TOP 20 PREDICTIONS 2016 1. Underground attractions 2. Biofeedback 3. Vintage 4. Dressing up 5. Dementia-friendly design 6. Design for obesity 7. Ride gamification 8. Invisibles 9. Interactive planetariums 10. Extreme water 11. Africa 12. Halal tourism 13. Beacons 14. Attractions & spa 15. Cuba 16. China innovates 17. Tech backlash 18. Panama 19. Retail customisation 20. Attractions real estate
Subterranean 1. Underground attractions High-up attractions have dominated the news over the past three years – giving customers an adrenaline rush without much, if any, physical exertion or risk.
Now adventure attractions are going underground, using existing cave systems and quarries or creating new ones. Into the Glacier is Iceland’s latest opening, with backing from one of the country’s leading pension funds. Guests are transported on an ex-NATO missile launcher to the manmade ice caves deep in the Langjökull glacier, where they can admire the naturally occurring blue ice.
Bounce Below in Snowdonia, Wales, is another new type of attraction, where an underground cavern in a slate quarry is home to three giant net trampolines, where visitors are set free to bounce across the vast subterranean playground (see page 82). At the same site, Zip World Caverns enables daredevil tourists to enjoy an underground assault course of zip lines, rope bridges and tunnels.
The Into the Glacier attraction takes visitors deep into the ice of Langjökull, Iceland
Customisation 2. Biofeedback Ride designers are creating evermore immersive and thrilling experiences thanks to emerging technology. Computer-controlled robotic systems can even steer individual seats using biofeedback.
By measuring involuntary responses like breathing, rides can automatically adapt to riders. For example, elastic chest sensors integrated in ride seat safety harnesses can physically and psychologically push back at riders while they struggle to control the ride and their own bodies, resulting in an engaging experience that’s thrilling and responsive.
Alternatively, breath-control masks with built in respirator flow sensors and microphones that capture breath rates and vocal responses can be used to enhance the intensity of everything from culture to horror rides and experiences.
The technology has masses of creative potential and studios will soon begin to realise its value. Bio-activated sensor technology could have applications in horror mazes, haunted houses, dark rides and large format films.
Bio-sensors could be fitted to participants in a game, and used to trigger locks, lights and motors, for example. A player might control their heart rate, breath and posture to trigger them – breathing on a lock opens it or raising the heartbeat changes the music, for example.
Biofeedback can be incorporated into rides and installations, responding to individual visitors to create a personalised experience
New Spin 3. Vintage It’s happening with fashion and dining, and now it looks as though vintage is coming to the attractions industry.
Plans are in the works to revamp the New York State fair with a heritage feel and the reopening of Dreamland in Margate, Kent, UK – with design by Wayne Hemingway – is further evidence of the growing popularity of the vintage design ethos.
The trend ties in with our dressing up trend (see 4. Dressing Up) where attractions visitors choose their attire to tie in with the theme of the attraction that they’re visiting.
Vintage also works well for F&B and retail. We expect it to grow in all areas.
Special Occasion 4. Dressing up Disney fans started the trend by dressing up as their favourite characters to visit the theme parks, creating a phenomenon known as Disneybounding. Add to this the popularity of cosplay and we expect the dressing up trend to spread more widely in the market and begin to appear at different types of attractions. As guests get evermore creative with their dressing up interpretations, operators can take advantage of the increased visitor engagement and social media activity to build a tribe of engaged fans and advocates around their brands.
Disney’s Ariel gets a steampunk twist
AGEING POPULATION 5. Dementia-friendly design The ageing global population will prompt rapid growth in dementia-friendly design.
Well thought-out colour and décor schemes are needed for those who have problems with depth perception and visual processing, for example. Patterns on the floor may appear to be a trip hazard and this momentary confusion can cause them to stumble and fall.
