We need new tools to understand visitors in light of their COVID status, meaning traditional market segmentation may not give operators the insights needed to drive product development and marketing
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2021 issue 2
Will the double vaxxed become the most valued customers? / shutterstock/Aberu.Go Mori Digital Art Museum
Attractions operators and suppliers are accustomed to surviving the turmoil of global economic cycles and impacts on the industry by everything from volcanic eruptions to floods, coups and terrorist attacks.
Every time a new threat has emerged, the industry has risen to the challenge with innovations, new concepts and energy.
But throughout, one thing has remained constant – operators could take comfort from the fact that when customers returned, they behaved in fairly predictable ways.
As a result, the demographic profiling and market insights that drive tourism and attractions investments and operations have remained largely unchanged for many decades.
One of the biggest challenges facing the sector in the next five years, however, will be the reshaping of consumer groups by the pandemic. Demographics will still be a factor, but where once operators targeted certain groups by wealth or interest, now customers’ COVID status and attitudes towards the virus are becoming a new and important variable.
Those who’ve been doubled vaxxed and want to travel and visit attractions without restraint will be prized premium customers for many. Others who haven’t been (or can’t be) vaccinated, or who are fearful, will require a different approach and then there are the COVID deniers, who won’t be vaccinated, could be super spreaders and could shut businesses down. The situation with children is also complicated.
There may be little commonality between the people in these groups apart from their COVID status, so new thinking will be needed when it comes to market segmentation, experience design and the customer journey.
Using tech has enabled the industry to navigate its way through the pandemic far more nimbly than would have been possible even a decade ago and it will offer up more solutions as things progress.
On page 46 co-author of The Experience Economy, Joe Pine, flags up hybrid digital and physical offerings as a direction he believes will see us through the pandemic and beyond, contributing to a reorientation around visitors’ COVID status.
Pine says hybrid products can amplify the live experience, enable more people to attend and create important new revenue streams.
We hope to see sharing of best practice in relation to this challenge as the industry recovers.
Museums: Museum of everything
At Depot Van Beuningen, a new kind of museum is taking shape, with the whole collection on show
Interview: Joe Pine
From mass customised itineraries to hybrid experiences, the pandemic is influencing attractions trends, says thought leader, Joe Pine
Disney: The Art of Marvel
Disneyland Paris has opened its new Marvel-inspired hotel. Art director Caroline May tells us what made it such a special project to work on
Interview: Nicolas de Villiers
As Puy du Fou opens its first park outside France, its president tells Attractions Management about his ambitious global plans and why China is next on his radar
Research: All creatures great and small
Large, charismatic animals drive footfall to zoos, but there are more unusual ways of boosting attendance, says Yvonne Buckley
Research: Power of youth
Teenage volunteers can help tween visitors get more out of their visits to science centres, new research shows
Disney: Reach for the stars
Dreamed up by Star Wars fans and brought to life by Disney Imagineers – a sneak peek at the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel experience
Research: Animal magic
A national study in Japan has shown how partnering with entertainment companies can help drive visits and donations to zoos
Museums: The way we live
London’s Museum of the Home has reopened after a major refurbishment. We hear from the architects and museum director
We need new tools to understand visitors in light of their COVID status, meaning traditional market segmentation may not give operators the insights needed to drive product development and marketing
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2021 issue 2
Will the double vaxxed become the most valued customers? / shutterstock/Aberu.Go Mori Digital Art Museum
Attractions operators and suppliers are accustomed to surviving the turmoil of global economic cycles and impacts on the industry by everything from volcanic eruptions to floods, coups and terrorist attacks.
Every time a new threat has emerged, the industry has risen to the challenge with innovations, new concepts and energy.
But throughout, one thing has remained constant – operators could take comfort from the fact that when customers returned, they behaved in fairly predictable ways.
As a result, the demographic profiling and market insights that drive tourism and attractions investments and operations have remained largely unchanged for many decades.
One of the biggest challenges facing the sector in the next five years, however, will be the reshaping of consumer groups by the pandemic. Demographics will still be a factor, but where once operators targeted certain groups by wealth or interest, now customers’ COVID status and attitudes towards the virus are becoming a new and important variable.
Those who’ve been doubled vaxxed and want to travel and visit attractions without restraint will be prized premium customers for many. Others who haven’t been (or can’t be) vaccinated, or who are fearful, will require a different approach and then there are the COVID deniers, who won’t be vaccinated, could be super spreaders and could shut businesses down. The situation with children is also complicated.
There may be little commonality between the people in these groups apart from their COVID status, so new thinking will be needed when it comes to market segmentation, experience design and the customer journey.
Using tech has enabled the industry to navigate its way through the pandemic far more nimbly than would have been possible even a decade ago and it will offer up more solutions as things progress.
On page 46 co-author of The Experience Economy, Joe Pine, flags up hybrid digital and physical offerings as a direction he believes will see us through the pandemic and beyond, contributing to a reorientation around visitors’ COVID status.
Pine says hybrid products can amplify the live experience, enable more people to attend and create important new revenue streams.
We hope to see sharing of best practice in relation to this challenge as the industry recovers.
Museums: Museum of everything
At Depot Van Beuningen, a new kind of museum is taking shape, with the whole collection on show
Interview: Joe Pine
From mass customised itineraries to hybrid experiences, the pandemic is influencing attractions trends, says thought leader, Joe Pine
Disney: The Art of Marvel
Disneyland Paris has opened its new Marvel-inspired hotel. Art director Caroline May tells us what made it such a special project to work on
Interview: Nicolas de Villiers
As Puy du Fou opens its first park outside France, its president tells Attractions Management about his ambitious global plans and why China is next on his radar
Research: All creatures great and small
Large, charismatic animals drive footfall to zoos, but there are more unusual ways of boosting attendance, says Yvonne Buckley
Research: Power of youth
Teenage volunteers can help tween visitors get more out of their visits to science centres, new research shows
Disney: Reach for the stars
Dreamed up by Star Wars fans and brought to life by Disney Imagineers – a sneak peek at the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser hotel experience
Research: Animal magic
A national study in Japan has shown how partnering with entertainment companies can help drive visits and donations to zoos
Museums: The way we live
London’s Museum of the Home has reopened after a major refurbishment. We hear from the architects and museum director
Abu Dhabi-based investment firm Mubadala Capital has made a binding, fully financed
€1 billion
offer to acquire Pierre and Vacances SA, the European holiday resort operator behind the
continental European Center Parcs business.
Disney has reaffirmed its commitment to investing US$30 billion in its US parks and cruise
business by 2033, using new America250 celebrations to underline the role its attractions play
in supporting jobs, tourism and economic growth.
Expo 2030 Riyadh is being planned as a permanent visitor destination, with organisers
confirming the six-million-square-metre site will become a Global Village after the event closes.
The owner of one of Australia's best-known waterparks has acquired a major competitor,
creating a new attractions business spanning two of the country's largest visitor destinations.
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
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