ANNUAL REPORT
2019
A word from the Chairman
2019 marks the end of a three-year strategic period during which Tivoli has been consolidated as a year-round business, visitor satisfaction has soared to the top and the financial performance has been favourable, thus providing a strong basis for Tivoli’s future. The new strategy 2020 will carry on the development of Tivoli.
Tivoli’s result for 2019 is DKK 209,1 million which is the best performance ever in the long history of the Company. This also means a record-high dividend distribution to the Company’s shareholders. Adjusted for special items, the transfer of TivoliCasino.dk to Danske Spil and the replacement of the annual card by the Tivoli Pass, the profit before tax for 2019 is at the level of the record year 2018. In 25 years, Tivoli’s profit has been increased from a small double-digit million amount to a profit running into three-digit millions as a result of an extensive turn-around and development, including upgrading of both the amusement park and the business.
Tom Knutzen
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Happy visitors are the foundation for Tivoli’s good results
CEO
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TIVOLI AND THE UN'S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
In Tivoli, sustainability is not just a matter of climate and the environment. The definition is broader: we should act in a way that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainability, or responsibility, is thus not just about taking care of the environment. It also encompasses looking after employees and visitors and ensuring that all measures are economically viable, so that the business can continue. Tivoli has worked in accordance with these principles since 1996, when its first "green" accounts were produced.
Over the years, Tivoli has worked on sustainability in significant areas such as energy and waste, and from 1999 to 2005, Tivoli was certified in accordance with the ISO 14001 environmental standard. This work has continued up to the present day, and Tivoli has recently employed a sustainability specialist, who will continue to develop efforts in this area.
Since 2009, Tivoli has had an environmental partnership with Ørsted, which delivers green energy to the Gardens. It has also achieved substantial savings on electricity consumption by switching from filament bulbs to LED and by optimising kitchens and ventilation.
A SUSTAINABLE, DIVERSE WORKPLACE
Engagement and job satisfaction among Tivoli’s staff will be key factors in Tivoli’s future success.
Employees are important stakeholders in Tivoli’s CSR policy. Engagement and job satisfaction help to create the special atmosphere that Tivoli’s visitors cite as their most important reason for visiting. Thus, employee satisfaction is a precondition for Tivoli’s future success. Inclusiveness, diversity and skills development create engagement and are natural parts of a workplace that prioritises sustainability.
Employee satisfaction in Tivoli is high, with an eNPS of 579 on a scale from -100 to +100. The Employee Net Promoter Score is obtained by Tivoli employees indicating, on a scale of 1 – 10, the extent to which they would recommend their workplace to others.
Fewer occupational accidents involving absence
With a LTIF (Lost Time Injury Frequency, number of accidents with absence per one million working hours) of 22.6, Tivoli has achieved a 5% reduction in the lost time injury frequency compared with 2018. While the target of 21.5 was not reached, there has still been a reduction in the frequency of accidents.
In 2020 and in the coming years, Tivoli will actively work to reduce the amount of work injuries so that these are significantly reduced.
13 students trained
A good work environment isn't the only factor at play in job satisfaction. In the modern workplace, demonstrating social responsibility by taking on employees with special needs also plays a role. This means taking responsibility for training students and trainees and generally being a diverse workplace, in which the individual is accepted on his/her merits regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or religion.
In 2019, 13 apprentices finished their training in Tivoli. The total number of apprentices and trainees was 29 for the year on average. For many years, Tivoli has received a bonus from Praktikplads-AUB for the high number of students it employs. AUB stands for Arbejdsgivernes Uddannelsesbidrag(the Danish Employers' Reimbursement System), which administers this special scheme established to create more trainee placements for young people in education. Tivoli's contribution is around six times greater than its obligation.
