Make it engaging and fun entertaining projects attract greater visitation and spending than worthy, educational ones.This is a little of what we’ve learnt from working with businesses who have successfully transformed their leisure attractions over recent years. Are there ways you can make your attraction more active? Younger guests (and a lot of older) will pay for memorable, physical and ‘grammable’ experiences.īeing able to recognise trends is one thing, but seeing an improvement to the bottom line requires careful planning. Elsewhere, wildlife attractions have also seized upon the willingness to spend on personalised experiences with keeper and animal interactions commanding premiums (‘be a keeper for a day’, meet the animals and so on). New high-tech experiences such as in-location VR are thriving (‘coaster rides’, walkthroughs, and multiplayer), providing an intense, rewarding and seemingly personalised experience. There is significant growth in action and extreme sports attractions which place the visitor at the heart of an experience designed to create a memory to proudly share with others. This is certainly felt by the attractions industry, which has always offered experiences but notes demand for more bespoke and memorable activities. These trends are supported by the observation that millennial consumers prefer to spend on experiences rather than possessions. Whatever the scale, ask yourself if you are getting the most of your theming/landscaping and decoration? Could you incorporate glamping or another accommodation offer? Are you able to get dual or triple purpose out of your investments? This search for a truly value-added experience has seen strong growth in ‘integrated attraction’ resorts - for example an aquarium as a backdrop for hotel suites, restaurant and paid guest experiences such as diving lessons. Retail is learning from large, traditional leisure offers who constantly ask the question how can we drive visitation and get more from our real estate? Both retail and leisure are seeking to maximise returns in harmony with existing assets.
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This is just a reframing of a concept well-known within leisure that strong attractions drive visitation to the attraction itself, to the region and now to retail destinations. This has lead to one of the most far reaching trends we’ve seen over recent years, producing huge opportunities to integrate into retail schemes, into both new developments and struggling high streets and existing malls with under-performing anchors. Overarching everything is the growing awareness that leisure can act as saviour to the struggling retail sector. Here’s a brief look at what we’ve been seeing over the last few years and our 8 tips for how attractions of all sizes can harness the growing demand from the ‘experience economy’. As experts in leisure economics, we are often asked about industry trends.