Pack your bags for the Peppa Pig hotel

SHARES in Merlin Entertainments slumped by 16pc despite the company revealing plans to create a Bear Grylls Adventure attraction and netting a deal to establish Peppa Pig- themed hotels worldwide.

Merlin, which operates venues such as the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and Alton Towers, said it has entered into a partnership with Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One to produce Peppa attractions.

Under the deal Merlin will have exclusive rights to roll out themed rides in its existing theme parks, stand-alone resorts and Peppa Pig hotels.

The deal however does not cover the UK, where there is already a Peppa Pig World at Paultons Park in Hampshire under a long-standing agreement. The arrangement also does not apply in China.

Merlin also confirmed plans to open the first Bear Grylls Adventure attraction in Birmingham next year, which will be targeted at the adventure-based experiences market.

Bear Grylls, a British adventurer, writer and television presenter from Northern Ireland, has amassed legions of young fans as a result of his popular CITV children’s series Bear Grylls Survival School.

The 43-year-old was appointed the youngest-ever chief scout in the UK at the age of 35.

Peppa Pig, meanwhile, is one of the world’s leading pre- school brands with over 1,000 licences across 60 countries.

The popular television programme is broadcast in 180 territories in 40 languages. Merlin said it expects to open two in-park Peppa Pig resorts in 2018, and its first stand-alone attraction will open in 2019.

The partnerships, however, did little to stop shares in Merlin plummeting 15.9pc, or 71.7p, to 378p, after it claimed terrorism and unfavourable weather had weakened demand across its sites. Like-for-like sales edged up just 0.3pc in the 40 weeks to Octo- ber 7 due to poor weather and retail sales.

Its London attractions, which includes the Coca-Cola London Eye and the London Dungeon, saw a marked drop in visitor numbers after the recent spate of attacks, while the group’s theme parks also suffered in a ‘difficult’ market after the UK’s threat level was raised.

Figures showed like-for-like revenues fell 2.1pc across its theme parks worldwide in the 40 weeks so far of its financial year, with sales down 1pc for its Midway branded attractions.

Legoland parks, however, notched up growth of 3.4pc.

Merlin said trading had also been ‘mixed’ in recent weeks and predicted flat like-for-like revenue growth over the year ahead.

Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said: ‘After strong early-season momentum across most of our businesses, we have experienced difficult trading over the summer period, as the spate of terror attacks witnessed in the UK marked an inflection point in Midway London and UK theme park trading.’

Merlin said that 2017 earnings were set to grow to between £470m and £480m, up from £451m in 2016, as it keeps a tight lid on costs amid tougher trading and cost pressures.

It will also redirect £ 100m of investment away from its attractions between 2018 and 2021, putting the cash instead into developing new hotels.