People with dementia have difficulty remembering things and building up familiarity with where things are, so appropriate signage is important. Their more recent memories are lost first, so if toilet signs are a variation on the stick man that was common in the 60s, it might be meaningless to someone whose memory stops before then, for example. Attractions which cater for extended families will find it especially important to adopt this approach to ensure the whole family can enjoy their visit.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
More and more attractions aim to cater
for three generations of family visitors
FAT PLAnet 6. Design for obesity The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified obesity as an epidemic and attractions need to gear up to accommodate this.
We’re already seeing a strengthening in domestic markets as obese people who are unable to fly holiday at home. We expect attractions to find they are increasingly catering for two distinct groups of customers among their clientele: obese domestic and non-obese tourist groups. Each has very different needs in terms of both design and operations. In museums and other non-theme and waterpark attractions, the obese need wider corridors, bigger turnstiles and toilet cubicles as well as places to sit. The biggest pressure comes in theme parks and waterparks where obese riders need plus-sized seats and redesigned rollercoasters, ride systems and flumes.
We expect the US to lead the world in obesity design, with the provision of extended seat belts, larger seats, more buoyant boats on water rides, and deeper, wider flumes. Where rides can’t be modified, sample seats enable overweight visitors to try them for size before queuing in vain.
Staff can be trained in how to deal with this sensitive issue and websites can prepare visitors before their arrival by posting ride weight restrictions in addition to the usual height restrictions listed.
photo: FOTOLIA.com/Kletr
The US is likely to become the world leader in designing for obesity
Layered Experiences 7. Ride Gamification Developers have been testing the use of VR headset systems on rollercoasters to enable interactive on-ride games with a leaderboard for all to see and try to beat.
The application of gameplay in the industry can turn a rollercoaster into a space battle or make learning fun for youngsters. This will be used as a tool to draw in a larger audience – young and old – and increase satisfaction. The idea of using games to bring visitors back – as gamification not only improves ride repeatability, but the game software itself can be changed from time to time – will work hand-in-hand with the development of virtual and augmented reality technology.
PHOTO: EUROPA PARK
VR can reinvent a park experience
The New Wearables 8. Invisibles As wearables innovators and activity app developers such as Jawbone, FitBit and Strava battle for market share, the next phase of activity and wellness monitoring is already being imagined and prototyped quietly behind closed doors.
We’ll move from a time of wearables to a new evolution in body computing – the age of invisibles – when sensors are integrated into the body to give a continuous data stream and establish a complete picture of what’s going on with our responses. This will remove the need to carry devices and enable integration with other technology.
photo: SHUTTERSTOCK.com/luxorphoto
Wearable technology is moving to the next level
Focus for Innovation 9. Interactive planetariums We expect planetariums to become more interactive by embracing a range of complementary technology.
Dome theatres will offer film-quality visuals that can be customised to create immersive, realistic experiences. They will also be gamified, so individuals can meet and interact in alternative universes of their own making. VR will be incorporated to add further dimensions to the experience.
Live presentations and visualisations created in one planetarium are increasingly being re-packaged and distributed online and to other planetariums, meaning visitors can enjoy more interaction and a greater sense of community is being built.
The potential for planetariums to be used as immersive educational platforms outside astronomy – for example, Sciss’s Neurotours, a neuroimaging visualisation based on real brain data – will be realised.
PHOTO: 7th Sense
Visitors’ actions and decisions will have real-time consequences on the show narrative as planetariums become more interactive
Thrills 10. Extreme water Waterpark suppliers are pushing the boundaries, as teenage and adult visitors seek the same type of high-adrenaline experience they get at a theme park. To meet the demand, ride designers are getting more creative, filing more patents and pioneering new techniques in fabrication and structural engineering. Robotics and advanced computer modelling software are also aiding ride designers in the hunt for bigger thrills.
Waterpark suppliers are offering hybrid rides which offer creative ride paths that can be customised around the park’s site and requirements. It’s about taller, faster slides, zero gravity drops, and incorporating elements from other types of rides like roller coasters.