Talent team
Skills development is more important than ever in Tivoli, in order to retain employees as well as to safeguard Tivoli's future business opportunities. While employees who have been with the company a long time may need to update their skills, for example in the digital arena as well as in their respective disciplines, younger people are more motivated by their dreams for the future. For young and less experienced employees, career prospects, personal development and an opportunity to use their skills are crucial factors, even in an entry-level job. Tivoli has therefore created a talent team of about 30 employees from different professional backgrounds. This team contributes ideas and thoughts about Tivoli's development and future.
Tivoli's complete Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, in accordance with the requirements of sections 99a and 99b of the Danish Financial Statements Act, is available as an element at the top of the annual report.
employee satisfaction
Average percentage of employees who agree that "Tivoli is a good place to work overall"
2016
84 %
2018
90 %
2017
90 %
2019
89 %
Sickness absence
2014
2,8 % Tivoli
3,0 % DA
2016
3,1 % Tivoli
3,1 % DA
2018
2,8 % Tivoli
3,3 % DA
2015
3,0 % Tivoli
3,1 % DA
2017
2,6 % Tivoli
3,1 % DA
2019
2,9 % Tivoli
3,3 % DA
LOYAL VISITORS DESPITE WET WEATHER
The work of the past 15 years to make Tivoli a year-round business that is less dependent on the weather represents a furthering of the business areas that Georg Carstensen described to the King of Denmark when he gained permission to open Tivoli: a green park, rides and games, restaurants, food stands and cafés and, last but not least, stages offering a varied programme of culture.
Most income is generated during Tivoli's open seasons. The Tivoli Gardens were open on 270 days in 2019, and while the Danish weather verged on an all-time precipitation record with 905 mm of rain, Tivoli's visitors remained loyal and supported the wealth of activities on offer.
The proportion of foreign tourists among Tivoli visitors in 2019 was 30 %, with Swedes as the people most likely to visit, closely followed by Americans. Tivoli’s visitors are still extremely satisfied with their visits and happy to recommend Tivoli to others. In particular, the special Tivoli atmosphere is cited as a reason for visiting, with "going for a walk in Tivoli" as number two, and there is an argument that these are two sides of the same coin.
PROBABLY or DEFINITELY
NATIONALITY 2019
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1Denmark70%
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2Rest of the world13%
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3Sweden6%
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4US4%
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5UK3%
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6Norway2%
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7Germany2%
guest segments
Age distribution
A MAGICAL ATMOSPHERE
To a great extent, this atmosphere is created by the unique visual framework provided by the Tivoli seasons or the permanent installations.
In 2019, visitors were enchanted, among other things, by the amazing sculptures created by artist Malik Mabe out of several hundred kilograms of giant pumpkins, which were part of that year's Danish Giant Pumpkin Championships. The 12-metre Swarovski Christmas tree in front of Nimb also evoked wonder, decorated as it was with thousands of crystals with a total value of DKK 1 million.
2019 was the first full year with the new Tivoli Pass and the opportunities it offers. These include the Tivoli Lux reward programme, the Tivoli App and the visitors' personal My Tivoli profile. In combination, these elements are intended to simplify the practical aspects of visiting Tivoli and even improve the experience: less of the boring stuff and more of the fun.
TOP-5 most chosen benefits in tivoli lux
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August: Guided tour in the Gardens
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July: Double up on icecream
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November: Bring a friend for free
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February: Free ride in the mine
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April: Bring a friend for free
SUCCESS FOR NIMB AND SUSTAINABLE MEALS
The House of Nimb, encompassing a hotel, restaurants and events, referred to in a commercial context as Tivoli High End, continued its success and, at the end of the year, made international travel magazine Condé Nast Traveller's Gold List for 2020.
The magazine is aimed at the luxury segment, and each year it issues a list of the world's must-visit hotels. Nimb Hotel is the only hotel in the Nordic Region to have made this distinguished list. The hotel's occupancy rate is still very high.
Growth at Nimb
Nimb is offering more and more events, which are particularly well-received by visitors. Roast pork and bingo at Fru Nimb, Classy Halloween celebration at Nimb Bar or a sunset DJ set at Nimb Roof are just a few examples of Nimb events for which visitors are queuing up.
