Walt Disney’s original theme park building in Paris had already laid hidden dangers for his later twists and turns。

The huge potential consumer group and generous government subsidies are the two main reasons why Paris stands out from more than 200 cities in the world to become the second overseas theme park。

According to prediction at that time，A two-hour drive around the park can reach a population of 17 million，The population of Europe within a two-hour flight is as high as 3.100 million，The number of potential consumers is higher than any other Disney park。Also，In order to attract Disney and obtain the 40,000 jobs involved in the project，The French government has pledged more than $1 billion in various incentives to the project，This is also an offer that Disney cannot refuse。

But consumer groups and government subsidies alone are far from enough to ensure the success of the park，Cultural differences、Consumption Habits、The economic environment and other complex factors have intertwined to cause Euro Disney (renamed Paris Disney in 1994) to have poor performance and heavy debt over the years。

In the 26 years since its establishment in 1992，Disney Paris has been losing money for 19 years，Profit in 7 years，The five consecutive years of profitability from 1995 to 1999 were due to banks and Disney exempting large amounts of interest and debt。It is worth mentioning，By the end of 1994，European Disney’s cumulative loss is US$2 billion，The company had to restructure its debt、Change the name and other measures to reverse the situation。

Data display，Disney Paris achieved revenue of 12 in fiscal year 2016.€7.8 billion，Down 7% year-on-year，Loss 8.5.8 billion euros；Total debt up to 17.5.8 billion euros，It is 15 times the company’s average annual revenue in recent years。

Faced with such poor performance，June 2017，Walt Disney achieved full control of Disneyland Paris by acquiring the remaining equity，and delist it from the Paris Stock Exchange。Looking at the history 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino of the past 20 years，What is the reason for the failure of Disneyland Paris？

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Before Disneyland Paris was built，Walt Disney is invincible in the theme park field。1995，Disney built the first Disneyland in California with great success，This model was then copied to Walt Disney Resort World and Tokyo Disney in 1971 and 1983。But in Paris，Disney’s first encounter with “Waterloo”。

Disney expects the park to attract 11 million visitors in its first year，Generates $100 million in revenue，And made a profit of US$34 million in 1994，Profit reached 4 in 2001.USD 500 million。But the actual situation is just the opposite。The number of tourists in 1992 was only 9.2 million，Visitors’ per capita spending was 12% lower than the expected US$33，Loss of nearly US$1 billion in fiscal year 1992-93，Among them，Total liabilities in 1993 were as high as US$3.7 billion。By the end of 1994，Disney Paris’ accumulated losses reach US$2 billion，Total debt remains at a high of $2.8 billion。

In fact，Behind the numbers，There are cultural differences between Disneyland Paris and Disneyland Paris、Insufficient attention or misjudgment on issues such as consumption habits and operation management。

First，Not enough attention was paid to the cultural differences between China and France when selecting sites。Disney chose Paris mainly because of its surrounding potential consumer markets、Government support and international tourism city status。But essentially，The French love and protect their culture very much，Not all foreign cultures like Disney are welcome，Many people view the construction of Disneyland in Paris as an invasion of French culture，Even thinks that the United States is engaging in "cultural imperialism"。

Secondly，Misjudgement of the consumption habits of French or European people。Disney implements a no-alcohol policy in the park，But I am very disgusted with this policy，Because the French like to drink wine with their lunch。Zairu，Based on research，Disney thinks Europeans don’t eat breakfast，As a result, more than 2,500 people lined up for breakfast in a hotel with only 350 seats。

Also，Disney did not anticipate that Europeans would not particularly enjoy theme park vacations。Disney thinks，Same as Americans or Japanese，Europeans would love to spend a few days on a theme park vacation，But the European middle class prefers to go to the seaside 188bet app download or mountains for vacation。

Operational data can also illustrate this problem。For example，Disney Paris initially attracted around 9 million visitors per year，But most tourists only stay for 1-2 days，Instead of Disney’s expected stay of 4-5 days。Europeans regard theme parks as leisure places，Instead of a vacation destination，This surprised Disney。Result，Disney’s multi-billion dollar luxury hotel remains unoccupied most of the time。

Third，Operation management is not integrated with local culture。Disney Paris uses a unified global employee management method that is effective in the United States and Japan，As a result, we encountered a lot of trouble in France。

For example，Disney requires French employees to implement the same standards as the United States and Japan in terms of clothing，French employees are also asked to break cultural traditions，Always smile at tourists and play various roles to please them，These practices conflict with local culture。Zairu，Disney believes that there are fewer people in the park every week、More people every Friday，And allocate the number of operating personnel，But the actual situation is just the opposite。

Also，Disney also introduces American pop culture into the park，causing dissatisfaction among the French，Considered as an invasion of French culture，So it is unfriendly to Disney’s arrival。

According to foreign media reports，Nine weeks before Disneyland Paris opens，Approximately 1,000 employees (10% of total employees) resigned。Most reasons for leaving jobs are，The working hours of the park are too long；Managers do not understand European work and professional habits，The way of working is also very different from the past。

The most direct result is，The French are not very enthusiastic about visiting Disneyland。Estimated 60,000 people on opening day in 1992，Actually only 2.50,000 people entering the park。1994，Only 40% of park visitors are French，Below at least 50% of original expectations。Discovered by a Disney executive，Many tourists are Americans living in Europe or Japanese vacationing in Europe。

