Key Marketing Insights from the Visitor Attraction Conference

If you missed the recent Visitor Attraction Conference, don’t worry. We’ve gathered some of the most impactful takeaways that can help optimize your marketing strategies for visitor attractions. Let’s dig in!
Summer Trends & Insights
Bernard Donoghue from ALVA provided us with a fascinating look at summer visitor trends:
Visitor Decline: Since May 2024, ALVA attractions experienced an average 6% decline in visitors.
Winners & Losers: Zoos and art galleries faced challenges, while historic houses and castles thrived. The Southeast and Southwest regions outperformed London and northern areas.
Behind the Numbers: Rising cost-of-living concerns and increased international travel were the main factors influencing these trends.
Interestingly, later in the conference wider research was presented on affordability. Despite stable base rates, higher wages, and lower inflation, public perception of cost-of-living pressures have become steadily worse since July. Whilst the reason is not exactly known, it was thought to be attributed to negative press articles.
Advantages for visitor attractions
Placing heat mapping on existing websites can uncover areas that need improvement and should definitely be undertaken before any new website build.
They help identify problem spots where users lose interest or encounter difficulties, which can significantly reduce bounce rates. When we undertake heat mapping, we often find areas of the site that experience huge rage clicks (i.e.. users think it should link somewhere but it currently doesn’t) or core messaging below where most people scroll to
By understanding these interaction patterns, you can remove friction, enhance the placement of key messages and ensure calls to action booking buttons maximise conversion rates.
Who’s Visiting (or Not)?
Recent research highlighted that 20% of people may not visit an attraction this year. Looking at those who are recently inactive, do vary between the life stages.
Young Independents & Families (under 45, child-free) showed lower recent inactivity rates at 7% and 4%, respectively.
Older Independents & OAPs (45-65, child-free) experienced a 16% recent decline in visits.
The reasons cited for all groups were the same; affordability and increase in family commitment.
Visit Frequency by Life Stage
BDRC explored which groups are visiting more or less.
- Families positively stood out, with 43% increasing visits. It was worth mentioned that 23%, however, stated the would visit less.
- Other groups, such as Young Independents and OAP’s, saw declines of 6% and 10%, respectively.
Strategies to Boost Visitor Numbers
A lot of discussion took place on the triggers for improving visitor numbers.
Compelling Programming: Creating a sense of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can encourage potential visitors to prioritize your attraction, rather than postponing their visit until ideal conditions arise.
Exclusivity & “Bragability”: Offering tickets to limited, exclusive experiences are still in high demand and can be sold at a much higher price.
Discounts & Promotions: Clever promotional programming was seen in many attractions this Summer including a Summer pass giving 6 weeks of access for 1 1/2 x entry prices or free returns within 7 days.
Triggers also varied slightly in their ranking acrosss the different life stages.
• For Young Independents (child-free) under 45, the top trigger was ‘running an exhibition on a topic they were interested in’ followed by ‘discounted entry’.
• This top trigger was mirrored for the family audience, but number two in the list was ‘Family holiday activities for kids’. Worthy of note, is that discounted entry was fourth in the list and bottom was a great café.
• For Older Independents (45-65, childfree) and OAPS, discounted entry was top, followed by running an exhibition on a topic they were interested in’.
Benchmark Your Attraction’s NPS
The average Net Promoter Score (NPS) in the attraction sector rose to 69 for 2023/24, providing a valuable benchmark for comparison.
Digital Marketing Tips
Digital presence remains crucial. Here are some tips from Neil Lewin:
Mobile Optimization: Regularly review your mobile site with your team to ensure an effective user experience. Reviewing as a team if vital to provide diverse user experiences.
Dedicated Offers Page: Create a page for discounts and offers to boost search visibility and attract visitors.
Website Exit Surveys: Use pop-up surveys to gain insights into why visitors might not complete transactions, enhancing understanding of visitor behaviour.
Tapping into Inbound Tourism
A lot of discussion took place on inbound tourism with the key takeaway to not overlook it. Compelling business cases were provided; with the biggest reason being they spend x3 more than domestic visitors.
Outside London, traditional markets top the table. Americans lead in regional spending, followed by Australians, Germans, and French visitors. Interestingly Australians spend 57% of them spend outside of the Capital.
UKinbound highlighted the potential of partnering with tour operators, who are eager to include attractions in their programs—especially since over 40% of overseas visitors use operators (but for some countries this can be over 90%)
Hopefully a useful recap
We hope these insights from the Visitor Attraction Conference inspire and help inform your marketing strategies. VAC is an invaluable event, and we highly recommend attending for any attraction operator looking to stay ahead. Whilst not a 100% focussed marketing conference, it has plenty of worthwhile takeaways.
Written by Anita Waddell (Managing Director) | Posted 17/10/2024