In early summer, Mette Dahlgaard of Restaurant Gemyse released a cookbook packed with recipes for the innovative plant-based dishes that are her speciality. Later in the summer, she and the Gemyse team were invited to a food festival at the EPCOT Center in Florida, USA, where hundreds of American guests were offered carrot tartare and more.
Nimb's adventurous facilities
The Nimb Events hospitality business has grown during the course of the year. Whether for smaller meetings at Gemyse or large parties in the Box Hall and Axelborg Hall, the venues are in great demand. During the year, Tivoli has hosted AGMs of banks, a Christmas party for an energy company, a barbecue in the Balanchine Lounge at the top of the Concert Hall, and plenty of summer events at Nimb Roof, to name just a few examples.
Restaurants and food stands
Tivoli's efforts to offer more sustainable meals continue. Organic Days were held for the first time in Tivoli this September, in partnership with the Danish Agriculture and Food Council. The festival had three elements: a seminar for the industry, a training course for middle school students, and a weekend of activities for Tivoli visitors, who had opportunities to guess about, taste and learn about organic food. In connection with the festival, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration presented Tivoli with ten diplomas for the Danish Organic Cuisine Label. Six were for existing food brands, while four were new: the Tivoli Coffee Bar at the Open Air Stage, Woodhouse Lounge, Woodhouse Burger and Frikadellen.
In December, Tivoli F&B opened the Lobster Shack in the Tivoli Food Hall. This is the first time Tivoli has set up a stand in the Tivoli Food Hall, where La Baracca, Wakha and La Playa also opened in 2019. The restaurants and food stands in the Tivoli Food Hall were rated positively in Tivoli's analyses, with visitors indicating that they find the choice of food here particularly relevant. More and more of Tivoli's visitors are also aware of and have visited the Tivoli Food Hall.
Little Tivoli
As of 2019, customers can shop online in Little Tivoli, and the online shop was inundated with orders when a new tealight holder in the style of Tivoli's main entrance was launched jointly by Tivoli and Kähler. The number of items produced in-house is growing, with new wooden figures inspired by the Flying Trunk, Christmas decorations featuring Tivoli patterns, and even a biscuit tin containing music. Eight out of the ten most popular products in Little Tivoli are produced in-house.
In the Alley, a classic Tivoli activity returned when musician and artist Jørgen Klubien set up shop as a paper silhouette cutter. Klubien also works as a creative consultant and source of inspiration for Tivoli's designers and architects.
RIDES AND GAMES
To a great extent, 2019 was a year in which Tivoli's ride profile was prioritised.
The first new development was that the Camel Trail, a classic roller-coaster for young children, was replaced with a new, longer track and new carriages in a new design. A tilting function was added to the seats on Fatamorgana to make the ride even more exhilarating, and later in the summer, Tivoli's new Bumper Cars were introduced. The new Bumper Cars have no antennae, and they are located further west to leave space for Tivoli Centre.
During Halloween in Tivoli, visitors had an opportunity to visit the Hospital, a new haunted house that replaced last year's The Haunted. The haunted house attracted both a lot of attention and a lot of praise. In the haunted house, visitors encountered terrifying live actors in the uncanny corridors and passages, and the thrill was so popular that there were long queues every day outside the Hospital.
TOP-5 RIDES
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THE ROLLER COASTER
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The Flying Trunk
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THE DEMON
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The mine
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The Monsoon
WINTER IN TIVOLI
Tivoli's newest season, Winter in Tivoli, is still under development and will remain so in 2020, when awareness of the season is in focus. In 2019, the entire Gardens were open to visitors except for the Milky Way Express building site.
Visitors acknowledged this with an improved NPS, which rose to 72, on a par with the summer season. The NPS (Net Promoter Score) uses a scale from -100 to +100 and expresses the number of visitors who have an actively positive attitude to Tivoli.
