Jakob Wahl Podcast Transcript
Jakob Wahl joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive podcast.
Welcome to the Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Jakob Wahl. Jakob Wahl is the Chief Executive Officer of IAAPA, bringing over a decade of leadership experience in the amusement park and attractions industry. He began his career with IAAPA in 2009 as program manager for IAAPA Europe. In 2013, Jakob expanded his expertise at Europa Park in Roost, Germany, where he served as the director of communications and manager of special projects.
He returned to IAAPA in 2017 to lead the Europe, middle East, Africa, EMEA, regions as vice president and Executive director of IAAPA, EMEA. In November, 2021, Jakob was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer relocating to Orlando with his family in his current role as CEO. Since January of 2023, he continues to drive IAAPA mission and growth on a global scale.
Jakob holds dual degrees in business economics, specializing in German and France from IAP Oxon Province.
Well, good afternoon, Jakob. Welcome to the show.
Jakob Wahl: Thank you for having me.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely, my friend. I appreciate you hailing out of Orlando, Florida this morning. We’re only an hour apart in time zones, but I appreciate you scheduling your day around this. I have a podcast, one of my favorite things in the world to do every day, Jakob.
Let’s jump into your first question here. You’ve grown with IAAPA from program manager to CEO. What have been the most pivotal moments in your journey within the attractions industry?
Jakob Wahl: It’s actually been an incredible journey growing with IAAPA and I’m, I’m very honored to now serve as president and CEO. For me, the best moments are when we can bring people together for the best of the industry.
I’ll give you an example. Last year we introduced the Hartman family into the IAAPA Hall of Fame. The Hartman family started Morgans Wonderland in Texas, which is an ultra accessible theme park, which was built to allow their daughter to experience the same attractions like everybody else can. And they came to the leadership breakfast and it was a. Unbelievable story about building this park for people with special needs and giving them all those experience, which everybody else can experience. And the room was dead silent. Everybody was listening. You know, we had 700 people in the room, no one left early. And after that session, I was standing out there, there was a big group of a, of a huge member of us, which operates many parks around the world.
And I saw them chatting and I talked to them and they said. We thought we always did a lot for accessibility, but we see that we can do so much more and we were, and just to create a platform where people can inspire each other, where people can learn from each other to make this industry a better place.
That is, for me, the most magical moments of this association of this world. And we are continuing to do that. We just came back from IAAPA Honors a new event in Germany where we highlight the best of the best in the industry and how others can learn from that. We are launching a, a very first IAAPA Expo Middle East in, in the Middle East in 2026, to refocus again on education, on innovation, and bringing people together.
Brian Thomas: Thank you so much and I appreciate that heartfelt story. Obviously those things bring out the best of us when there’s an authentic story like that. There’s always somebody listening in the wings that is gonna bring a special, carry that ball a little bit further with your mission, so I appreciate that.
But Jakob, since becoming CEO in 2023, what strategic initiatives have you prioritized to expand IAAPA’s global footprint and member value?
Jakob Wahl: Well together with IAAPA, global Board of Directors, and we are member Driven Association. So we, we do everything with our member representatives. We have developed the idea of rolling strategic priorities for the association.
So that means we define our priorities for the next five years, but we always look at them twice a year to make sure that we are still on track and that maybe, you know, we are not missing any pivotal moments in this industry. So we define actually seven priorities. The first one is. Safety. And since then, we have hired an industry expert who’s our safety director to make sure that we actually provide all those resources to our members.
Second one is sustainability. Very important. We talk about sustainability in the context of economic, social, and ecologic. It is all aspects of sustainability. Also here, we hired an industry champion who came from a member in Sweden who is helping us, connecting members with each other to learn from each other, but also to make sure that IAAPA is becoming more sustainable in their approach on how to do business.
Then workforce. Workforce is a big issue for our members. You know, it is not always popular for, um, for young people to work in an industry where you work weekends, where you work holidays, but we have the Apple Foundation to really try to make sure that people understand how great it is to work in this industry, and what a great career you can do.
Then we want to be an indispensable resource for our members. We have really pushed research much more and we’ll come to that and we wanna t all parts of the attractions industry. It’s not only Disney and Universal and Six Flags, it’s also the science center. It’s the FEC, the inflatable park, the go-kart track, the ski resort.
Cruise ship. All those are having a role within our experience and attractions industry. And then we wanna bring together members around the world. You know, we are global association. We have offices around the world I just mentioned we are launching a new expo in the Middle East. We are doing events all around the world to really make sure that people get the opportunity to talk to each other.
Then we obviously talked about IAAPAc, the Middle East IAAPA honors, and, uh, we are expanding research. So something which we are super excited about is that we just launched a project with our board of directors where we will hire an external consultant to do a project again with members. How does the attractions industry look like in 10 years?
You know, what will change? How are demographics changing? How is everything evolving? So we will do this as a project with the members, with a research company. And then obviously publish that. And that should again, give our members the idea of, hey, you know, there’s some expert by our side with this association who can help us driving our business.
Brian Thomas: Thank you so much. I appreciate that you’re doing quite a bit. What I really took away from your conversation here is twice a year you’re actually looking at your strategy to evaluate it, make sure that you’re on track and you’re hitting your goals. I think that’s important that you take the time out to do that, but you highlighted some great priorities.
