Compagnie des Alpes, one of Europe’s leading leisure park operators, has released its 2019/2020 annual financial results. The results confirm the operator’s financial year has been substantially impacted by the health crisis.

The Group’s consolidated sales reached 615.6m euros for the financial year of 2019/2020, a decrease of 27.9% compared with 2018/2019.

Compagnie des Alpes’ leisure park sales were more heavily affected by the pandemic than its ski resorts. The opening of the leisure parks was postponed by nearly three months during the peak season. The direct consequence of the Covid-19 crisis led to a 44.5% decline in the total number of guests at the parks. The fall is reflective of the periods the leisure resorts remained closed and attracted fewer guests during the summer when the parks reopened. The fourth quarter of 2019/2020 saw a 37.3% decrease in visitor numbers.

The year had, however, got off to a good start for the operator’s leisure parks, with sales up by more than 12% on a comparable scope basis by the time parks were forced to close in mid-March.

Average spend per guest also rose by 5.3%, due, in part, to efforts by parks to enhance and optimise onsite offerings.

Dominique Marcel, chairman and CEO of Compagnie des Alpes, commented on the annual results: “While this year got off to a very good start, our performances were heavily penalised by the closure of our sites last spring and by the challenging circumstances under which activity was resumed this summer.

“With a great deal of agility, we managed to offset a maximum of lost sales through cost-cutting measures, as well as by adjusting our investments and securing our sources of financing,” Marcel added.