands of guests walk through its tunnels each week - received enrichment activity in an innovative way to remain stimulated.

A number of Madame Tussauds figures including Lady Gaga, Albert Einstein and Zendaya, were placed next to the Aquarium’s tank.

Emma Malik, Animal Trainer at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium explains “Pig really enjoys interacting with people and he’s intelligent enough to recognise individuals and faces. With the aquarium … closed to the public …, Pig’s not seeing the usual variety of visitors and we thought we could fix that with a visit from a few stars.”

As part of Pig’s daily husbandry care, the Dugong team organise a range of enrichment activities – including physical exercise, mental challenges, games, and the introduction of new toys.

Pig is one of only two dugongs in human care in the world and has called SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium home since late 2008. Pig was rescued from Forrest Beach in North Queensland when he became separated from his mother at a very young age. After a period of rehabilitation, Pig was released back into the wild. However, when he was found on a beach again, the decision was made not to re-release him for fears that he wouldn’t survive.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium unveiled Day and Night on the Reef in 2018

Engaging Pig the Dugong

2018 saw the closure of Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary 2011 saw the rebranding of Sydney Wildlife World to WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo

As of 2019, change was in the air with the WILD LIFE Hamilton Island sold to Hamilton Island Enterprises and the Falls Creek and Hotham ski resorts to Vail Resorts for $174 million.

The sale - which saw Vail purchase Australian Alpine Enterprises Holdings Pty. Ltd and all related corporate entities that operate Falls Creek and Hotham resorts from Merlin subsidiary LLA - saw the USA-based operator add the two winter resorts to its existing Australian operations at Perisher Ski Resort in NSW and left Merlin to focus on its core business of location-based entertainment.

The arrival of COVID-19 in 2020, saw Merlin’s attractions closed not only in Australasia but across the world, forcing significant challenges to operations with some attractions losing a huge percentage of revenue following international and domestic border closure and tourism grinding to a halt.

Aiming to keep their audiences engaged during closures, attractions moved to successful live-streaming while another challenge involved animal exhibits.

Despite facing closures, the COVID-19 pandemic did not prevent Merlin from developing its portfolio with the Brickmans LEGO Cities Exhibit launched at Sydney Tower Eye and the Ocean Invaders Sea Jelly’s experience opened at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium.

With the opening of the economy this year, Merlin has welcomed being able to again receive local guests and the subsequent return of international guests.

Along with most of the tourism industry, Merlin Entertainments is celebrating the quarantine-free arrival of international guests back through their Australian attractions.

With its nine attractions heavily reliant on the patronage of international tourists, Ian Wood, Regional Director, Merlin Entertainments Australia and New Zealand advises “after adhering to all Government guidelines including closing our attractions for extended periods at a time, implementing capacity restrictions and creating additional measures to ensure the safety of our staff and guests, our focus is now on business and economic recovery whereby the arrival of international guests into Australia plays a crucial role.

“These international arrivals, coupled with the Government’s assistance via voucher schemes such as Parents NSW, means that Merlin and the tourism industry as a whole can now finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Wood adds “what it also means is that we are now going to step it up even further with the exciting offers and experiences for our guests who are thrilled about once again being able to get out and about or visit from overseas - all of which will help revitalise CBDs in the major cities around Australia.

“There are so many things to look forward to; we have a stellar line-up of wax figures on the way at Madame Tussauds Sydney, major news to announce at Sydney Tower Eye, the announcement of a new Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre® Melbourne, new animal arrivals at WILD LIFE Sydney and exciting school holiday experiences which may just result in kids across Victoria, NSW and Queensland being able to meet none-other-than Peppa Pig herself.”

Globally, as London’s The Times recently reported, the number of visitors across Merlin’s global operations are recovering - rising from 22.1 million in 2020 to 35.2 million last year, although still some way short of the 67 million recorded in 2019 with “a cast of characters from Bear Grylls to Peppa Pig h elping to kickstart the recovery.” Nigel Benton is Publisher at Australasian Leisure Management.