Madrid, Wednesday, 12 November 2025.
This past Tuesday Parques Reunidos confirmed a strategic reshaping: selling its US unit, Palace Entertainment, to Herschend Family Entertainment while doubling down on Paramount licensing across its European parks. The pivot reallocates capital and focus from a broad North American footprint to higher-margin, IP-led developments in core markets, accelerating themed-land roll-outs and commercialising studio franchises to boost per-capita spend and day-part diversity. The most intriguing fact: the company is pairing the divestment with an explicit accessibility credential, joining the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Network, signalling accessibility as both compliance and revenue strategy. Immediate implications for operators and investors include redirected CAPEX, potential renegotiation of shared services and procurement, intensified competition for studio partnerships illustrated by Merlin’s PAW Patrol land, and integration challenges for Herschend absorbing a regional portfolio. For retail and park operators, the move underscores licensing-led productisation, selective geographic consolidation, and an operational trade-off between scale and brand-focused yield enhancement.