Aquarium deal an odd fit with great potential
American buyers saw the potential here that somehow escaped Canadian investors
It reads like a storyline for a sitcom, or the opening line of a satire.
So, a family company that began in the Ozarks with good Christian values that owns Dolly Parton's amusement park, the Harlem Globetrotters, and aquariums in Kentucky and New Jersey, buys a public aquarium in the city that spawned both Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Weird, eh?
Yet, that's what has happened. Atlanta-based Herschend Enterprises, which boasts of entertaining more than 14 million guests annually at 25 properties that range from waterparks to jeep treks, now owns the Vancouver Aquarium. (Its two aquariums in the U.S. meet the highest standard of the industry's accrediting body, even though they still allow people to stroke sharks and pet the rays.)
The Vancouver Aquarium is both beloved and reviled. It has survived court challenges to its very existence from animal rights activists, many of whose activism was nurtured poolside as orcas circled.
While the cetaceans are long gone, there are still walruses, sea otters, seals and penguins, along with lots of fish and a spectacular array of jellyfish. It has become an attraction-conservation venue.
Its mission has been to protect and restore the world's oceans from overfishing, pollution, and climate change.
Herschend's mission is: “To create memories worth repeating.”
Aside from the seeming weirdness of it all, here are some quick bullet-points about the sale:
Herschend has no plans to bring back whales.
It will provide one per cent of revenue to Ocean Wise Conservation Society, which has been spun off to do the work that its name suggests.
The aquarium will reopen as soon as it is safe.
The price tag has not been disclosed.
The Vancouver park board agreed to the transfer of ownership.
The bottom line is that the non-profit that ran the aquarium was getting to the point where there wasn't enough money to feed the animals. Ocean Wise Conservation Society's last hope was a for-profit corporate buyer.
Without Herschend, Vancouver's most popular tourism attraction, along with all of its education and conservation programs, would have been shuttered. Who knows what might have become of those walruses and other animals?
The sale marks a watershed moment more than a year into a global pandemic. The aquarium's future is secure. But without similar corporate buyouts, many other tourism, entertainment and cultural attractions may not be.
COVID restrictions have decimated these institutions. Many have been forced to close completely for long periods of time, or they have had to limit visitors to well below what is needed for revenue to match expenses. On Friday, for example, Surrey's Fraser Downs suspended its spring racing season and laid off 135 employees.
As this third COVID wave keeps building, there will almost certainly be more layoffs, and more temporary and permanent closures.
Public health officials keep telling us this won't last forever, and business publications are full of stories about investment opportunities as the pandemic subsides.
Herschend certainly saw this as an opportunity.
“Vancouver and British Columbia are global tourism destinations and they will recover. The Vancouver Aquarium is globally iconic as well,” said Eric Rose, executive director of Herschend Family Entertainment, on Thursday.
“Privately held companies can have a very long-term point of view. What will not change is that Vancouver will always be an incredible tourism destination and Vancouver will always have a world-class aquarium.”
Perhaps it's because the United States is doing better on its vaccine rollout than Canada, but where is that optimism in Canada? Why did it take an American company to see the potential that no Canadian company or philanthropist could recognize?
Billions of dollars have been earned in this city of glass, but it's mostly profits from building and selling, not creating companies with global aspirations. There doesn't seem to be a lot of the patient money that's needed to grow something lasting.
The aquarium's new owner is that kind of company. It was started 64 years ago by Hugo and Mary Herschend, who leased a cave and ferried guests into it using a cable train. The family now has more than 10,000 employees.
So yes, this deal may be an odd fit. But Dolly Parton (whose net worth is estimated at more than $600 million) has entrusted her brand to Herschend, which makes me think that this may all work out just fine.