Sky Turtle Technologies has even developed a prototype for a looping waterslide. Riders will travel inside an aluminum capsule, bolted in by lap restraints, to enable a fully vertical loop for the first time. Corkscrews, multi-lane and multi-loop waterslides not dissimilar to rollercoasters are likely to follow.
Waterpark attractions will also be enhanced by gaming technology, where riders can play shooting or racing contests in a digital environment. We expect waterparks to be developed with gaming and competing being central to a fully immersive experience.
Designers are pushing the boundaries of engineering to create bigger and better thrills for waterpark visitors
In Sight of Change 11. Africa Back in 2003, Goldman Sachs coined the term BRIC – the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China – to group together what it predicted would be the world’s dominant economies by 2025.
Next the CIVETS were identified as being the ones to watch: Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa – the acronym was coined by Robert Ward at the Economist Intelligence Unit to predict the next emerging economies.
We think much of the rest of Africa will show exciting growth over the next two decades, with the attractions industry identified as a driver for both domestic and inbound tourism.
Kigali Art Centre is being built in Rwanda
A Global Market 12. Halal Muslims spent $140bn (£97bn, €125bn) on international travel in 2013, almost 13 per cent of global travel expenditures, according to a report by Crescent Rating. The agency is one of a growing number of firms that rate facilities on their adherence to Islamic principles, such as no alcohol or gambling and offering halal-certified food and gender-segregated facilities. Attractions in Muslim countries already offer separate male and female areas and halal restaurants and we predict these offers will be more widely available as halal tourism picks up pace.
Instant Connections 13. Beacons Beacon technology is opening up opportunities for enhanced experience design and increased monetisation.
The proximity-based technology transmits a signal – primarily through Bluetooth or wifi – to a smartphone or tablet, delivering information directly to the palm of the hand. The ability to send targeted information to customers as they walk past certain hotspots, essentially turns handheld devices into responsive tour guides or advertising boards (see page 68).
A February 2015 analysis on the impact of beacons by Business Insider hailed it as “one of the biggest developments since WiFi”, saying that if used as an advertising tool in the retail industry, it could have an immediate impact of $4bn (£2.8bn, €3.6bn) in the next year.
We expect attractions to install beacons during their next investment cycle.
Beacon technology is changing the way we experience visitor attractions
A New Partnership 14. Attractions & spa We believe the technology used within the attractions industry has huge potential for use in the development of spa and wellness facilities and expect significant collaborations to emerge in this sector.
Innovations such as immersive environments, virtual reality, haptic technology, facial recognition software and augmented reality could all be deployed to create amazing experiences for customers within the spa and wellness industry.
In addition, the attractions industry’s expertise in creating vivid customer journeys and high levels of engagement can also be used by spas to heighten and elevate the experience being delivered.
Other overlaps could include the use of 360° screens and multimedia to create an immersive ambience or to add another layer to the spa experience. In another application, Asian skincare brand AmorePacific worked with BRC Imagination Arts to create an award-winning brandland that mixes a spa theme and attraction in Osan, South Korea.
Story Garden opened in late 2013 and is located at AmorePacific’s Beauty Campus, along with a botanic garden and art museum. It won a TEA Outstanding Achievement accolade at the Thea Awards in 2014 in recognition of its innovative approach. We expect more spa and attractions tie-ups to follow.
BRC Imagination Arts worked alongside the global spa brand AmorePacific to create a themed visitor attraction in Osan, South Korea
OPENING UP 15. Cuba Tourism is set to take off in Cuba as diplomatic relations with the US thaw for the first time in 30 years. In early 2015, US President Barack Obama announced a detente with the Cuban government and recommended the country be taken off the US terrorism list. The number of Americans visiting Cuba jumped immediately – up 36 per cent between January and May 2015 compared with the previous year. While business and tourist embargoes with the US remain intact, investors who strike up partnerships in Cuba now will be ahead of the game.
photo: shutterstock.com/kamira
More tourists are visiting Havana, Cuba
New Vompetition 16. China innovates With its high capacity for low-cost manufacturing, China pumps out vast quantities of goods for world markets.
