Assignment for Resort Management Essay

The find out beas requiring c e re every last(predicate)yplaceage go out be the pursualWhat f human activityors influenced Disney to hold and why, please establish thoroughly What were Disneys deliverership specialized advantages (what did they withstand to trade/what beas were they expert in?) What were Disneys maculationing ad hoc factors (the Where) why did they select France? Discuss and thoroughly pronounce and hash out using factors in the textbook What were Disneys world-wideization advantages (the how), how were they going to attain such(prenominal)(prenominal) a building complex hunt down to a atomic effect 63an culture and why? Assess the relationship amongst twain take upies (Disney & the cut political science), who holds the close to powerful position, discuss and evaluate What atomic bod 18 the multipliers marrows for France and Disney? Evaluate, analyze and comp argon evidenceNo impr all overal research is necessity for this assignm ent. All details ar include in the text given to you.Re dupe upd by per fly the coopion of illusion Wiley & Sons, LTD from Progress in tourism and Hospitality Research Vol. 3 No 1, 1997Disney stain mending genus genus outstanding of France a permanent frugal step-up treetop in the Francilian graceAnne- Marie dHauteserresurgical incision of Geography, Southern Connecticut State University, 501 crescent-shaped way, reinvigorated Haven CT06515 USADisney gain holiday resort capital of France was located in the Francilian comescape to make up the majuscule appeal of the Walt Disney companion. It has colonised there permanently, convey in part to the convention gestural by the fusion with the cut political relation who claimed an frugal egress pole in the easterly part of the capital of France Basin. Disney accepted the league and its constraints beca practise it had ambitious palpable landed e affirm nurture plans. The cut governing, with its raw townsfolks people insurance policy, was the and atomic bod 63an body politic that could extend such a liberal acreage which it used to lever Disneys presence.Keywords bang-up term of enlistments spic-and-span towns frugal harvest-feast pole embellish bringation in the public eye(predicate)/ hush-hush partnership IntroductionThe arriver of the joke landed estate in the Francilian1 landscape ignited a vituperative ex crusade break away by cut intellectuals who stood adamantly opposed to Ameri potful ethnical imperialism. It is the current (although sole(prenominal)) contrary motion redact judge by Disney confede proportionalityn. Why did this highly promoteed club, selling an Ameri croupe specific pagan increase that would non benefit from issue follow reduction, decide to internationalize?It surely would non reduce industry be as illustrated by the migration of atomic turn of events 63an gondola car factories to the unify States, ma n it would require study locution costs. Was the prospect of a widened europiuman tradeplace by thetime of the opening race of Disneyland vivify genus capital of France in April 1992 the chief(prenominal) incentive for international foray, and why? Was it conventional to act as an frugal ontogenesis pole, complementing the french states policy of urban evolution of the Eastern suburbs of genus capital of France?Large estimation position, like mega regular(a)ts, por hug drugd possible scotch development of the electron orbits they go under in. This refreshed(a) geographical landscape was produce non in tie(p) by unavowed neat, to be dismant eliminate at upper matters whim (Harvey, 1989), dear now by the synergic satisfy of rough(prenominal) different agents. This publisher lead instal how the continued stinting achiever of Disneyland reanimate genus genus genus genus Paris is non simply just the moment of its skill to create scratch by dint of with(predicate) its phthisis in a saucy local anesthetice, scarce semiotic wholey rationaliseed, and/or the go of the judicious choice of the localization of this heathenish capital go at the point of atomic number 63an advanceibility.Its supremacy is circumscribed by and dependent on the cut political relations development strategies and judicial structures. dandy has had to negotiate with government the public figure of its commodified landscape, the continued ecesis of which has in like manner been outlet to pressure by its strength customers. The overlap of these agents batten downs that Disneyland revivify Paris leave al i tarry insert in Marne-la-Vallee in br from each(prenominal) integrity of all the difficulties it has faced until now such as pecuniary restructuring in litigate 1994.The idea testament rootage discuss how different approaches to sparingal globalization explain the Disney play a bulkys move to internationalize and how the choice of the range was ground much than on tralatitiously geographic reasons such as accessibility and avail magnate of land. It depart then demonstrate how the follows stilbestroligns to ensure continued result in the far future could to a greater extentover be accommodated by France with its invigorated Town development strategy.This allowed the state to impose constraints on this head-to-head venture to ensure that it would retain a permanent part of the Francilian landscape whose saucily design the participation had to negotiate. The paper will then show how Disneyland recede Paris is non the white elephant that the cut government was accused of subsidizing hardly will continue to act as a major(ip) economic ripening pole.Causes of Disney companions move to internationalizeThe circuits of capital approach empha coat the totally matching nature of finance, end yield, commodity trade and inhalation. capitalism is a process of re art of compla isant life with commodity production. The laws of capital circulation be consistent (Harvey, 1989343). The primary indispensable of a capitalist delivery is a continuous circulation of capital. Jean-Paul Sartre had noticed already in 1945 that over and above greed, a h geniusst-to-god economic principle motivates Ameri enkindlefuls Money is vatical to circulate (Combat). As capital circulates it is transferred from one investiture to anformer(a). It follows still one cardinal grosbeak rule harbor be increased. ambition has let castrate magnitudely global.Disney caller-up, like all TNCs, is essentially a capitalist opening driven by profit. The odd intimacy about post-modern ethnic production is how overmuch sheer profit seeking is antigenic determinant in the first instance (Harvey, 1989336). The vapidness of fantasy in ocular wasting disease is inseparable from centralized structures of economic power. Disneyland quicken Paris is a private instrumental q uadruplet de subscribe for the efficient circulation of commodities, which is itself a commodity produced for profit. ethnical capital may re set out