TAP’s New Online Look

Tourist Attractions & Parks’ online presence continues to grow, and we hope you will visit the magazine’s redesigned Web site at www.tapmag.com. The site features more informative stories in addition to what is offered in the print version, as well as an archive of our weekly eNewsletter and a new leisure entertainment business management blog featuring posts by industry management expert Allen Weitzel. Weitzel is available to answer the questions you post to the blog. We hope you enjoy the new content and look of the Web site, and that you will sign up for the eNewsletter so you can receive weekly advice and trends information directly to your inbox.

In conjunction with the June print edition, you can read this issue’s AZA Section feature “Zoos and Aquariums: Raising Awareness of Conservation Issues” online. You can also find the story “Family Entertainment Center Trends for 2011 and Beyond.”

Embracing a Summer of Fun

As you greet the summer crowds with your own particular brand of fun, hopefully your plans to improve and grow your facility are bearing fruit. This is our annual family entertainment center edition, and the magazine covers the many aspects of this always-evolving segment of the leisure entertainment industry, as well as offering the 2011 Entertainment Center and Location-Based Entertainment Suppliers’ Guide.

In the Family Entertainment Center Report, you can read up on how facilities with go-kart and miniature golf are adding the extras, such as food and other enhancements, to attract customers and keep them coming back. The section also features stories on bowling’s place in your FEC, safety and security at bowling centers, providing the right mix of attractions and special party offers at family entertainment centers, popular simulators and bumper cars, creating memorable moments for guests, and adding FEC elements to laser tag centers.

The Street Beat section covers the popularity of redemption and the hottest trends in coin-op games, and the AAM Report examines how art museums around the country are reaching out to new guests with fun and accessible programming. Additionally, in the Amusement Rental/Inflatable News section, we cover how popular sports games are always in demand for party customers.

In The Large Park Report, we examine how higher energy prices are impacting amusement parks in Florida this season, and the Business Strategies feature explores how for optimists, the recovering economy is a source of opportunity. In the Food Service Spotlight section, you can read about the best oven and fryer choices for major league baseball parks and food service trends at the nation’s waterparks. Additionally, our contributor Kevin Williams explores the “eater-tainment” equation at destinations.

I hope you enjoy the issue. Please contact me at editortapmag@kanec.com with your comments, questions and suggestions.

Scott C. Borowsky
President and Executive Editor
Tourist Attractions and Parks magazine

“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” – Jack Welch