China has had a reputation as being light on its ability to innovate – especially in the attractions sector, with US and European companies behind most of the design. However, with Disney and Universal now building in Shanghai and Beijing and sourcing materials and equipment from local fabricators – educating them in the process – we expect new Chinese suppliers to emerge on the world stage, offering top-class products and creating new competition.
PHOTO: SHANGHAI DISNEY RESORT
Chinese contractors and fabricators are taking the opportunity to learn from Disney
Physical World 17. Tech backlash As attractions embrace new technologies and increasingly envelop visitors in digital and virtual worlds, they need to consider how to also provide meaningful experiences that connect the visitor with the physical world around them.
How attractions offset, balance or even counteract the digital realm will become an important design consideration.
Visitors will increasingly want to express themselves as sentient, physical, social beings. Physical movement will become a more important part of learning experiences within a digital environment. Attention must be brought to the physical architecture and environment of attractions. Social interaction (non-digital) can be encouraged through activities.
Attractions will capitalise on their ability to provide an interactive social space for future generations who will be evermore immersed in and reliant on technology.
PHOTO: MoMA NEW YORK
Attractions must learn to offset, balance or even counteract the growing digital realm
New Market 18. Panama This year, a new lane will open in the Panama Canal, doubling the capacity of the route that links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and effectively creating a cruise ship superhighway.
The canal, a visitor attraction in its own right, will soon be able to host the world’s largest cruise ships, which disembark 5,000 passengers at a time. Notably, cruise liners are also gaining nearly 7 per cent more customers annually.
As the canal forms the foundation of Panama’s economy, it’s predicted that GDP will double in the next eight years. These signs are good news for existing and upcoming attractions operators who are planning to invest in the country.
Panama has recently pulled out all the stops to create the world’s first museum of biodiversity, the Biomuseo.
This piece of statement architecture rises from the Panama Canal in a concertina of primary colours. Designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, whose wife is Panamanian, the museum focuses on the importance of the isthmus and its biodiversity.
The scientific content of the museum was researched and curated by teams from the Smithsonian and the University of Panama, with galleries by New York-based Bruce Mau Design.
We expect to see further growth in Panama’s attractions and tourism sectors.
photo: FERNANDO ALDA
The Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo is a $60m investment in Panama’s future
Getting Personal 19. Retail customisation We expect attractions’ merchandising to increasingly draw on mass customisation technologies which are being used in the wider retail industry. Instead of exiting through the gift shop, visitors will be invited to design their own products on an interactive digital platform with 3D graphics software.
A user-friendly program will enable them to choose the type of merchandise, the colours, style and size – and even customise items with their own text and photography which was taken that day.
Products will either be made and sent on to the visitor – opening up avenues for post-visit engagement – or 3D printed on the spot, as already happens during Disney’s Star Wars – D-Tech Me experience. Visitor data collected during their visit will prompt and guide the customisation process.
Visitors use interactive digital platforms to design their own retail products
Living on Site 20. Attractions real estate The value of residential real estate far exceeds that paid for non-residential in almost all cases and in other areas of the leisure industry, residential is being added to the mix to carry capital costs and create additional revenue streams.
Consumers can now opt to live in their favourite hotel, spa, resort or health club and the addition of the leisure element to residential increases the value of the real estate by an average of 30 per cent.
We believe that there would be a demand for real estate linked to visitor attractions and expect a wide range of attractions to add residential elements to their property portfolio in the future.
Many attractions have extensive land and property holdings which could be straightforwardly developed to add residential elements, without it being detrimental to the attractions element of the business or operation.
Disney’s Four Seasons private homes at Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando
TOP 20 PREDICTIONS 2016 1. Underground attractions 2. Biofeedback 3. Vintage 4. Dressing up 5. Dementia-friendly design 6. Design for obesity 7. Ride gamification 8. Invisibles 9. Interactive planetariums 10. Extreme water 11. Africa 12. Halal tourism 13. Beacons 14. Attractions & spa 15. Cuba 16. China innovates 17. Tech backlash 18. Panama 19. Retail customisation 20. Attractions real estate
Subterranean 1. Underground attractions High-up attractions have dominated the news over the past three years – giving customers an adrenaline rush without much, if any, physical exertion or risk.