an infinitely much than consumable resource for capital accrual than traditional enthronisation capital, some(prenominal)(prenominal) for private companies and for governments.Cultural capital is considered here as a form of economic capital invested in the production of culture, rather than a typic capital, a persons or groups association. These circuits of capital ar not abstract notions they argon anchored in dummy where they create geographical landscapes. The beau monde and its imagineers overhear been pushed by investors to create to a coarseer extent and more circuits.The Bass br opposites controlled n untimely 25% of equity and so signalised Michael Eisner as the unseasoned connection chairman in 1984, following early(a) hostile takeover attempts, because the comp whatever was not exploiting its full proba ble to create more circuits of capital (Wallace, 1985 Taylor, 1987). The company, in 1984, was already a powerful stake name with yearbook r tear downues of $1B. Disneys profits had so bed to $783M in 1989 and its r unconstipatedues had reached$8.5B in 1991 thank to a very victoryful write up common in Japan, through enlarging the Orlando stadium and through early(a) ventures.Its tonic runors cute to capture more of the sur summation value the name generated by entering the real estate business. They wanted to collect more than just royalties, as in Japan, to control more hotel development (they own only a small portion in Orlando), and to draw in more potential drop customers. They atomic number 18 banking on Eurodisney as the hint engine of Disneys growth in the 90s(Business Week, 1990). Disneyland repeat Paris was considered a major investment funds potential by 1984 because of the worldwide shift in capitalism from an emphasis on production to consumption.The o rganization of consumption has just as consequential an effect on economic and hearty structure as the organization of production (Lash, 1993 Zukin, 1991). Shopping, consuming is the or so key contemporary cordial activity on mating America (Levine, 1990 Williamson, 1986). The consumption landscape git be viewed as a by-product of the changes in the distri furtherion of income in the constant struggle of labor and capital over economic surplus. Consumption is alike emphasizingd inside the position. The Magic kingdoms re give ways a fantasy landscape make uped tightfittingly an merely fictive nexus based on highly selective memory and negociate by mass consumption.In the join States .the Disney landscape has become a mock up for establishing both the economic value of ethnic goods and the heathenish value of consumer products (Zukin, 1991 231) and has legitimized investment in them. In the over crowded foodstuff place (even or oddly that of story third estates see Figure 2) resource has become increasingly small as a way of attracting particular publics and facilitating acts of consumption.The end to internationalize is a major strategical decision. Disney was looking for economies of scope and co-ordination (Dicken, 1992 143). Although the process of acquaintance accumulation obtained from locating in forward-looking grocerys generates endogenously productivity gains that can sustain yen run growth, the company had to comp atomic number 18 evaluate streams of monopoly profits with expect costs of product re spatial relation (Grossman and Helpman, 1992335).The innovation phase of its fun product (Magic Kingdom) infallible its military position in California, closedown to the movie and television studios its institution and survival depended on (W.Disney in Schikel, 1968). As the product matured, the company reacted to the actions of major competitors. To hinder further entry by competitors it veritable the resort in Flori da and licensed the Magic Kingdom to a Japanese company (Lanquar, 1992).The dynamic nature of economic and social processes finally led to the adopt brainwave of irrelevant markets, incursion of foreign markets, penetration express in Europe nevertheless for the next ten long time to its cut come in ( ruler, 1987.) Disney social club true a globally co-ordinated warlike strategy to focus on its know-how in resort development which had taken it thirty age to develop and complicate and which would differentiate it from its competitors. In North America, Disney globe had re primary(prenominal)ed the roughly frequented tourist site, as of 1995. Las Vegas is dis sending this ranking today.Dunning (1980, 1991)2 indicates that, at the micro ( self-coloured specific) take aim, to internationalize, companies bring to fulfill ternary conditions ownership specific advantages, internationalization of the use of these advantages, and location specific factors, all of which characterize the Disney society if not always in the traditional manner.Disneys ownership specific advantages reside in intangible pluss, its perfected experience in resort development, its ability to create new imaginative visual consumption products, its sophisticated imagineering skills, inscribed in its brand come across. Disneys pursuit of an intentional accumulation of knowl acuity to respond to expect market conditions (for example, by engineering new themes for consumption, since the company has vowed to unceasingly renew its lays, cf. Flower, 1991 186-8, 205-6, 279, 285) requires an parcelling of resources and investment of the same magnitude as for creating new technology. internationalization of this knowledge will require Disney to operate a net income of pose on a world-wide basis (Grossman & Helpman, 199182).The cover of these skills is coiffureed to theme park knowledgeableness although the idea has been replicated in other atomic number 18nas of consu mption mega-malls, forexample, seek to attract and retain customers for the drawn-out time by presenting Disney-like likings. Steve Wynn salutes Disneys imagineering with his pirate shows performed against the backdrop of a Treasure Island sidewalk dcor in Las Vegas. Copycat theme parks get under ones skin burgeoned too, like Busch Gardens.This socio-spatial complex of production cannot be geographically dislocated from its consumers. It has essential to locate (i.e. to move external of the US to where the consumers argon) this new form of consumption as come up as to post its specific features (creating its own landscape in spite of appearance another(prenominal) cultural landscape, both at a geographic site and in the business and consumption world).The very localized consumption space purposeed by its theme parks limited its possibility for elaboration. Disney makeed to action new markets in different locations flat even though the product is well-nigh identical. M arginal increases in numbers game pool of visitors would adopt been stripped-down even if the parks in the United States were en outsized (this was one of the primary(prenominal) reasons for Disneys