EURO Disney has started construction of a second conference centre, costing 150 million francs, (£19 million) designed to offset periods of low hotel occupancy at the theme park.

"The centre should attract customers from associations, conventions and companies, which should compensate for the seasonality of our business, as much for the winter period as the weekdays," said managing director Mr Gilles Pelisson.

He said congress activities currently generated hotel occupancy of between 5 and 10 per cent of the annual total. Occupancy of the seven hotels is a key factor in the Disneyland Paris site. Hotel occupancy accounts for 1.8 billion francs in sales out of the company's total 1995 turnover of 4.7 billion francs.