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It Shouldn’t Work, but Does
How Arnaud Bennet carries on his father-in-law’s legacy at France’s Le Pal amusement and wildlife park
by Juliana Gilling
The Le Pal amusement park and zoo really shouldn’t work, and yet it does with Gallic style. Le Pal’s success seems to fly in the face of conventional theme park thinking, from its name—historically associated with cattle markets and castles rather than coasters—to its remote location. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more unlikely spot for an amusement park than the sparsely populated volcanic Auvergne region in the center of France, tucked away from the tourist routes.
None of these reasons, nor a lack of attraction experience, were enough to deter Le Pal’s late founder and entrepreneur, André Charbonnier, from pursuing his dream in 1973. He wanted to capitalize on his love of wildlife by turning the family farm into a new kind of business, creating a place where visitors could see animals in naturalistic settings. Influenced by his trips to the United States, Charbonnier later added entertainment elements to reinforce the park’s appeal. Over the past two decades, his son-in-law, Arnaud Bennet, a former executive marketing director at Dannon and long-time president of the French parks association, SNELAC, has led the team that is building on Charbonnier’s legacy.
Animals Galore
Today, Le Pal covers 35 landscaped hectares (86.5 acres) and brings together more than 500 animals, 25 family rides, and three animal shows (sea lions, parrots, and birds of prey). It’s the dual nature of Le Pal—both wildlife park and amusement park—that differentiates it from the competition, according to Bennet: “The double proposition has been a fantastic idea since the beginning. It means we have a strong and distinct personality, which is a big advantage.”
The privately funded attraction is the number-one tourist destination in the Auvergne region. The business welcomed 514,000 visitors during its 2009 season (April to September)— far more than the 300,000-strong population of the Allier department [district] in which Le Pal is situated. The park’s turnover reached €12 million (US$15 million), excluding tax, and its team includes 58 permanent staff and 200 seasonal employees.
A Community Gem
Since Charbonnier’s death in 1981, Bennet and the Le Pal team have embarked on a prolific program of development, guided by their innate understanding of the regional market. “As we are in the middle of nowhere, the people feel like Le Pal is their own park and they are proud of it,” says Bennet.
When his team in 2009 unveiled the remake of Le Pal’s original “King Kong” attraction, parents familiar with the first version rewarded the park by bringing their children to see the revamped attraction. Their loyalty helped the park to record its biggest attendance year.
With only 900,000 people living within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of the park, “The challenge is to increase attendance every year,” Bennet says. “The first key is the satisfaction of visitors, and we score very highly. Also, we have one of the highest rates of investment in relation to turnover among French parks, and that’s very important because we need people to come back regularly.” Every year, Le Pal automatically reinvests 25 percent of its turnover, and research shows 80 percent of visitors return to the park.
Next year will see the arrival of a new Mack Spinning Coaster in the park’s African village area. As part of the preparations, Le Pal’s team opened a new restaurant there this season. Other 2010 projects included a tropical bird aviary, an area for the South American tapir, and an aquatic show, as well as the refurbishment of existing attractions.
Animal Care
Bennet believes Le Pal’s philosophy is best illustrated by its protected elephant project: “We could have just created a nice big place for our two female Asian elephants, and we visited a lot of installations in Europe to see what they were doing. But we wanted to go even further. We wanted to try new things, like a big indoor space with sand floors, and we wanted to set up the best conditions for an ambitious reproduction program.” The team’s efforts paid off when conservation coordinators assigned two adult elephants from Zoo Vincennes in Paris to Le Pal, resulting in the birth of a new baby elephant in 2008.
“We are the only park in France, and one of the only zoos in Europe, to have the birth of an elephant. It gave us the recognition of the entire European zoo community,” says Bennet. “We may not be the biggest zoo but, when we do something new, we will spend a lot of money to have a good installation. Our priority is the animals’ well being.”
Good for the Environment
Le Pal proves its green credentials in other ways, too. In 2007, all of the park’s activities underwent an environmental audit: “We have now taken numerous measures to reduce the impact of the park on the environment,” says Bennet. Improvements include wood-burning furnaces, environmentally friendly buildings, waste sorting, composting, recycling, and biomass production using animal effluent. The park hopes to gain Green Globe certification this year.
Le Pal has a responsibility to raise public awareness of environmental and conservation issues, Bennet believes. Besides visitor education initiatives like “Keeper for the Day,” the park participates in many EEP (European Endangered Species Programmes) and supports conservation and biodiversity efforts through the Le Pal Nature Foundation.
Future Plans
 Bennet and his team want to grow Le Pal’s influence further by adding a hotel to the park within the next four years. “We sell a two-day pass and we’re trying to get people to stay longer, but it’s difficult when you have a big weekend like Easter and all the hotels are full. We could have more people if there were more hotels,” Bennet says. He hopes to build a themed hotel similar to a safari lodge, with decor and experiences designed to inspire guests to think more about the value of animals and biodiversity.
“Because we’re not on the tourist circuit, the hotel will have to work for the few months that the park is open—it’s difficult to make a big investment in a big hotel. Outside the season, there’s no reason for people to come here,” he says.
Overall, French parks are performing well, Bennet believes: “It’s a major market, especially with Parc Astérix and Disney, and the business is still increasing every year.” Le Pal’s regional presence proved to be a strength during the global economic difficulties. “We didn’t feel the financial crisis,” he says. “Last year was a depressing year for the economy, but it was our best year for the park. People are staying closer to home, and our activities are a good fit for what they want to do with their leisure time.”
Bennet is ensuring prices remain affordable for the rural population. “We prefer to get more visitors with a price that is low—we charge around €2-4 (US$2.5-5) under the price that we could have, or that other parks with around 500,000 visitors charge. It’s very popular with our clientele, and it makes for easy access to Le Pal.”
Above all, what makes Le Pal successful is simple, says Bennet: “For me, it’s the human dimension of the company. People are at the heart of everything we do; there’s a lot of respect and everybody’s contribution is important. It’s one of the things we all feel; we like what we do and we come to work smiling.
“Actually, I think the visitors feel that, too.”
For more on Le Pal, visit www.lepal.com.
Juliana Gilling is a special attractions journalist. E-mail: julianagilling@gmail.com.
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