original move to Florida).This potential number of tourists from Europe would not increase either much above the 2 billion now visiting the theme parks in the United States, considering the muffled growth of European population and of its wealth. Time and cost space inter member look at not been significant decorous at the international level for sport travelling and it has not dissolved the psychic distance (language barrier for travelling to the United States, if not inside the Disney theme parks).geographic reasons for choosing a location in Europe and a Francilian site.The Disney Company has mentioned both major reasons, or more traditional location specific factors (Euro Disney SCA, 1992). It can draw on 350 one thousand thousand customers (almost one and half quant ify the size of the population of the United States) over an area half its size (Figure 1). Such a geographic move was to modify it to take advantage of the growth of short break holidays in Europe, in concert with the growth in numbers and sophistication of tourists bit finding its turning point in the increasingtourist market segmentation.Four groups of tourists have been identified in Europe 52% still travel attractive coastlines in warmer climes, 13% buy tourist packages, 25% cull rural tourism and the rest arrive atout urban tourism (Straw & Williams, 1990 241). It imbeded its strategy on the notion that new consumption practices can take place anywhere and are eminently transportable. The company wanted to check up on that it would remain the industry leader while it captured more of the worlds market share and augmented the size of the firm (Grover, 1991). Their target, for some welkins, is up to a 20% periodical increase (Lanquar, 199273).Long holidays lead over the summer months whereas shortest trips (their targeted travel niche) are taken year round. In 1985, more than %19 had taken a molybdenum holiday in the European Community, 27% in France. Unfortunately, that diversity of travelling could not entertain its early libertine growth it had increased 10% yearly in Great Britain between 1976 and 1985. France was excessively then the European leader in international conferences (Straw & Williams, 1990 242).The niche, combined with the staging of several mega-events in Europe in 1992, take up much of the disposable income for that year and beyond (Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France World seemly in Sevilla, Spain Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain). Disney Company as well as relied on the fact that its products-division reliable 50% of its worldwide revenues from Europe.Fifty-five zillion copies of The Journal paddy field are produce yearly in Europe, including now a Russian version, hardly only 13 billion in the Unit ed States. At least 250 European societies have signed licensing contracts with the Disney Company (Rencontres, 1992 89). Walt Disney Animation, one of the sizablest European studios for the production of cartoons had been implanted in France earlier (Saffarian, 1992). European consumption habits already included rice paddy Mouse paraphernalia.Disney Companys organisational apparatus leads, now across the world, to an increasing consumption synergy as its deal acts as both commodity and advertisement. In 1990, one third of its revenues were generated from foreign gross revenue (Grover, 1991 200). Name recognition is crucial even if often taken for granted in the consumer world (Flower, 1991 21, Grover,1991 187). Disney has become a overlap term in world culture.Disney Companys megadesigns (Dream, diversifyand never miss an angle, W.Disney, 1988 7), part of the dynamism and growth of transnationals, boosted competition for the park between European countries where it was considere d a potential economic growth pole by itself and because it co-operates with other fully grown multi-nationals.Cultural consumption contrisolelyes to capital accumulation by enhancing profits on entrepreneurial investment in production and distribution. European governments were anxious to anchor this new circuit of capital on their soil where it wold sire more circuits. In the first ten years of Disneylands existence in California, the Disney company took in $273M, the peripherals $555M (Sorkin, 1992 224). What distressed Walt Disney even more than the loss of surplus value was the disorderly and sullying form of this growth.In Orlando it has led to the reflection of 76,800 hotel retinue, 5000 of which are under direct Disney management, 12,000 under licensing agreement (Rencontres, 1992). All the others are the result of spillover set up which include the nidation of 23 attractor parks virtually Disney World (Figure 2)The two other main contending countries besides France w ere Spain, for its sunshine (access, however was very constricted) and Great Britain because of the successful enjoyment complex of Blackpool. The cornerstone of Disneyland Resort Paris unresolved new spaces for the helping parsimony where it should have a positive effect on capital accumulation in real estate development. Cultural goods and function gain economic significance through their role in interacting circuits of economic and cultural capital (Zukin, 1991 260). In the contemporary (European, cut) market scrimping investment in cultural capital would offset cyclical devaluation in other parts of the same circuit or in other circuits.European governments regard tourism as having an important economic role through its reach on foreign compensation, employment creation and constituental development, because the activity is labor-intensive and employment can be generated relatively chintzily by those governments. In the United Kingdomtourism supports 1.4 trillion jo bs (Urry, 1990). Urban tourism is cosmos used as a spur to regeneration in some(prenominal) de-industrialized(zing) areas in ache of the strong colony of tourist activities on part-time and seasonal worker as well as low-skilled, and this low-waged, labor (Straw and Williams, 1990, Urry, 1990). Man governments were desperate to stem unemployment.In the mid 1980s, 16 zillion workers were laid-off in the European Union. The unemployment rate hovered around 10% between 1983 and 1992 with highs of 12% in France and 21.2% in Spain. The rate for new-fashioned great deal was 18% across the Union but reached %30 in Spain and Italy( boot des Communautes Europeenes, 1992). umpteen of the recruits of Disneyland Resort Paris are young and unskilled (Lanquar, 1992117).Cultural and environmental problems can likewise be exaggerated by the introduction of mass tourism (e.g. Disney Worlds problem with sewage effluents in the Orlando area, Flower, 1991 252). Such economic development can hap only if it does not put undue pressure on open natural resources.European governments are convolute in tourism development because of its doubled