There were three completely new activities. Bring the Spring, a virtual reality experience that turned visitors' perceptions of reality upside down, debuted in the Tivoli Castle. In Woodhouse, Tivoli worked with light manufacturer Louis Poulsen on the 'PH in Tivoli' exhibition, which focused on Poul Henningsen's influence on Tivoli as head architect of the Gardens from 1940 to 1950. The Glass Hall Theatre presented children's theatre. Rasmus Klump and the Grumpy Snowman was a new performance featuring Rasmus Klump and his friends in the lead roles. The theatre initiative was followed in the summer season by In the Forest of Huckybucky, another offering for families with young children.
Light Festival
As in previous years, Winter in Tivoli was part of the Copenhagen Light Festival, featuring many enchanting light installations to brighten up those dark February evenings. The Copenhagen Light Festival was restructured during the course of the year, and Tivoli's lighting designer, Jesper Kongshaug, is now the curator.
YEAR OF CULTURE
The world's oldest youth guard, the Tivoli Youth Guard, turned 175 in 2019 and celebrated by opening the Tivoli Music School. This is a counterpart to the Tivoli Ballet School.
The aim is to create an educational environment for all interested children and young people, closely linked to the professional artistic environment, as with the Tivoli Youth Guard and the Tivoli Ballet Theatre. The Tivoli Youth Guard school, where young guards learn to play and perform, applies certain pedagogical principles that all children can now benefit from in the Tivoli Music School. The Tivoli Youth Guard's anniversary was celebrated with a New Year reception in January, Youth Guard Day featuring the best marching bands in Denmark in June, and a huge anniversary parade from Rosenborg Barracks to Tivoli in August, attended by the Danish Royal Life Guards and around a hundred veterans of the Tivoli Youth Guard.
An icy new sensation
The year's most ambitious theatre production was the ballet of the Snow Queen, performed in the Tivoli Concert Hall. With Queen Margrethe as set designer, Oh Land as composer and Yuri Possokhov as choreographer, the Tivoli Ballet Theatre's dancers threw themselves into the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. It is the story of Gerda's fantastic journey through a fairy-tale world to save her friend Kay from the icy clutches of the Snow Queen. Queen Margrethe's drawings were adapted by Morten Just and displayed on large screens on the stage. Oh Land also appeared as the Snow Queen, casting her chilly gaze over us all. The performance played throughout the month of December and was well-attended, with 33,000 tickets sold. Between Christmas and New Year, the Danish television channel TV2 broadcast a documentary about how the production came about.
A busy year
The 24 Friday Rock concerts attracted a combined total of 450,000 visitors, and Rasmus Klump played more than 800 performances. There was After Work Jazz at the Pantomime Theatre during the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, with the Tivoli Ensemble and soloists under the baton of Peter Jensen, to name just a few of the many free performances. The Tivoli Ballet Theatre presented two new productions: Et Glimt af i Går, i Dag ("A Glimpse of Yesterday Today") took Danish design classics as its starting point, while Tableaus in Motion was a hymn to dance and movement.
In the Halls, there was a sold out guest performance from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the premiere of Tivoli's own production, Divaer i Glas ("Divas in Glass"), about the long line of international female stars who have appeared in Tivoli over the years. Once again, The Glass Hall Theatre also played host to "Rytteriet", and Tivoli again had the pleasure of hosting the Fairy Tale Theatre, Crazy Christmas Cabaret and a variety of other external productions. A busy year indeed.
TOP-5 FRIDAY ROCK CONCERTS
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Tom Jones
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Jason Derulo
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Citybois & De danske hyrder
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MØ
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Infernal & ude af kontrol
SUMMER CLASSIC
The Summer Classic consisted of 67 concerts in 2019, of which 30 were ticketed. There was music for children, there were entertaining concerts featuring famous hosts, such as the Price brothers and Pernille Rosendahl, and a variety of traditional concerts starring international orchestras and soloists along with the Tivoli Copenhagen Phil.
