A change is coming in the management of Dutch theme park Efteling. Director Coen Bertens will step down from his role on February 1, 2021.
"Efteling is a dynamic organisation that moves with the times," Bertens said. "This also applies to me; it is time for a next step in my career. I look forward to inspiring others with everything I have been able to learn here in recent years."
Nicole Scheffer, Efteling's current Hotels & Resorts Director will take over for Bertens as director of the Park business unit. With Bertens' departure from the organization, four people will remain on Efteling's Board of Directors: Scheffer, CEO Fons Jurgens, CFO Daan van Baarsen, and Koen Sanders, who will take over the role Hotels & Resorts Director in addition to his current role as Commerce, Creation & Development Director.
Bertens has been with Efteling for 23 years. A park press release created his leadership for "great steps in establishing collaborations with other theme parks, increasing cooperation between Efteling colleagues and enhancing the visitor experience."
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There are "too many" people on that board of directors, who do not come out of the creative sector itself (storytelling, theatre, film, arts in general, you name it)
Lapsus.
'Too many' , correction : none at all.
AFTER Symbolica, Efteling lost completely it's original destination as "real" (storytelling) theme park. All new investment projects go to 'iron ride' attraction park items. It's not because they get 'themed' (sic >> decorated) that they suddenly would not be an iron ride anymore. The story, with which the new projects get "decorated" are pure marketing. There is NO storytelling at all in the new projects.
It is catastrophic in the long term. There are many small theme parks '-(ex pure attraction parks) who have been seriously investing over the past 15 years, in.... yes, real storytelling attractions. (Darkrides and others). Right now (since 15 years), the Efteling board of directors is steering the park into a 2nd grade track, DOWNHILL. (The Symbolica attraction was a much older project that took so much time to get realised, it was NOT the realisation from the actual BoD, they only finished it.) They bluff that they will bring Efteling to the level of a 7 million guests per year park, and do this by going for off the shelf rides, which you can find in almost every iron ride attraction park in the world, just with another decoration.
It's FATAL, within 10 years. There is no added value. Added value for a real theme park is : 100% Uniqueness. THAT is the driver to more visiting. Nothing else. (Off the shelf rides are just part of the eternal rat race between classic amusement parks)
But just HOW would this wisdom get on the table of a board of directors, who are just businessmen, and although some work there since a very looooong time, they do not understand they THEY never made the Efteling to grow. It was the design office who did that, and they have NO voice in the park...
It's a shame...