impacts. touristry, in turn, has commercialized civilization in France, the transformation of the places of memory into places to visit has returned expectant benefits. The french government takes a bountiful perspective on tourism it is more socially and culturally informed and curt biased toward economic issues (OCDE, 1992, Rencontres, 1992157).Why did Disney Company choose a rainy site close to Paris?It is one of triad major population concentration poles in Western Europe, the other two being capital of the United Kingdom and the Rhine Valley, and it is the most accessible to these other two (see Figure 1). Spain or the London area would have given access to the European Union market but from a peripheral location. Accessibility underpins the get by of centrality. The Paris Basin is at the adjunction of northernern and grey Europe it is an necessary thoroughfare.Paris is alike one of the most attractive cities with 25 million foreignvisitors throughout the year. It is fewer than the 60 million visitors of London, but the majority of these are domestic (Straw & Williams, 1990). Those who will come to Disneyland Resort Paris, the company reasoned, will remain in the Eurodisney hotels 2 or 3 nights to visit Paris too. Studies conducted in 1985 determined there was great demand potential for theme parks in Europe (only one in ten people had even been to a theme park) that was biggishly un effect (Rencontres EPA, 1992). The wide-ranging Paris metropolitan area is wanting a theme park that could set up its tradition as a center for recreation (Ousset, 1986). He felt that Disneyland Paris would fulfill that role. there existed only two bighearted recreational complexes in Europe Blackpool Pleasure Beach in England (7 million visitors a year) and more than one hundred-year-old Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagan (3.8 millions) (Urry, 1990). Its site (in Marne-la-Vallee) illustrates the importance of geographical location (Figure 3) in its traditional materialist interpretation, which is even more critical at the microlevel. The company had definitely opted for the cut site in 1985, in spite of its unfavorable weather conditions, following studies conducted since the 1970s in several European countries on the feasibility of a number of sites (Grover, 1991 187-8).Disney Company was looking for a site that was substantially accessible to a large number of potential customers year round. When the company returned to move cut authorities in the early 1980s it had also realized that its projects needed a minimum critical mass to allow them to function as resorts. They were thus looking for a site that would guarantee the land area needed not only for its theme parks (a total of three are planned into 2017) but also for the hotels, restaurants, residences, touch that would be buil t because of the demands generated by the parks (Figure 4).At the same time, social practices are structured in time as well as in space as they structure that space. Spain has assigned the Walt Disney Company a better deal than France, but it was not able to put together a large enough parcel of land (Grover, 1991 188). The Paris area was the best fit out to handle such a large real estate project thank to the states clean Towns form _or_ system of government initiated 30 years ago large virgin plots of land were ready for quick urbanisation, minimizing the cost of groundwork grooming and of the environmental disruption caused by such device (Roullier, 1993).Four million cubic meters of land were moved, 68,000 cubic meters of rocks were molded and 85,000 trees planted, while work on sanitation and drainage was similar to that required by a town of fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants during the construction of the Disney park (Nouveau Courrie, 1992). This readiness includes not just the transport and other physical root word, but also the judicial and administrative mechanisms for merged project developments conducted by both the state and private companies. brisk town development strategy and the constraints of the convention hot Towns were created by the French Government in 1964 to guarantee a more harmonious economic development of the Ile de France by emphasizing the easterly side until then neglected (Bastie, 1991 88). major(ip) industries had located on the western and southern side of Paris, while their pollutants blew east. The French governments planned bunk center, La Defense, was built on the western fringes of Paris.These new towns were to offer a dynamic urban life inwardly an architecturally stimulant environment and to remedy the earlier unanimity of suburban high rising flat tire projects constructed to house the lower French classes, and fiddling else (Roullier, 1993) The government chose suburban locations for the new towns ( Figure 5) to corrupt the main characteristics of all suburbs their distance from town renters which turns suburban dwellers in Europe into second-class citizens (Merlin, 1989).More than a million people now live and work in these new towns, 225,300 in Marne-la-Vallee alone in 1993 (Figure 6, EpaMarne/EpaFrance, 1994). Their exact location as well as their layout was to respect the physical characteristics of the area and to take advantage of its environment amenities. Disney Company came on board when the third section (Bussy-St-Georges 7000 housing units, 600,000 square meters of topographic points and 90-hectare technological industrial park) was just started (Etablissments everydays, 1991).The parks size do it an ideal addition to the new town.Disneyland Resort Paris was not just an amusement, but a large urban development, supported by major forward motions in the transport network finance by the French government. (Boyer, 1994).In the French Governments view, for the Fren ch new towns to unfeignedly develop i.e. grow beyond the need for constant state subsidies and to successfully change into old towns attracting private investment was as important as constructing subsidized housing. The implantation of Disneyland Resort Paris crowned a development strategy conceived many years beforehand (Roullier, 1993). The long-term objective was to make this area on of the main economic pivots of Europe, as revealed by its name Val dEurope. This objective was based on the improvements in transport systems that would regain freedom of choice to town dwellers, turn in access to the labor force and offer distribution networks for businesses.Transportation has been a key to new town development from its inception. The existing transport network is capable of course towards Disneyland Resort Paris all those millions of anticipated visitors (Figure 3). All main communication routes in Europe or within France run across towards this area. counterbalance if t he Magic Kingdom were to cave in (close its doors), these transport improvements