Tivoli CEO Lars Liebst explains:
“The summer season ended with 162,000 more visitors attending than in 2010, thus Tivoli had a total of 2,773,000 visitors during the Summer Season 2011. The season began well with nice weather for the Easter holidays as well as the early summer, and attendance was better than expected. Guests enjoyed the new picnic lawn areas and the many new restaurants. This confirms our view that Tivoli continues to appeal to a large segment of the population with its wide variety of offers.”
“However, the heavy rain on 2 July set us back. Not only was there massive water damage throughout Tivoli. It was also the beginning of the wettest summer ever in Copenhagen. The initial lead dwindled as the rain continued, so we can actually rejoice that we still end up with an attendance 6% higher than in 2010, which was also very wet.”
“The Summer Season makes up two thirds of Tivoli’s opening days. Ahead lie both Halloween in Tivoli and especially Christmas in Tivoli with the Russian city as the big new attraction.
We choose to retain expectations for the full-year result, which is a year’s result of around 20 million DKK,” says Liebst.
On 11 November, Christmas in Tivoli opens with a new Russian theme. Among the attractions of the Russian city is a Tivoli version of St. Basil’s Cathedral known from the Red Square in the Kremlin, featuring a 21 m tower with onion domes and a carillon.
With an investment of almost DKK 10 million in the Russian city, Tivoli cements its vision of ongoing innovation. Inside St. Basil’s Cathedral, visitors can board a miniature version of the Trans-Siberian railway which will take them through Russian landscapes featuring pixies, angelic choirs and extravagant Fabergé eggs.
The Russian city has been two years in the making with Tivoli’s architects, set designers and gardeners drawing, travelling, developing new ideas and thinking out of the box. This means that the traditional Christmas tree at the fountain in front of the Concert Hall will be moved to the Russian city where it will rise as an iconic tower enveloped in thousands of lights. New stalls with towers and onion domes decorated with an abundance of ice crystals and spruce branches will be erected, creating a very special atmosphere in the Gardens. As usual, the Gardens will also be decorated with lots of lights, thousands of Christmas baubles and spruce trees.
In 2011, the traditional Santa Claus will be replaced by his Russian counterpart, Father Frost, who will enter the sleigh on the Open Air Stage in bluish, frosty colours. Traditionally he handles the heavy job of distributing gifts with the help of his grandchild, the Snow Maiden and she will join him in Tivoli also.