The Israeli multiplex operator Cinema City Poland is insisting that it is not giving up investment plans despite the downturn in the market and reduced ticket sales.
In May the company will be opening in Kraków its fifth Polish multiplex with another centre being opened in Katowice the following month. In the latter case the complex will include an eleven screen IMAX cinema. Both investments will cost the company around PLN80m.
Piotr Olak, the regional director of Cinema City says that the recession has not put back development plans in Poland.
The company would like to open from fifteen to twenty cinemas within the next five years, an investment worth around PLN450m and giving it around 200 screens around the country. Cinema City Poland considers that the cinema market in central Europe is far from saturation and that attendance will creep up in the next few years.
Piotr Olak observes that Poland has a great deal of potential and that is why the company is not afraid of losing money. Of course it is not easy at present on the market but Olak claims that the company is not complaining about revenues. The average western European goes to the cinema two and a half times per year whilst the average American goes five times. In Poland the average person buys one ticket a year so good growth prospectives can be expected.