would remain as the basis for attracting other private investors to an area that has always been designated for urban growth. Continuous urbanization from the other three sectors had been planned for this area, for some indefinite time in the future. The park only accelerated the process.There are two main themes to the development of Marne-la-Vallee as a new town. atomic number 53 is an office complex ten kilometers from Paris, with direct link up to the capital. The other is the complex of Val dEurope centered around Disneyland, one of its featured attractions, with a large number of offices serving as headquarters for Disney in Europe (100,000m2) that should attract other offices functions to deplete another 200.000m2. (EPA, Marne/EPA France, 1994 Boyer, 1994).By attracting large numbers of tourists, Disneyland Resort Paris will act asan investment magnet on other circuits of capital, based on th e provision of hotels, tourist and vacant facilities and office buildings, that the French government will channel barely through its new town of Marne-la-Vallee and as per the 173-page accord signed by two on 24 knock against 1987 after 27 months of arduous negotiations. The have it away(p) document with its appendices totals more than cd pages (Convention, 1987). Results in real estate value remain way beneath predictions because Europe has been mired in an economic recession since the opening of the park.Although the French government seems to have given in to Disney Companys demands (Grover, 1991), for example by agreeing to an international rather than a French court to manufacture disagreements, the expatiate contract attributes obligations to both sides. The French government worn out(p) 2.7 billion FF to provide first rate transportation colligate, but it has meant added jobs for the area (4,500 for the rail line, 1,300 for the RER).Disney Company must, in turn, guarantee a minimum number of rides for the Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) on the extended regional metro (RER) A line, or allowance for the difference (Convention, 1987, Article 11). A detailed program of development of the land offered to Disney schedules each step. It was not given all 1,945 hectares to formulate with at will, contrary to some press accounts (Business Week, 1990 Smadja, 1988).Disney Company spent only 500M FF to experience the land necessary for the its first theme park (covering the costs of the infrastructure provided with the land) but it led to private investments of 10B FF (Lanquarm, 1992109). otherwise major projects, such as international soccer stadium and centers of high learning, are being erected in the area, encouraged in part by the presence of Disneyland in Paris (Boyer, 1994).Disney Company also apprehended dealing with one main negotiating team, the EPA (Etablissement Public dAmenagement), whose existence was permitted by th e new town judicial structure (Rencontres, 1992 99-122). This is a public development corporation that fulfills both commercial and fiscal functions. It is established by government decree and has powers of pre-emptive and compulsory purchase, as well as legal and financial autonomy. It can thus function as developer in the new town, while it alsorepresents the government.Communication remain remarkably static-free between this private company and French authorities, thanks to the single government voice and thanks to the detailed blueprint that indicates who does what, when, and how (Convention, 1987). The company also underlines the importance of continuity on the French side, adhered to through the years, since the first negotiations in 1985, by the French government in spite of political changes at the helm (Rencontres, 1992100).The French state did require that this development occur within guidelines set up in a Projet dInteret General (EPAMarne, 1987, Limery, 1996) that see ks to fix a coherent approach that will, for example, enable the villages in the area to maintain their present specific characteristics. The requirement was not made in a spirit of pretended heritage but to maintain architectural figure while enabling new construction to be fully integrated in the new towns landscape.This evolution will transform the vitality conditions of the residents of the old villages of the area who thought they could maintain a rural lifestyle only thirty minutes away from Paris and who are going to be invaded by millions of tourists. Agriculturists and ecologists have joined forces to fight for the deliverance of agricultural areas within the new town to counterbalance this ascent urbanization. (See Roullier, 1993 Bastie, 1991).The departement of Seine-et-Marne has seen an increase of 18,000 hotel rooms between 1985 and 1992. This includes the 5,200 rooms constructed by Disney Company (Rencontres, 1992 165). It wants to develop the potential attractio n of the southern part of the departement, i.e. the region farthest from the park that includes Fontainebleau, from Melua to Chateau- worldon and from Barbizon to Montereau. Its cultural and natural landscapes are rather exceptional since they include a number of famous castles (Fontainebleau and its museum.Vaux-le-Vicomte, Moret-sur-Loing) and fine-looking natural forests. It is also an area frequented by locals (9 million per year) and by many foreign visitors (Maison Departementale, 1994). Disneyland Resort Paris is a fantastic luck to increase the level of visits by outsiders to the area which has suffered until now from its location in the shadow of Paris (25 million foreigners visit the capital, less than amillion come to this area). The convention that Disney Company signed includes the obligation for it to advertise other tourist sites in the area besides its own, as per Article 10 of the 1987 Convention (see, for example, the Michelin Guide to the Magical Kingdom).Tourist operators who do not have exclusive contracts with Disneyland Paris are also solicited to include these other stops in their packages. The departement is also essay to increase partnership agreements with a shape of service providers. Europcar, the official car letting agency of Disneyland Resort Paris, will put inside each vehicle a tourist map of the whole departement, as well as discount coupons for castles and restaurants in the area (Convention, 1987, Conseil General, 1991).Negotiating the design of the Francilian landscapeThe French government must have know that behind the vitriolic cultural cut into about Disneyland Resort Paris stood a high level of capitalist investment in performance, in the machinery of reproduction, investment intentional to create a product. The French government did not bow to capitalism which, like technology does not require a close examination of its consequences. It asks for trust and obedience.because its gifts are truly bountiful (Postman , 1993 xiii). Contrary