Now adventure attractions are going underground, using existing cave systems and quarries or creating new ones. Into the Glacier is Iceland’s latest opening, with backing from one of the country’s leading pension funds. Guests are transported on an ex-NATO missile launcher to the manmade ice caves deep in the Langjökull glacier, where they can admire the naturally occurring blue ice.
Bounce Below in Snowdonia, Wales, is another new type of attraction, where an underground cavern in a slate quarry is home to three giant net trampolines, where visitors are set free to bounce across the vast subterranean playground (see page 82). At the same site, Zip World Caverns enables daredevil tourists to enjoy an underground assault course of zip lines, rope bridges and tunnels.
The Into the Glacier attraction takes visitors deep into the ice of Langjökull, Iceland
Customisation 2. Biofeedback Ride designers are creating evermore immersive and thrilling experiences thanks to emerging technology. Computer-controlled robotic systems can even steer individual seats using biofeedback.
By measuring involuntary responses like breathing, rides can automatically adapt to riders. For example, elastic chest sensors integrated in ride seat safety harnesses can physically and psychologically push back at riders while they struggle to control the ride and their own bodies, resulting in an engaging experience that’s thrilling and responsive.
Alternatively, breath-control masks with built in respirator flow sensors and microphones that capture breath rates and vocal responses can be used to enhance the intensity of everything from culture to horror rides and experiences.
The technology has masses of creative potential and studios will soon begin to realise its value. Bio-activated sensor technology could have applications in horror mazes, haunted houses, dark rides and large format films.
Bio-sensors could be fitted to participants in a game, and used to trigger locks, lights and motors, for example. A player might control their heart rate, breath and posture to trigger them – breathing on a lock opens it or raising the heartbeat changes the music, for example.
Biofeedback can be incorporated into rides and installations, responding to individual visitors to create a personalised experience
New Spin 3. Vintage It’s happening with fashion and dining, and now it looks as though vintage is coming to the attractions industry.
Plans are in the works to revamp the New York State fair with a heritage feel and the reopening of Dreamland in Margate, Kent, UK – with design by Wayne Hemingway – is further evidence of the growing popularity of the vintage design ethos.
The trend ties in with our dressing up trend (see 4. Dressing Up) where attractions visitors choose their attire to tie in with the theme of the attraction that they’re visiting.
Vintage also works well for F&B and retail. We expect it to grow in all areas.
Special Occasion 4. Dressing up Disney fans started the trend by dressing up as their favourite characters to visit the theme parks, creating a phenomenon known as Disneybounding. Add to this the popularity of cosplay and we expect the dressing up trend to spread more widely in the market and begin to appear at different types of attractions. As guests get evermore creative with their dressing up interpretations, operators can take advantage of the increased visitor engagement and social media activity to build a tribe of engaged fans and advocates around their brands.
Disney’s Ariel gets a steampunk twist
AGEING POPULATION 5. Dementia-friendly design The ageing global population will prompt rapid growth in dementia-friendly design.
Well thought-out colour and décor schemes are needed for those who have problems with depth perception and visual processing, for example. Patterns on the floor may appear to be a trip hazard and this momentary confusion can cause them to stumble and fall.
People with dementia have difficulty remembering things and building up familiarity with where things are, so appropriate signage is important. Their more recent memories are lost first, so if toilet signs are a variation on the stick man that was common in the 60s, it might be meaningless to someone whose memory stops before then, for example. Attractions which cater for extended families will find it especially important to adopt this approach to ensure the whole family can enjoy their visit.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
More and more attractions aim to cater
for three generations of family visitors
FAT PLAnet 6. Design for obesity The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified obesity as an epidemic and attractions need to gear up to accommodate this.
