It's been another momentous year in the attractions industry, and Attractions Management has been there reporting the big news, good and bad, all the way. After yesterday's look at the events of March 2019, today we move on to April 2019, considering some of the biggest stories that made the headlines that month.

Former boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko met with Europa Park bosses to discuss bringing a theme park to Kiev, Ukraine, the city of which he is now mayor. In Germany, the opening of Experimenta gave the country a new largest science centre. In Oman, the new Oman Aquarium became the biggest in the region.

Oman Aquarium opens

The Middle East's largest aquarium opened in the Omani capital of Muscat. The Oman Aquarium stretches across an area of 8,000sq m (86,111sq ft), inside the 200,000sq m (2.2m sq ft) Mall of Muscat shopping centre.

Built by the Al Jarwani Group, the aquarium was designed to be home to 30,000 species of marine animals.

"To begin with, there will be 12,000 species including 200 varieties from the seas near Oman," said Lee Northmore, director of retail and mall operations at Mall of Muscat. "In the seas of Oman, there are thousands of local species and we want to focus on them. The project, based on Omani sailor Ahmad bin Majid’s Voyage of Discovery, will have sharks, octopuses, turtles, and penguins on display."

Vitali Klitschko wants Kiev theme park

The former WBC heavyweight boxing champion of the world and self-confessed rollercoaster fan Vitali Klitschko – now mayor of Kiev, Ukraine – entered talks with bosses at German theme park Europa Park about the development of a potential theme park for Kiev.

Klitschko has been a regular visitor to the German park and said he and his children's favourite ride was the Silver Star.

The Kiev park would sit on a 130-hectare space in Hydropark, an island area of the city in the middle of the Dnipro River that is reachable by the local metro system and is already a popular recreational spot with locals in the Ukranian capital.

Germany delivers new science centre

Experimenta, the largest science centre in Germany, opened in Heilbronn, with four permanent exhibition galleries set across 3,200sq m (34,445sq ft).

Backed by the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, a non-profit investment arm of supermarket giant Lidl, the new centre features a dome theatre, an observatory and various workshop spaces.

Two of the four permanent galleries were created by Dutch experience specialist NorthernLight, while the other two galleries were produced by Hüttinger and designed by Berlin company Triad and Stuttgart firm Milla and Partner respectively.

Experimenta said it expected around 250,000 visitors through its doors annually and will put on over 275 exhibits in its galleries.

Check back with Attractions Management tomorrow for a look back at the highlights from May