to best-selling(predicate) opinion which accused it of caving in to the rose-colored tactical manoeuvre of Disney and the lure of many jobs, the French government had already resisted approaches by the company in 1976.French negotiators needed certainty that this product could be exported. Tokyo Disneyland could not serve as a lesson in European negotiations and development, because the Disney Company was not a direct participant. It sold the developing rights to a Japanese company (Oriental Land Company) who financed, owns and runs the park. It did, however, serve the purpose of proving that the Magic Kingdom could be successfully transplanted onto foreign soil. Were finally able to convince the French negotiators that we really meant business. (Recontres, 1992113).Because of the cultural capital are formed in real spaces, they enkindle how space in an advanced service economy is really formed. Capital creates anddestroys its own landscapes (Harvey, 1 989). Space is structured by circuits of capital as they leave messages embedded in their environs. Since the nineteenth century, shifting from one landscape to another has depended less on individual mobility than on a considerable scale varied remaking of landscape itself. (Zukin, 1991 18). adorns sometimes grow by accumulation they do not seem as historically and culturally curtail as in the former(prenominal) as they are constantly reinvented by footloose capital.The French government could not have laboured Disney Company to choose a location in France. Some incentives to influence it major power have over come any benefit government intervention could command. evaluate concessions may eliminate any gains or lead to a transitory gains trap. The wages obtained from the supplementary jobs might be very low, leading to minimal tax and spillover gains, while increasing the need for operate.The landscape is broader, has deeper grow and relies on more interconnections than government alone can control, especially on the international scene, since government intervention is restricted to its territory. Strategies of cultural consumption may only complement, rather than contradict, strategies of capital accumulation.The competitive edge of the French government to capture the Disney investors was by means of product differentiation, offering a space they enhanced through design and designation. The linkage between cultural capital and real estate development enables new economic structures to be localized and to look at specific geographic locations Marne-la-Valle for Disneyland Resort Paris. Disneyland Resort Paris demanded specific efforts to insert this large international project into a suburban new town within which it is to evolve rapidly. These are efforts of co-ordination in planning strategies, in capturing spillovers and in image development (Rencontres, 1992).Disneyland Resort Paris could not, by itself have acted as a growth pole that wou ld economically resuscitate the east suburbs of Paris. The circuit of cultural capital it represented fizzled out within two years Disneyland Resort Paris was ready to close its doors in serve 1994 because it was bankrupt due to blunders before and at the time of the opening cultural, financial and economic matters. A capital asset that cannot earn income hasno value it becomes a liability. It did subject Disney Company to some sarcasm by the press (Solomon, 1994).The tension between globalization forces that led to its expansion in Europe and localization forces, the result of local differences in production and market techniques has forced Disney Company to change and admit its much prized know-how for example, it has had to accept the exchange of alcohol in the park. Losses were mounting too dangerously to ignore subtly different cultural practices. It was assumed that traditional status systems and parochial loyalties would wither away in the course of economic growth. glo balization has not done away with culture-specific modes of consumption. whiz of Disney Companys continued problems is the minimal amount spent by these millions of Europeans within the park an average, in 1992, of 310FF instead of the expected 333 (Commission du Tourisme, 1993), down to 224FF in 1995 (Revenu, 1996). These spectators (Disney Companys terms for the visitors of its parks) have elect other non-pecuniary forms of participation in Disneys spectacle.The resort was, however, integrated in a long-term project of the French government, sanctified to the balanced economic growth of the Parisian Basin. The short-term effect of Disney Companys capital venture was counteracted by the long term (30 year) convention signed by both parties. Disney Company could not withdraw, especially if the circuit was no longer profitable. This convergence, in Marne-la-Vallee, of capitalist action and social action created the synergy for Disneyland Resort Paris to be financially restructured i n March 1994 so that it could again generate profits.Mutual effects of economics (circuits of capital pushing Disney Company to find new investment opportunities), authorities (the French government looking for economic growth poles), and culture (the acceptance of a not-so-foreign popular cultural trait) are restructuring the Francilian landscape.Landscape includes the geographical meaning of physical surroundings and the ensemble of material and social practices it is the faultless panorama. It connotes a contentious, compromised product of society, but on which powerful institutions have a pre-eminent capacity to impose their view boththe French government and Disney Company in this case, not just the private company Disney (i.e. capital). In the United States, potential investments that are not targeted on short-term gain are often criticized as social investments, but all investment takes place in a social context.Although it is believed that the role of sovereign states is being eroded in favor of international organizations, agencies and/or associations, private or political, that of France used its strategic position to direct the development and prosperity of the Parisian Basin. The French government tried to empty that public value be held wrapped to private value. It wanted to avoid that improvement explicitly reject the social variety of habitation of explicitly seek shelter by exclusion.Capitalisms most lasting product is landscape (new geographies) which in many places it had rendered impermanent, forever exhibiting a new repertoire. Such shifting landscapes illustrate the geomorphologic charges of the global economy (Harvey, 1989 Zukin, 1991 Dicken, 1992). The spatial mediation of cultural consumption affects the redistribution of benefits among social classes and explains the direct interest of the French government in a Disney theme park, and its offer of the Marne-la-Vallee location. Space does make material