American-born Tim Fisher is a glass half full type. Never mind dwelling on the negative, he likes to see the positive in things and relishes turning a challenge into an opportunity. This kind of can-do approach to business may be typically American, but on Australia’s sunny Gold Coast, where he’s the CEO of Village Roadshow Theme Parks, he fits right in.

Portfolio
Dubbed the home of the theme park Down Under, the Gold Coast is to Australia what Orlando is to the US. As well as an established MICE market, the beaches and theme parks on the Gold Coast attract many tourists. Fisher’s based here, as are five out of eight of Village Roadshow’s theme parks. These include Warner Bros Movie World, Gold Coast Wet ‘n’ Wild, Sea World, Paradise Country and Australian Outback Spectacular.

Overseas, the company owns Wet‘n’Wild Hawaii – the first overseas theme park acquisition for Village Roadshow – and Wet‘n’Wild Phoenix in Arizona. The company also has three new parks in the pipeline, Wet‘n’Wild Sydney, Wet‘n’Wild Las Vegas and Ocean Paradise in China.

Fisher is well versed in heading up an operation of this scale. Before joining Village Roadshow in 2007, he was executive vice president of Paramount Parks and Viacom Recreation in the US, responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations and capital project development. It was a role that called for him to test his yield management, capital strategy and cost cutting skills – things that have shaped his management style at Village Roadshow and helped to create a healthy bottom line for the business, now worth AU$275m (US$285m, £186.2m, E217m) annually.

Attendance
So far this year, attendance at the Gold Coast parks is up 20 per cent, with the first half of 2013 showing record attendances of 2.8 million. First half EBITDA is up nine percent on 2012, despite heavy flooding in Queensland over the summer months. Although pleased, Fisher isn’t complacent. “I’m very happy with how the business is performing, but we manage every business unit with the idea that they can improve,” he says. “Our more mature parks still have room to grow in terms of food and retail.”

Fisher puts the good figures down to the success of their key business drivers, primarily the VIP annual pass programme. So far, the Gold Coast parks have sold nearly a million annual passes in the first seven months. Fisher says it’s the fact they’re being bought primarily by consumers in the core and regional markets that makes the difference. “The VIP programme has increased our admissions revenue by driving up non-holiday performance, which, in turn, drives revenue in non-peak periods and helps our overall costs.” He says a successful special events programme for key holidays, such as Halloween and Christmas, has also been good for the Gold Coast business.

Fisher admits that prior to the Global Financial Crisis, the company had already begun the process of shifting its demographic target, “Before, our business was more tourism oriented, whereas now, regional and core markets play a more significant role,” he explains. “One of the ways we’ve been able to grow our profit is by plugging the gaps in the soft part of our schedule with core and regional market visitors from south east Queensland.”

Promotions
As well as theme parks, the Village Roadshow business includes one of Australia’s largest cinema operators, Village Cinemas. Through the cinema exhibition group, Fisher says the theme park division can use cinema screens as a media channel to promote the parks, which is a very valuable marketing tool. “As we did at Viacom, we seek to take advantage of synergystic opportunities that other divisions might be able to offer us. The cinemas are an excellent example,” Fisher explains.

Initially, Fisher was bought in to manage the US operations for Village Roadshow. Now, his role as the theme park group CEO includes all the businesses under the company’s theme park umbrella, which means his day is separated into two distinct parts: US business in the morning where he focuses on the new capital project in Las Vegas; followed by the Gold Coast businesses and Asia, where the Hainan project’s happening, in the afternoon. Fisher admits his management style is hands on, so he likes to be across all the business units in real time. “I enjoy being detail-oriented and I make a point of working with talented people who are very energising to be around.

“I like to think that we’ve created an environment that maximises everyone’s capabilities and potential.”

New openings
These capabilities are about to be tested, with the opening of four new Village Roadshow theme park attractions during the next two years. In June 2013, Wet‘n’Wild Las Vegas will open, which Village Roadshow will manage, as well as hold a majority ownership in. Fisher’s particularly excited about breaking into the Vegas market. “In the US, there are two cities renowned for entertainment – Orlando and Las Vegas,” he explains. “Vegas has casinos and night life, but there’s also a core market of two million – many of whom are families looking for entertainment – that Wet‘n’Wild will appeal to.”

Waxing lyrical about the potential in the Sydney market, Fisher says the decision to expand the Wet‘n’Wild brand on the east coast of Australia was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up. The $120m (US$125m, £81m, E95m) Wet‘n’Wild Sydney is under construction and opens at the end of this year.

“Sydney’s one of the world’s great cities, yet there’s no waterpark there. Finding a property in the geographical centre of the city’s population wasn’t easy and we believe that has been one of the barriers to other operators, so we’re very pleased to have found such a large parcel so well placed in the Sydney suburbs,” he says.

“But as a business opportunity, it has so much potential. There’s little competition from a leisure entertainment perspective, we already have appeal and the power of the Wet‘n’Wild brand to leverage, and a core and regional population of five million that’s relatively affluent. It just makes good financial sense for our company to be there. Also,” he continues, “we think the brand exposure for our company that will come from the incremental one million visitors in Sydney can only benefit the Gold Coast parks long term.”

Competition
Ironically, the stiffest competition will come from Merlin Entertainments Group, the group Village Roadshow sold its Sydney Attractions business to in 2011. Merlin operates some of the most popular non-theme park attractions in Sydney, including Sydney Aquarium, Wild Life Sydney Zoo, Sydney Tower Eye and Madame Tussaud’s.

Fisher doesn’t seem too worried however. “It’s always good to have other companies in the attractions industry in Australia. Merlin’s willingness to invest here is a sign they have a similar confidence in the Australian market. I have great respect for them as a company.”

Just as Merlin’s targeting the Asian market with its Legoland brand, Village Roadshow will have its first presence in Asia in 2015, with the opening of two theme parks in Hainan, China. Ocean Paradise and Wet‘n’Wild are being modelled on the Gold Coast Sea World and Wet‘n’Wild operations, which Village Roadshow will design and operate.

In his typical upbeat style, Fisher is feeling positive about the current state of the attractions industry. He believes there are still opportunities in the Australian market, including in Perth, which is benefiting from a mining boom, as well as Melbourne. “There are clearly opportunities in both cities, so they’re the next two cities we’ll be looking at domestically,” he says.

Further afield, Fisher says the company is looking at more opportunities in Asia. He says they’ve got their eyes on other cities in China, as well as Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. “We’re looking at other Wet ‘n’ Wild parks and would love to expand and develop the brand more internationally. Australian Outback Adventure also has potential in other markets and we’re keen to explore the idea of other sea world marine life or animal attractions.

“Like any CEO, there are many opportunities I’d like us to explore as a company,” he explains. “But I know my most important responsibility is to help create a vision and plan for the company that will carry Village Roadshow Theme Parks well into the future.”