In fact，Disney conducted extensive market research before planning and designing，It is impossible not to notice the various problems mentioned above。Disney design in the park、Employee Standards、Eating habits and other aspects have also been adjusted according to cultural differences。

Market research results show，Disneyland is one 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino of the three must-see attractions for Europeans traveling to the United States，Therefore, Euro Disney tries to use Disneyland as a template to create，its hotel、The naming of riding facilities and themes shall be in accordance with American standards as much as possible，The purpose is to attract Europeans to experience American culture at Disneyland Paris。But many tourists complained，Euro Disney is too American，Some French media even denounced it as cultural imperialism。

1994，Euro Disney makes three major changes，First, change the name of the park to Disneyland Paris，Increase local people’s sense of identification with the paradise；Second is，Provide food and other services more suitable for Europeans。The third is to reduce the price of park tickets and hotel rooms by one-third。1996，After restructuring debt, the number of visitors to Disneyland Paris increased from 8.8 million the year before to 11.7 million，And achieved profitability for five consecutive years from 1995 to 1999。

What to learn from Tokyo Disney

When Paris was chosen as the new venue for Disneyland，Someone raised an objection，I think winter in the north of Paris is colder，Not conducive to tourists。Some people object to symmetry，Tokyo Disney’s winter operations are very successful，Many tourists braved the wind and snow to visit the park。

Tokyo Disney’s winter operations are quite successful，But its advantage is: Tokyo’s permanent population is more than three times that of Paris、Tokyo’s per capita GDP is 43% higher than Paris、The park is about 10 kilometers away from the city，And Disneyland Paris is more than 30 kilometers away from the city。The more important influencing factor is climate，Tokyo Disney has 10 fewer rainy days per month on average in winter than Paris Disney，The temperature is 5 degrees higher than the latter，Cold weather and frequent rainy days are important factors affecting the number of visitors to Disneyland Paris in winter。

From a broader perspective，Why Tokyo Disney is so successful，And Disneyland Paris encountered Waterloo？

The most important reason is，Tokyo Disney operator Oriental Land Co., Ltd. is a local company，Understand better the cultural traditions and consumption habits of local people，And adapt the Disney brand to local culture。

For example，Adjust tourists’ food tastes，The park not only builds restaurants to meet the needs of local tourists，188bet app Picnics are also allowed in the park。Another example，In order to adapt to localization requirements，All signs and street names in the park are printed in Japanese，And combine the layout of the park with the streets of Japan。

But Japanese culture belongs to Eastern culture，Inherently very different from American culture，Why Disney is so successful in Japan？Overall，There are three major reasons behind Tokyo Disney’s success in Japan。 

First, after World War II，Japanese culture gradually recognizes and accepts American culture，So most Japanese people like American culture。Second, Japanese culture advocates collectivism，The group activities in Tokyo Disneyland meet the consumer needs of Japanese people。Third，Tokyo Disney is the first theme park built by Disney overseas，Foreign culture has great attraction and impact on the Japanese market。

It is very important to recognize and accept foreign cultures。This can be seen from the completely different attitudes of Japanese and French towards American culture。Unlike Japanese people who are happy to accept Disney animated characters，The French prefer the local comic character Asterix, the Gallic hero。Because of this，Before Disneyland Paris opened，French theme park Parc Asterix undergoes extensive renovations，Get ready to compete with Disneyland。

Obviously，Disney Paris does not do a good enough job in cross-cultural management，For example, operation strategy localization、Local employee management and overly optimistic estimation of the situation, etc.。From the operating history of Tokyo Disney and Disney Paris，Paying attention to cultural diversity and eliminating cultural conflicts is very important for the development of cross-border business。In multinational business，If the company lacks knowledge and skills in cross-cultural management，Cultural conflict is inevitable，Miscommunication occurred、Problems such as misunderstandings between managers and employees，Thus reducing work efficiency。

But various domestic and foreign factors are intertwined，Disney Paris faces more than just cultural differences、Economic Recession、Consumption habits issue，It also involves international political background、Exchange rate depreciation、High bank interest、Complex factors such as fierce competition。For example，Disneyland opening day，In order to oppose the United States’ 188bet online sports betting demand that the French government cancel farmers’ subsidies，Many French farmers drove tractors to protest at the entrance，Zairu，Spain hosts World Expo and Barcelona Olympics、The opening of Six Flags Park and other activities caused a diversion of tourists。

Michael Eisner, the then chairman of Disney, talked about the situation at the time in an interview，“Everyone can find me 42 mistakes Disney Paris made，Because Disney Paris is in deep debt crisis，But we are neither responsible for the real estate bubble，Can’t control the high interest rates of French banks at that time，These are all fatal blows to Disneyland Paris。No matter who it is，No manager can handle so many uncontrollable factors。”

Due to overly optimistic estimates of the situation at the time and overconfidence after the continuous success of the project，Plus cultural differences between the United States and Europe、European consumption habits、The economic environment and other domestic and foreign factors are not controlled well，It is an indisputable fact that Disney Paris eventually fell into debt。But Disney’s future $2.5 billion investment in Disneyland Paris may prove the value of previous mistakes。