We’re already seeing a strengthening in domestic markets as obese people who are unable to fly holiday at home. We expect attractions to find they are increasingly catering for two distinct groups of customers among their clientele: obese domestic and non-obese tourist groups. Each has very different needs in terms of both design and operations. In museums and other non-theme and waterpark attractions, the obese need wider corridors, bigger turnstiles and toilet cubicles as well as places to sit. The biggest pressure comes in theme parks and waterparks where obese riders need plus-sized seats and redesigned rollercoasters, ride systems and flumes.
We expect the US to lead the world in obesity design, with the provision of extended seat belts, larger seats, more buoyant boats on water rides, and deeper, wider flumes. Where rides can’t be modified, sample seats enable overweight visitors to try them for size before queuing in vain.
Staff can be trained in how to deal with this sensitive issue and websites can prepare visitors before their arrival by posting ride weight restrictions in addition to the usual height restrictions listed.
photo: FOTOLIA.com/Kletr
The US is likely to become the world leader in designing for obesity
Layered Experiences 7. Ride Gamification Developers have been testing the use of VR headset systems on rollercoasters to enable interactive on-ride games with a leaderboard for all to see and try to beat.
The application of gameplay in the industry can turn a rollercoaster into a space battle or make learning fun for youngsters. This will be used as a tool to draw in a larger audience – young and old – and increase satisfaction. The idea of using games to bring visitors back – as gamification not only improves ride repeatability, but the game software itself can be changed from time to time – will work hand-in-hand with the development of virtual and augmented reality technology.
PHOTO: EUROPA PARK
VR can reinvent a park experience
The New Wearables 8. Invisibles As wearables innovators and activity app developers such as Jawbone, FitBit and Strava battle for market share, the next phase of activity and wellness monitoring is already being imagined and prototyped quietly behind closed doors.
We’ll move from a time of wearables to a new evolution in body computing – the age of invisibles – when sensors are integrated into the body to give a continuous data stream and establish a complete picture of what’s going on with our responses. This will remove the need to carry devices and enable integration with other technology.
photo: SHUTTERSTOCK.com/luxorphoto
Wearable technology is moving to the next level
Focus for Innovation 9. Interactive planetariums We expect planetariums to become more interactive by embracing a range of complementary technology.
Dome theatres will offer film-quality visuals that can be customised to create immersive, realistic experiences. They will also be gamified, so individuals can meet and interact in alternative universes of their own making. VR will be incorporated to add further dimensions to the experience.
Live presentations and visualisations created in one planetarium are increasingly being re-packaged and distributed online and to other planetariums, meaning visitors can enjoy more interaction and a greater sense of community is being built.
The potential for planetariums to be used as immersive educational platforms outside astronomy – for example, Sciss’s Neurotours, a neuroimaging visualisation based on real brain data – will be realised.
PHOTO: 7th Sense
Visitors’ actions and decisions will have real-time consequences on the show narrative as planetariums become more interactive
Thrills 10. Extreme water Waterpark suppliers are pushing the boundaries, as teenage and adult visitors seek the same type of high-adrenaline experience they get at a theme park. To meet the demand, ride designers are getting more creative, filing more patents and pioneering new techniques in fabrication and structural engineering. Robotics and advanced computer modelling software are also aiding ride designers in the hunt for bigger thrills.
Waterpark suppliers are offering hybrid rides which offer creative ride paths that can be customised around the park’s site and requirements. It’s about taller, faster slides, zero gravity drops, and incorporating elements from other types of rides like roller coasters.
Sky Turtle Technologies has even developed a prototype for a looping waterslide. Riders will travel inside an aluminum capsule, bolted in by lap restraints, to enable a fully vertical loop for the first time. Corkscrews, multi-lane and multi-loop waterslides not dissimilar to rollercoasters are likely to follow.
Waterpark attractions will also be enhanced by gaming technology, where riders can play shooting or racing contests in a digital environment. We expect waterparks to be developed with gaming and competing being central to a fully immersive experience.
