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THE DREAMWORLD theme park continues to drag on parent company Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD) with visitor numbers down by 35.8 per cent in May compared to the same month last year.
Ardent released a trading update on its theme parks division which highlighted the difficulty it is facing following the tragic deaths of four visitors at Dreamworld in October 2016.
Ardent also reported its theme parks' revenue is down 35.4 per cent to $3.9 million and says it will focus on the busy June-July school holiday period to give them a much-needed boost in visitation and revenue at the Dreamworld theme park.
"Dreamworld remains focused on revenue driving initiatives in the lead up to the June-July school holiday period, including the launch of its June 2018 season pass and the return of after-hours events," says the company.
Ardent has not changed its expectations for the end of the 2016-17 financial year, expecting the theme park division to report a loss of between $2 million to $4 million.
In late May, the company announced it was considering the future of Dreamworld because of the prime real estate where it is located.
Ardent has appointed a town planner to assess how parts of the Dreamworld precinct might be rezoned.
In April, it was rumoured that Ardent Leisure might sell the theme park to Chinese tourism company Songcheng Group and it reshuffled its core leadership with the demotion of CEO Deborah Thomas.
Thomas will be succeeded by Simon Kelly as CEO and MD, commencing 1 July 2017.
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