Obviously, safety, economic sustainability. You invest in your workforce, you’re resourceful, you innovate, you’re expanding global reach, having global offices around the world, and of course you’re continually. Doing research to improve everything that you do around your organization, so I appreciate that.
Jakob, how is IAAPA helping attractions worldwide adapt to evolving visitor expectations, especially in terms of sustainability, technology and guest experience?
Jakob Wahl: That’s actually at the core of our business. You know, if we wouldn’t help our members, if we wouldn’t be relevant for members, there wouldn’t be a need for this association.
So everything we do is actually trying to assist our members in those changing needs and developments of what we see around the world. I. That happens to different areas. You know, we are having a focus education on sustainability practices. We’re integrating more sessions on digital transformation and spotlighting guest experience innovations at all our events.
It’s really that we have an overview of what is trending around the world and who is particularly good in something, and then we connect people with each other. I give you once again, the example. Last week we had an event at Yuba Park in Germany. I honors. One big aspect of that was human resources. They have done a super good welcoming center for new employees and a health vendor where people can check in with their guests.
And where employees can check in with doctors to make sure that they’re healthy and that they’re fine. And that is something where they received an award for that. And at the same time, we already received requests from Australia from other members saying, Hey, this sounds very interesting. What can we learn from that?
So it’s once again, through our events, through sessions, through webinars, through our communication, making sure that people are aware of what is trending around the world and what they can take away from that. To really improve their businesses. I meant the team here at IAAPA, they all do a a fantastic job and it’s great that I’m very happy that we work for an industry which is willing to help each other.
I can bring all operators on the table and they will all share what works and what doesn’t work because this is a great community and a community which is willing to help and serve each other.
Brian Thomas: That’s awesome. I like to hear that. The comradery. I can tell that the culture there is very much team focused, which I really appreciate.
Everybody excels in a culture like that. I like how you focus on continual improvement, right? You look what’s trending out there, you connect those experts that can bring value towards some of these digital transformation projects. So really appreciate it. And again, highlighting that culture is amazing.
Jakob the last question of the day. What trends are currently reshaping the amusement and attractions industry? And how is IAAPA supporting its members in navigating them?
Jakob Wahl: Once again, we tell the stories, we keep our members informed. We do events in making sure that people know what’s going on and I’ll, I’ll talk about that in a second.
I think I would put like four big trends, what we have in the industry. The first one is accommodation. Every park which has accommodation, which has hotels, is thinking about expanding them. We see not only Disney and Universal with all their hotels and further building hotels, but we also see parks like Silver Dollar City adding their first new hotel.
We also see on a global trend, more zoos offering unique accommodations. We see. Little attractions adding tree houses. It’s really kind of continuing that experience from a day trip overnight to immerse in a special environment, which only our members can do, and which deliver iconic experiences, which is so relevant for our members.
The second thing is intellectual property. Once again, we all know brands. We know the big Disney brands, we know universal brands, we know Sixx brands, but we also see other parks popping up. You know, we see Pepper Pig land. We see also museums using different brands in Abu Dhabi right now, they opened the Luva Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Museum, which are ultimately intellectual property.
You see Ferrari parks popping up all around the world, and those are famous brands where you see a merge of the entertainment world. With the attractions industry to really blend the best of those two worlds with each other. One big aspect is food and beverage and retail. We see more and more parks offering unique food and beverage experiences.
When you go here to the brand new universal ethnic universe, you see many unique food items, which are very special, which you won’t get anywhere else. We all care about Instagram ability of items, and you will see a lot of that, and also in terms of retail to further develop. Super cool merchandise and shopping areas.
And then last thing, but probably one of the most important is technology. Technology, front facing, but also back of house. So front facing, you see new attractions being built with very special tools. You see augmented reality at Mario Car here at Epic Universe. You see also Disney, which uses a lot of digital tools in the park.
You have new wristbands which allow you access to parks so you don’t need tickets anymore. It’s very interesting that that works on the front face where people can use their mobile phones to have access to very special experiences where digital enhances actually the visit and the experience. At the same time, you see also back of house.
Many parks have dynamic pricing systems. Now you see maintenance systems or being supported by technology. All of those aspects play a more and more important, well, we all know how much technology is advancing and how much technology is key also at home. And that is the same with parks and attractions, which are really using technology to enhance experience, but also to facilitate the operations.
Brian Thomas: Thank you so much, Jakob. I appreciate that. The first thing that we talked about here though is that communication, continuous flowing communications, not only throughout the organization, but beyond that to your, your customers and potential customers. You did highlight the four things that you’re integrating and expanding on is obviously accommodations throughout the theme parks.
Using intellectual property. We see that across the world at different amusement parks as well. Again, expanding that beverage and retail section of it. And of course the last but not least, is highlighting that technology, which is so important these days, not only on the front end for the consumer, but on the back end to improve performance and efficiencies.
So.
Jakob Wahl: You asked about, you know, what is IAAPA doing? And it’s interesting because I give you that example because we don’t always know best. So we took a group of 25 members to CS, to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to also get inspired there. And that is where we help our members to understand technology trends and how they can further develop.
Brian Thomas: That’s amazing. Pushing everybody to do better and at the end of the day, it’s gonna be better for everybody that attends your events and your park, so I appreciate that. Thank you so much. It was really a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Jakob Wahl: Sounds great. Thank you for having me.
All the best.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Jakob Wahl Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s Podcast Page.