Designers are pushing the boundaries of engineering to create bigger and better thrills for waterpark visitors
In Sight of Change 11. Africa Back in 2003, Goldman Sachs coined the term BRIC – the acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China – to group together what it predicted would be the world’s dominant economies by 2025.
Next the CIVETS were identified as being the ones to watch: Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa – the acronym was coined by Robert Ward at the Economist Intelligence Unit to predict the next emerging economies.
We think much of the rest of Africa will show exciting growth over the next two decades, with the attractions industry identified as a driver for both domestic and inbound tourism.
Kigali Art Centre is being built in Rwanda
A Global Market 12. Halal Muslims spent $140bn (£97bn, €125bn) on international travel in 2013, almost 13 per cent of global travel expenditures, according to a report by Crescent Rating. The agency is one of a growing number of firms that rate facilities on their adherence to Islamic principles, such as no alcohol or gambling and offering halal-certified food and gender-segregated facilities. Attractions in Muslim countries already offer separate male and female areas and halal restaurants and we predict these offers will be more widely available as halal tourism picks up pace.
Instant Connections 13. Beacons Beacon technology is opening up opportunities for enhanced experience design and increased monetisation.
The proximity-based technology transmits a signal – primarily through Bluetooth or wifi – to a smartphone or tablet, delivering information directly to the palm of the hand. The ability to send targeted information to customers as they walk past certain hotspots, essentially turns handheld devices into responsive tour guides or advertising boards (see page 68).
A February 2015 analysis on the impact of beacons by Business Insider hailed it as “one of the biggest developments since WiFi”, saying that if used as an advertising tool in the retail industry, it could have an immediate impact of $4bn (£2.8bn, €3.6bn) in the next year.
We expect attractions to install beacons during their next investment cycle.
Beacon technology is changing the way we experience visitor attractions
A New Partnership 14. Attractions & spa We believe the technology used within the attractions industry has huge potential for use in the development of spa and wellness facilities and expect significant collaborations to emerge in this sector.
Innovations such as immersive environments, virtual reality, haptic technology, facial recognition software and augmented reality could all be deployed to create amazing experiences for customers within the spa and wellness industry.
In addition, the attractions industry’s expertise in creating vivid customer journeys and high levels of engagement can also be used by spas to heighten and elevate the experience being delivered.
Other overlaps could include the use of 360° screens and multimedia to create an immersive ambience or to add another layer to the spa experience. In another application, Asian skincare brand AmorePacific worked with BRC Imagination Arts to create an award-winning brandland that mixes a spa theme and attraction in Osan, South Korea.
Story Garden opened in late 2013 and is located at AmorePacific’s Beauty Campus, along with a botanic garden and art museum. It won a TEA Outstanding Achievement accolade at the Thea Awards in 2014 in recognition of its innovative approach. We expect more spa and attractions tie-ups to follow.
BRC Imagination Arts worked alongside the global spa brand AmorePacific to create a themed visitor attraction in Osan, South Korea
OPENING UP 15. Cuba Tourism is set to take off in Cuba as diplomatic relations with the US thaw for the first time in 30 years. In early 2015, US President Barack Obama announced a detente with the Cuban government and recommended the country be taken off the US terrorism list. The number of Americans visiting Cuba jumped immediately – up 36 per cent between January and May 2015 compared with the previous year. While business and tourist embargoes with the US remain intact, investors who strike up partnerships in Cuba now will be ahead of the game.
photo: shutterstock.com/kamira
More tourists are visiting Havana, Cuba
New Vompetition 16. China innovates With its high capacity for low-cost manufacturing, China pumps out vast quantities of goods for world markets.
China has had a reputation as being light on its ability to innovate – especially in the attractions sector, with US and European companies behind most of the design. However, with Disney and Universal now building in Shanghai and Beijing and sourcing materials and equipment from local fabricators – educating them in the process – we expect new Chinese suppliers to emerge on the world stage, offering top-class products and creating new competition.