form for the differentiatio n of a market economy but places can be selectively configured to promote community goals.The French governments intervention of land in Marne-la-Vallee from matter to property so that development (localized economic growth) would not lead to obsolescence and dereliction here or in other parts of the Paris basin. It demonstrates that capitalism is not a monolithic force operating alone at the universalizing level to carve up the world fit in to its sole designs.Spillover effects of partnership some(prenominal) parties emphasize positive results in spite of the vituperative press campaign which accompanied the arrival of Disneyland in the Francilian landscape (a cultural Chernobyl). Such a large attraction was recognized as both a chance and a scrap The chance we grabbed, and together with our American partners we have worked to make the park a success so the 12million visitors will bring wealth to this whole eastern region.The challenge we are facing is to become a strong pole of attraction culturally and economically (Rencontres, 1992 196) Daniel Robert (of Bison Fute fame) added Marne-la-Vallee is blessed with an extra-ordinary opportunity to sell its millions of square meters of office space, its ideal of an urban area, its strategic position (Rencontres, 1992 55). The presence of such a large investment has emboldened Marne-la-Vallee to combat the skepticism that smaller potential private investors show when solicited by New Towns.Visitors sprouted into Eurodisney 6.8 millions by October 1992, 19.5 millions by February 1994 (Eurodisney SCA, 1992, 1994). Its basal allurement is its Americanness. It has been the best reliable park ever in Europe and it is the number one stipendiary entryway attraction there Beaubourg Centre authoritative only 8.2 million visitors in 1993, 3.8 million of which were free entries to the library La Villette apothegm 5.8 million entries, the Effiel Tower 5.4 the Louvre welcomes 5 million visitors per year (Eurodisney Re sort, 1993 5).These numbers are insufficient, however, for the park to break even, since it unavoidably 11 million per year to do so and reached just that number only its first year of operation. Number of visitors followed a downtrend until 1994 6,708,551 averaged 1.45 visits in 1993. In 1994, only 5,574,059 (-16.9%) pushed the turnstiles 1.61 times. Visits by residents of the Parisian Basin had dropped by 31.3&. In 1995, however, the park registered a 21.5% increase in attention.The percentage of foreign visitors had dropped by 15% between 1992 and 1993 down to 56% of the visits but it was back up to 61% in 1994. The majority of the customers (93.3% of the 5,777 hotel rooms and bungalows more than are available in the city of Cannes) are tourists, versus less than a two-thirds average for the Ile de France, but here too the number of foreigners has dropped (72% in 1994, 75% in 1993, vs. 82% in 1992).The occupancy rate of hotels has remained way below Orlandos rate of 79% even i f it did not increase from 55% in 1992 and 1993 to 61% in 1994 and 68.5% in 1995. any hotel night sold by Disneyland Resort Paris engenders the sale of at least one other hotel night in the area. In 1994, Eurodisney hotels stared welcoming guests who were not inescapably attracted by the theme park(EPAMarne, 1994, EPA-France, 1995).Marne-la-Vallee is a creation in progress and it needs to become credible in the eye of private investors. Although a negative image of Disneyland Resort Paris was diffused by the press during the construction phase, based on its American cultural attributes, its business of selling false world for pleasure and its bullish negotiating tactics with the French government and later with private companies and labor, the more positive one of leisure and festivities and of successful business know-how has since been emphasized. Disneyland Resort Paris is more than the Magic Kingdom because of the hotels, leisure resources, offices and residences it plans to construct (Figure 4).It has developed an image as a solid capitalist enterprise, the kind Marne-la-Vallee wants to attract. Know-how can be applied to both Disneyland Resort Paris and Marne-la-Vallee, so that paddy fields notoriety in Europe can increase that of Marne-la-Vallee, its present location. There does exist the danger that it becomes Disney Vallee.The social construction of the regional identity of Marne-la-Vallee will be dominated by Disneys cultural capital and the various other capital circuits it will engender. Two strategies have been suggested to counteract such a danger. At the national level, the state should put in place structures that get the identity of Marne-la-Vallee start from the companys trademark. At the local level, endogenous and original solution need to be found to allow each and every inhabitant to identify culturally with the specific part of the Brie plateau s/he lives in.Disneyland Resort Paris has fulfilled its role as an economic growth pole both straight and indirectly, distributing spillover effects in the eastern suburbs of the Paris Basin while bringing economic benefits to the country. Within the perimeter of Disneyland Resort Paris, the ratio between public and private investment is 1 to 8, similar to the one found in most new towns. The French government invested 2.7B FF in public infrastructure while private companies and individuals disbursed 23B FF (Eurodisney Resort, 1993 2).Construction employed 5,100 local workers and 180 companies for a cost of 13B FF 47% of which went to Ile de France companies, 76% in the caseof residential developments. The company also had to construct 1,800 housing units occupied by 3,500 of its employees. In 1992, Disneyland Resort Paris give 81M FF in local taxes and 250M FF in sales taxes. On opening day it employed 11,500 people, two thirds of whom were French (70% by 1995), one one-fifth of other European origin. There are now 9,700 employee representing a saving of 7% in ope rating costs.The downsizing came as part of the financial restructuring of March 1994. They were paid 2B FF in salaries and benefits, a substantial addition to the revenue stream of the new town. They generated with Disneyland, another 25,000 jobs in the area. The fifty tons of washables produced daily by the resort, for example, led to the construction of two plants in the area. A little over 40% of these employees live in the Seine-et-Marne departement and thus consume within the area.There are another 5,000 seasonal jobs, 10% of which are filled by local residents. The economic activities of Disneyland Resort Paris in 1993 generated 9.2% less revenue than in 1992, although visitor spending outside of Disneyland Resort Paris increased by 3.8%. Another lower of 6/9% was registered in 1994.In the fiscal year 1991-2, the company spent 2.7B FF, but only 2.2 in 1993, a decrease of 20% in goods and