a limited company. In the 1960s, Tussauds was looking to expand beyond the United Kingdom and opened their first international exhibition in Amsterdam. This exhibition featured different wax figures to those on show in London. The Dutch exhibition moved to the more central location of Dam Square in 1991. The company made its first acquisition with Wookey Hole Caves and Mill in Somerset and in 1976 bought Tolgus tin plant in Cornwall. In 1978, Madame Tussauds was acquired by S. Pearson and Son, now Pearson PLC. The company had been seeking to expand beyond their own attractions before acquiring the group. Chessington Zoo was already owned by Pearson and became a Tussauds attraction after the buyout. This sector expanded quickly throughout the year with the purchase of Warwick Castle. Poor profits at Chessington Zoo led the group to reopen the site as Chessington World of Adventures. This incorporated the animals from the zoo alongside the theme park. This combination anabled visitor figures to triple. In 1989, the Tussauds Group sold Wookey Hole. In the same year, they opened the Rock Circus in the London Pavilion which focused on a rock and roll theme. Several other small acquisitions were made before 1990. In 1990, the company bought Alton Towers for £60 million. The park had initially been developed as an American style amusement park but was in need of renovation by the end of the eighties. After Tussauds took over Alton Towers, it was redeveloped into a theme park that intended to challenge the opening of Disneyland Paris. During the mid-nineties, the group continued to expand its theme parks with new attractions at both Warwick Castle and Alton Towers. The Alton Towers expansion included the introduction of the £20 million Alton Towers Hotel in 1996. The Madame Tussauds site in London also underwent development during the nineties, with renovations costing £1 million. The increase in the group's attractions as well as management portfolio meant that in 1992 the company moved to larger headquarters. In 1997, Madame Tussauds reintroduced travelling exhibitions. The tour started in Melbourne, Australia, before moving on to Sydney. After touring Australia, the site travelled to Singapore in 1999 then on to Hong Kong in 2000. However, the company liked Hong Kong's location and established a permanent exhibition in the Peak Tower. The Tussauds group moved into the European market in 1995, with a 40% stake in a new