PHOTO: SHANGHAI DISNEY RESORT
Chinese contractors and fabricators are taking the opportunity to learn from Disney
Physical World 17. Tech backlash As attractions embrace new technologies and increasingly envelop visitors in digital and virtual worlds, they need to consider how to also provide meaningful experiences that connect the visitor with the physical world around them.
How attractions offset, balance or even counteract the digital realm will become an important design consideration.
Visitors will increasingly want to express themselves as sentient, physical, social beings. Physical movement will become a more important part of learning experiences within a digital environment. Attention must be brought to the physical architecture and environment of attractions. Social interaction (non-digital) can be encouraged through activities.
Attractions will capitalise on their ability to provide an interactive social space for future generations who will be evermore immersed in and reliant on technology.
PHOTO: MoMA NEW YORK
Attractions must learn to offset, balance or even counteract the growing digital realm
New Market 18. Panama This year, a new lane will open in the Panama Canal, doubling the capacity of the route that links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and effectively creating a cruise ship superhighway.
The canal, a visitor attraction in its own right, will soon be able to host the world’s largest cruise ships, which disembark 5,000 passengers at a time. Notably, cruise liners are also gaining nearly 7 per cent more customers annually.
As the canal forms the foundation of Panama’s economy, it’s predicted that GDP will double in the next eight years. These signs are good news for existing and upcoming attractions operators who are planning to invest in the country.
Panama has recently pulled out all the stops to create the world’s first museum of biodiversity, the Biomuseo.
This piece of statement architecture rises from the Panama Canal in a concertina of primary colours. Designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry, whose wife is Panamanian, the museum focuses on the importance of the isthmus and its biodiversity.
The scientific content of the museum was researched and curated by teams from the Smithsonian and the University of Panama, with galleries by New York-based Bruce Mau Design.
We expect to see further growth in Panama’s attractions and tourism sectors.
photo: FERNANDO ALDA
The Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo is a $60m investment in Panama’s future
Getting Personal 19. Retail customisation We expect attractions’ merchandising to increasingly draw on mass customisation technologies which are being used in the wider retail industry. Instead of exiting through the gift shop, visitors will be invited to design their own products on an interactive digital platform with 3D graphics software.
A user-friendly program will enable them to choose the type of merchandise, the colours, style and size – and even customise items with their own text and photography which was taken that day.
Products will either be made and sent on to the visitor – opening up avenues for post-visit engagement – or 3D printed on the spot, as already happens during Disney’s Star Wars – D-Tech Me experience. Visitor data collected during their visit will prompt and guide the customisation process.
Visitors use interactive digital platforms to design their own retail products
Living on Site 20. Attractions real estate The value of residential real estate far exceeds that paid for non-residential in almost all cases and in other areas of the leisure industry, residential is being added to the mix to carry capital costs and create additional revenue streams.
Consumers can now opt to live in their favourite hotel, spa, resort or health club and the addition of the leisure element to residential increases the value of the real estate by an average of 30 per cent.
We believe that there would be a demand for real estate linked to visitor attractions and expect a wide range of attractions to add residential elements to their property portfolio in the future.
Many attractions have extensive land and property holdings which could be straightforwardly developed to add residential elements, without it being detrimental to the attractions element of the business or operation.
Disney’s Four Seasons private homes at Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando
Numbers from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, (ALVA) show that Royal attractions
saw a huge increase in visitor numbers during 2023 – the coronation year of King Charles III.
Off the back of the success of the first round of Everyday Heritage Grants in 2022, Historic
England is funding 56 creative projects that honour the heritage of working-class England.
Universal has revealed it will be adding new Harry Potter attractions, alongside Super Nintendo
and How to Train Your Dragon worlds to its Florida resort.
Populous have unveiled their plans for a state-of-the-art e-sports arena, designed to stand as a
central landmark in Qiddaya City’s gaming and e-sports district, Saudi Arabia.
Immersive entertainment specialists, Layered Reality, is creating a tribute to Elvis Presley
featuring a concert experience with a life-sized digital Elvis.
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