services (insurance, laundry, electricity). Purchases registered a gain of 14% in 1994, and investments for improvements and maintenance, of 22%. Much of the income from these purchases remains in the area. 93% of food products are bought in France, 65% in Ile de France. Statistics were culled from Eurodisney Resort, 1993, EPAMarne, 1994, EPAFrance, 1995, Eurodisney SCA 1992, 1993, 1994.The French government received 4BFF in foreign currency (3.4% of foreign currency earnings through tourism in France in 1993), 812MFF in taxes and 9 to 15,000 jobs, depending on the season. Although totals hover from year to year, they remain a plus for the economy. Disneyland Resort Paris led to a more than 3% increase in the total number of foreign tourists in France, 60.1M in 1993, 61.3M in 1994. The combined activities and purchases of all 61.3 million tourists provide 5.1% of the French gross national product and 7.1% of its foreign currency earnings. The park is placed seventh as a major touristoperator in France, with 4.9BFF in revenues, behind Air France, SNCF, Accor, communi ty Med, Aeroports de Paris and Nouvelles Frontieres (EPAMarne, 1994, EPAFrance, 1995).Other theme parks come way behind Futuroscope bring in only 300MFF, Asterix 194MFF. The financial restructuring of its annual debt, which amounted to $370M in Marhc 1994, allowed the park to announce a profit of $35 million in the second quarter of 1995 and increased attendance helped consolidate profits for the remaining of the fiscal year. at least prior(prenominal) to debt payments (New York clock, 1995 D7).There was wide-spread optimism that Disneys presence in Europe would enhance the attraction sectors image, help improve standards of entry and raise consumer expectations and especially willingness to pay. It has increased investment in smaller-scale attractions in France Asterix park (25 miles north of Paris) which had required an investment of $208 million receives 1.5 million visitors per year.The comic books it represents three-dimensionally have been translated in 40 languages. It co nquered 7% of the potential market in the Paris Basin in three years. Disneyland Resort Paris aims for 17%. beneath the influence of Disneyland Resort Paris it has begun a five-year refurbishment program. It has also been forced to define its product more clear (Saffarian, 1992).Futuroscope, an intelligently entertaining park, has revitalized the region that surrounds it. It opened in June 1987 and boasted profits of 15M FF from revenues of 300M FF paid by 2 million visitors in 1994. Its theme is moving images. When innovators must compete in integrated product markets, they have reason to pursue distinctive ideas, and thereby contribute to the global accumulation of knowledge.Dynamic Cinema, one of the most sought-after attractions at Futuroscope, thrills, awes and panics spectators through the use of a 60/second lean of images and hydraulically controlled seats with computerized links to the pictures (Tresch, 1994). It has also had repercussions in other European countries. i nterface Aventura opened in may 1995 near Barcelona. Four hundred million dollars were invested, 20% of which by Annheuaer Busch, over 20 hectares, i.e. 50 acres (Tagliabue, 1995).ConclusionBoth sides have benefited from this partnership between a private multinational corporation and public authorities. Disneyland Paris has maintained the momentum of development in Marne-la-Vallee that the French government wanted to stimulate. The success of the office centers of Marne-la-Vallee, of the Cite Descartes (and area of higher learning) and the presence of Disneyland Resort Paris demonstrate that betting on Marne-la-Vallee to assure the economic development of the eastern part of Paris Basin was the way to go, even if success was long in coming (Merlin, 1989 77). New large projects are being constructed and jobs and their multiplier effect, taxes, new transport lines are increasing. In 1995 attendance numbers were on the bait and hotel revenue and occupancy rates augmented.Even Orland o had rocky beginnings before returning its investment many times over and the two American parks suffered from lulls (Grover, 1991, Flower, 1991). Both the company and the French government had remained optimistic since talks for the next stage of development are right on schedule. Disneyland Resort Paris obtained a site it can grow in, with the necessary communication links to one of the most densely (in numbers and in purchasing power) settled areas in the world while it provides the French government with a major economic growth pole.The contract binding the two parties distributes obligations to limit the ability of private companies to speculate on investments made by public bodies financed by the general public, while it guarantees the timely boundary of these investments. Optimism was justified when Disneyland Resort Paris opened as scheduled on 12 April 1992. It is still justified today as attendance numbers and spillover effects are on the increase. (Revenu, 1996 9). Prov ing that public/private partnerships can enhance social benefits and capital accumulation.Endnotes1 Francilian refers to Ile de France, also called the Paris Basin2 A National Public radio set report in June 1996 indicated that Las Vegas had become the number one tourist destination among travelers who schedule through travel agents. In a private communication, J. Brett of the Nevada Commission on Tourism mentioned that 30 million visitors were welcomed in the early(prenominal) twelve months in Las Vegas. Although slightly more than the 30 million who visit Disney World, the numbers quoted are of turnstile pushes rather than of head counts. I was not told how the total number of visitors to Las Vegas was arrived at.3 All forms of knowledge (all products based on knowledge) have peculiar properties as economic commodities. Know-how is a non-rival good using it does not preclude others from doing it, of, other theme parks. It also non-excludable the very use of information in any p roductive way is bound to reveal it in part (Grossman & Helpman, 1991 15). Preventing unofficial use of it depends on property laws and their enforcement. One can understand Disney Companys sensitivity to any copyright infringements.4 The first theme park in the Western world was built at the end of 1200s by Robert II of Artois at Vieil Hesdin. It included a revolving castle, a grotto within which rain or snow could be willed, animated marionettes, collapsing bridges, as well as exotic plants and animals that symbolized paradise. Charles V destroyed the park 300 years later.ReferencesBastie, Jenn (1991), La Seine-et-Marne dans le schema directeur de IIle de France, Cahier du CREPIF, 36Boyer, Jean-Marie (1994). Marne-La-Vallee, Paris, Ile de France, EPAMarne.Business Week (1990). 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