PG40-41 Q Lines Final 3/26/07 3:50 PM Page 40
Park People
Q Lines
EMMANUEL MONGON
What were causing the problems at the park?
Nothing changed, but the feeling was that outside the
Prater the world had changed. It’s unbelievable but
true, but each operator had a contract with the city
which was indefinite, and they were paying only €2
per square metre per year. So there was no incentive
for the operators to make anything of quality. Most of
them had never been out of the Prater. Those contracts
cannot be changed, so we had to work with everyone
in there. Some were very good and did actually invest,
but there are about 80 operators with 300 attractions,
so the quality could not all be the same.
The city also recognised that not the lack of investment
was also theirs and not just the operators. They were
barriers to building and planning, for example.
What did you discover about the Prater?
Before no one knew anything about the visitors, or
even a list of attractions! It took us nine months just to
get that basic information. Now we have much, much
more information. We know there are 4.2 million
annual visitors, of which 2.7 million pay, the rest just
Emmanuel Mongon (above) worked Back in 2003, Emmanuel Mongon of the French walk through. Of those that spend money, 1.4 million
closely on the Prater masterplan
company Imaginvest was asked by the City of go on the attractions and there are also people that
with Vienna’s vice-mayor, Grete
Vienna to devise a masterplan for one of go for the restaurants and casino etc. There is one very
Laska (right)
Europe’s great metropolitan amusement parks: big restaurant that does 800,000 alone.
The Prater. This Austrian institution, famous for its To have 4.2 million people passing by your
iconic 1897 Ferris Wheel, had become a chaotic attraction would be a dream for many operators, but
collection of competing interests and attractions. most don’t spend, so the goal is to increase the per
“
Mongon’s task during the three-year plan was to cap spending and the length of stay.
To have unite the 80 individual operators and create a
4.2 million
coherent vision for the future, while installing What has been implemented so far?
much of the day-to-day infrastructure that had One of the main achievements of the masterplan was
people would previously been missing. But how successful was that before the city had 75 different departments dealing
be a dream
he, and what is the future for the Prater as it with the Prater, and you have 80 operators, can you
enters its first full season since the masterplan imagine the hell that used to cause? Now we have set
for many was delivered? Owen Ralph quizzes Emmanuel up a Prater service company, it’s an affiliate of the city,
operators, but
Mongon to find out. with a budget every year and a manager, cleaning team
and security guard on site, all financed by the city. None
most don’t What was your brief from the City of Vienna? of these things existed before. There were only three of
spend, so the
The city wanted a Prater that was thriving and four toilets – for 4.2 million visitors! Where did they go?
attractive for Vienna and for the tourists coming to They service company has developed 250 different
goal is to Vienna. They had more and more complaints about projects of various sizes, and 100 have already been
increase per
the Prater. Tourists were going for the Ferris Wheel, it’s implemented. A lot of people there thought that the
a landmark, but they were avoiding completely the masterplan would just be put on a shelf when Mr
cap spending rest if the park because what they saw did not Mongon left, but they didn’t realise that my job was
and length of
compare well to other leisure facilities. My job was to also to help the city implement it.
set up new projects and help others implement There was no training culture before, now we have
stay
”
projects to make it possible for the Prater develop Prater Leisure Training, which is run by the Prater
after three years. operators themselves to try and share their knowledge.
40 APRIL 2007