One of the year's innovations was the Sing Along concerts. The soloists chose the repertoire and had the whole room singing along to Danish classics and hits from the musicals.
The performance of Waiting premiered in Bergen and then arrived in Tivoli. The music was by Grieg, performed by Copenhagen Phil, with text/libretto by Karl Ove Knausgård, and the performance was staged by Catalan director Calixto Bieito.
In the autumn, Tivoli entered into an extended partnership for planning the Summer Classic programme with Tivoli Copenhagen Phil – which for most of the year covers the whole of Zealand, transforming in the summertime into the Tivoli Copenhagen Phil. This will improve the relationship between the orchestra's profile and repertoire throughout the year. A combined audience identity is also expected to be created.
TOP-5 summer classic concerts
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Machaidze & Sekgapane
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Sing along with Stig Rossen
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Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
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Tripel Beethoven (Tivoli Copenhagen Phil)
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Tivoli's birthday concert (Tivoli Copenhagen Phil)
PLANS FOR TIVOLI'S FUTURE
Six directions for growth are defined in Strategy 2020. These directions have differing time scales, and directions 1 and 2 are those that are closest to us in time and due to be realised immediately.
1. Optimise the existing business
2. Develop the Gardens with engaging experiences
3. More Tivoli in the surrounding area
4. A larger share of the tourism value chain
5. New sites for Nimb
6. Tivoli experiences in the country as a whole.
Among other things, directions 1 and 2 mean that Tivoli will work on creating digital solutions to facilitate customer transactions, leaving more time for Tivoli employees to serve visitors. In the Gardens, the care and development of buildings, gardens, rides, cultural offerings, restaurants, food stands and everything that is part of Tivoli will continue, with the aim of creating engaging experiences for the millions of people who visit Tivoli. Among other things, two new festivals will be launched – a garden festival in the spring, and a food and wine festival in late summer. "Engaging" means both experiences that evoke emotion and experiences that require visitors to do something active together. All initiatives within directions 1 and 2 aim to improve the guest experience.
The generational shift in Tivoli's Executive Board, which was announced in December 2019, will be implemented in 2020 when Lars Liebst steps down after 24 years as Chief Executive Officer of Tivoli and gives way to Susanne Mørch Koch who steps down as CEO of Dansk Spil.
Tivoli has decided to put the construction of Tivoli Centre on hold. Price quotations received indicate a marked increase in price compared to the budget originally used by the Board of Directors for its decision to construct the building. At the same time, the building’s special construction on steel pellets on top of an existing building presents significantly greater risks compared to more conventional building structures. Tivoli is investigating alternative solutions in general and around Tivoli Centre.
2020 sees the demolishing of Færgekroen, which has fallen prey to the ravages of time. The building was constructed in 1934 as part of a temporary festive event, the Fishing Village. The aim is to construct a new building in the same style as this beloved icon.
Fairy Tale Tower and urban park
Directions 3 – 6 are for the longer term. For example, in the summer of 2019, two projects were introduced both of which, in their own way, take Tivoli out into the immediate surrounding area. The Tivoli Hans Christian Andersen Hotel was developed by Tivoli and architectural firm BIG, and it consists of renovating the Tivoli Castle, which dates back to 1893, and adding an adjacent new building, a "Fairy Tale Tower".
Work is also ongoing on assembling partners who are eager to realise the vision of an urban park at Vesterbro Passage from Bernstorffsgade to H. C. Andersens Boulevard in Copenhagen. Positive feedback has been received from the businesses and organisations that will border the future park, and in 2020, Tivoli has already moved in by way of Crème by Nimb – a new café concept at Confederation of Danish Industry, which occupies one side of the passageway.
The strategy also encompasses the idea that Tivoli should have a larger share of the tourism revenue by creating new services. Tivoli is also looking at activities farther afield: with the Tivoli brand and the Nimb brand as strong calling cards, opportunities for creating strong partnerships are under investigation.