Dreamworld splashing out
ARDENT Leisure says it will spend $30 million upgrading Dreamworld over the next two years as it looks to bring the crowds back to the Gold Coast holiday icon.
The company has struggled to restore visitor numbers at Dreamworld, with attendance dropping in 2017-18 to 1.658 million visits from 1.663 million the year before.
The company posted an eye-watering $88.6 million loss for the past financial year – $26 million higher than the prior corresponding period, which logged a $62.6 million loss.
The company’s theme parks division, consisting of Dreamworld, White Water World and Sky Point, was the major driver of the results, with that division alone recording a loss in earnings of $91.1 million, which was actually an improvement of $7.3 million compared to the EBITDA loss of $98.4 million in the prior year.
The comparisons take into account a change in the company’s reporting methods.
The theme parks reported revenue of $69.9 million, down 1.4 per cent for the same time last year, as the business continued to be impacted by the slow recovery post the Thunder River Rapids tragedy almost two years ago.
The company hopes new attractions – including an unspecified water park expansion and a new “dark ride” to replace the long-defunct Eureka Mountain Mine Ride – will boost that recovery.
A soon-to-open iride vir--