Benchmarking attractions review ratings
Do you know if your attraction review ratings are good, bad or average?
At Agility Marketing, we’ve reviewed ratings across 90 attractions in the zoo, theme park, farm park and indoor play sectors.
We started monitoring attraction review ratings five years ago, primarily to double check a claim that Trip Advisor had a 4.7 average review rating for attractions. They were of course right with their analysis, although 4.7 is a big increase upon today’s rating of 4.2.
The Trip Advisor decrease from 4.7 to 4.2, however, hasn’t come about in the last year. In the last 12 months, we’ve found review ratings to be fairly stable across the 90 attractions we monitor from the Zoo, Theme Park, Indoor Play and Farm Park sectors.
This study doesn’t cover every Zoo, Theme Park, Farm Park or Family Entertainment Centre in the UK, however, does provide a very good snapshot for benchmarking.
Small is Beautiful for UK Zoos
The average zoo attraction review rating across Google, Facebook and Trip Advisor was 4.4.
Recognising success, the top two Zoos we monitor are Exmoor Zoo and Peak Wildlife Park (proving small can be beautiful) followed by Paignton Zoo and Colchester Zoo.
Across the various networks we found the following average review ratings. We’ve also highlighted the range of scores.
| Network | Average review rating | Range of scores |
| 4.5 | 4.1 – 4.8 | |
| 4.4 | 4.1 – 4.7 | |
| Trip Advisor | 4.2 | 3.5 – 4.5 |
UK Farm Parks Come Top
It is interesting to compare the individual attraction review ratings against each other. The Farm Park results and Zoo results were virtually on a par, apart from Facebook where Farms nudged that little bit ahead.
The top Farm Parks across Google, Trip Advisor and Facebook were all very close in numbers. Little Owl Farm Park and Hall Hill Farm came out top, followed by Bocketts Farm, Pennywell Farm and Stockley Farm Park (who all got the same results).
The average review rating for Farm Park across Facebook, Google and Trip Advisor was 4.4, broken down as follows.
| Network | Average review rating | Range of scores |
| 4.6 | 4.2 – 4.9 | |
| 4.4 | 3.3 – 4.7 | |
| Trip Advisor | 4.2 | 3 .0– 4.5 |
You’ll notice quite a low score on the bottom range for Google and Trip Advisor. This was due to one Farm Park who were significantly below the other Farm Parks.
Theme Parks Remove Review Functionality on Facebook
We monitor 21 UK Theme Parks which are a cross selection of Seaside Fun Parks to the Merlin brands.
The overall Theme Park sector across Trip Advisor, Facebook and Google was lower than Zoos and Farm Parks at 4.2. What is interesting, however, is that 11 out of 22 attractions have opted to remove reviews on Facebook. Twelve months ago this was 4 out of 22.
Looking at the individual Theme Park Attraction review ratings, the highest review scores were Sundown Adventure Land, however, close runners up were Paultons Park.
Below is a breakdown of the average rating per network.
| Network | Average review rating | Range of scores |
| 4.2 | 3.9 – 4.6 | |
| 4.3 | 3.6 – 4.6 | |
| Trip Advisor | 4.0 | 3 .0– 4.5 |
Indoor Play not Feeling the Love
To be upfront, we only monitor playcentres who belong to a group, however, they will provide a steer for single-site operators.
Comparing the averages between Facebook, Trip Advisor and Google, the Indoor Play market scored the lowest across the four sectors, coming in at 4.0 (Theme parks were 4.2 and Zoos and Farms both obtained an average of 4.4).
Like the Theme Park sector, many Indoor Play/Family Entertainment Centres have opted to remove reviews from Facebook. With so few left, we don’t feel they are statistically valid and removed from the below individual rating.
| Network | Average review rating | Range of scores |
| Not shown – see above paragraph | ||
| 4 | 3.8 – 4.4 | |
| Trip Advisor | 4.2 | 2.5 – 4.5 |
The Indoor Play Centre sites that scored the highest for reviews were Partyman World Lakeside followed by Partyman World Eastleigh.
Who we Monitor?
For our attraction review ratings study, we monitor 4 visitor attraction sectors. Retainer marketing clients obtain the full analysis.
Zoos: Twycross Zoo, Isle of Wight Zoo, WWT, Drusillas, Paradise Wildlife Park, London Zoo, Chester Zoo, Bristol Zoo, Marwell Wildlife, Peak Wildlife Park, Blackpool Zoo, Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts, Colchester Zoo, Exmoor Zoo, Shepreth Wildlife Park, Living Rainforest, West Midland Safari Park, Africa Alive, Banham Zoo, Trentham Monkey Forest, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, Dudley Zoo, Howletts, Port Lymne, Edinburgh Zoo, Noahs Ark Zoo Farm,
Farm Parks: Hop Farm, Whitehouse Farm Centre, Marsh Farm Park, Old Macdonalds Farm, Pink Pig, Wroxham Barns, Barleylands, Odds Farm Park, Pettitts Animal Farm, Adventure Valley, Down at the Farm, Sacrewell Farm Park, Four Kingdoms, Hobbledown, Rand Farm, Cannon Hall Farm, Mead Open Farm, Walby Farm , White Post Farm , Willows Activity Farm, Cotswold Farm, Fishers Farm Park, Little Owl Farm, National Forest Adventure Farm, Pennywell Farm, Piglets Adventure Farm,
Theme Parks:Oakwood Theme Park, Cadbury World, Harbour Park, Weston Super Mare Pier, Gullivers, Chessington, Lightwater Valley, Wheelgate Park, Sundown Adventureland, Twinlakes, Drayton Manor, Thorpe Park, Wicksteed Park, Alton Towers, Blackpool Leisure Beach, Devons Crealy, Woodlands, Knockhatch, Paultons Park, Camel Creek.
Family Entertainment Centres (Indoor Play): Snakes and Ladders Brentford, Snakes and Ladders Abingdon, Snakes and Ladders Dunstable, Partyman World Oxford, Partyman World Wembley, Partyman World Lakeside, Partyman World Ipswich, Partyman World Eastleigh, Partyman World Basildon, Gambardo Watford, Gambardo Chelsea, Kids Play Kettering, topsy turvy World, Kidspace Croydon, Kidspace Romford, Eddie Catz Soft Play.
Want to improve your Review Scores?
We have recently done a blog article on how you can actively improve your review ranks. Click to read how to improve your attraction reviews.
