The most positive business

The 25th Anniversary International Exhibition of Amusements and Entertainment Equipment “RAPPA EXPO – 2023” was held at VDNKh – the largest thematic exhibition of achievements in the entertainment industry in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe.

The international exhibition RAAPA EXPO, which is traditionally held by the Russian Association of Amusement Parks and Manufacturers (RAPPA), specializes in entertainment equipment and services for the entertainment industry, presents the latest achievements in the entertainment industry, interesting concepts for the development of a wide variety of leisure complexes and parks.

In times of coronavirus restrictions, the entertainment business has become almost the most “forbidden” type of activity, many experts predicted the collapse of the industry, cardinal changes in the formats of entertainment centers and guest behavior patterns. However, in the end, today, experts note a completely different picture – guests are willingly returning to the entertainment center, new gaming complexes are opening, and the future of the industry no longer seems as gloomy as expected.

Every year, the RAAPA EXPO exhibition is visited by owners and managers of parks, entertainment centers, water parks, cinemas, rest houses, health resorts, representatives of city administrations and authorities, travel companies, entrepreneurs and other interested parties in the entertainment industry. Participation in RAAPA EXPO-2023 will allow you to quickly and conveniently find new partners and clients, keep abreast of industry trends, and solve a wide range of business problems.

Traditionally, the exhibition is accompanied by Business Forum for Entertainment Industry Professionals. Its program includes conferences, master classes and trainings with the participation of leading experts and discussion of the most pressing issues of the entertainment business. A business model is sustainable if it works for different consumer groups. Accordingly, the wider the audience, the more diverse the product offered, the more stable the entertainment business is on the market. It must be remembered that a playground with slides and swings is interesting for an audience from 5 to 10 years old, it is not safe for younger children, and older children are not interested. Accordingly, the task of the recreation point managers is to expand age preferences more widely by introducing more technological types of entertainment – laser tag, bowling, slot machines, etc. Thus, the audience of visitors can significantly increase.

Experts said that in our time slot machines have not outlived their usefulness, only they need to be correctly worked with. Since gaming equipment is quite expensive, it is necessary and important to put it on the “consumer flow”, for example, at the entrance to an activity park, cinema or food court. As part of the family entertainment center, gaming machines are still highly profitable today. If earlier 70% of the area of ​​the center was occupied by gaming machines, and 30% – by all other entertainments, now the active zone should prevail, and 20-30% – devices. So putting bright boxes is only a small percentage of success!

Businessmen, of course, are interested in profit, and here it is necessary to carefully study the competitive environment, consumer behavior, purchasing power, etc. You cannot compare the huge entertainment centers of Moscow or St. Petersburg with those that will operate in a city with a population of 100 thousand people – these will be completely different prices and approaches to sales.
Also, within the framework of the spring exhibition, the conference “Entertainment Industry in the New Socio-Economic Reality: Challenges and Opportunities” and special classes of the RAAPA Training Center under the program “Safety and Efficiency of Attractions Operation” were held.

The exhibition showed that the future belongs to multi-format entertainment complexes with a wide range of services for different audiences. There is a forecast that retail real estate will be released, the rental price will decrease, and this will be a good incentive for the development of the entertainment business.

Mikhail Kovalyov.

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