Figures just released by Visit Britain/Visit England in its Annual Review 2016-2017 show a strong growth from inbound tourism with both an increase in visitor numbers and visitor spending. This is contributed to by an increase in the number of Brits taking more holidays at home. The first half of 2017 saw an increase in domestic, overnight holidays in England up 7% with visitor spending up 17%.*

So, what does this mean for the Visitor Attraction sector?

A general increase in visitor numbers across the country means that there is huge potential for visitor attractions to tap into this increase and encourage more people through the gates, and hopefully increase visitor spend.

Looking more closely, this general increase in visitor numbers is evident in many of the visitor attraction sectors. The latest visitor attraction trends data published in July 2017 shows positive growth with outdoor attractions generally performing well in 2016. Interestingly this tallies with slightly drier, warmer than average weather for most of the year.

We’ve highlighted some of the categories that have seen the largest growth in visitor numbers:

Greenspan works with a wide range of visitor attractions, and the growth figures obtained by Visit Britain/Visit England correlate with our experience of the sector. With a large number of projects throughout 2017, including farm diversification, adventure play, theming, indoor play, animal attractions, and adventure golf, to name but a few, Greenspan have worked hard to ensure that visitor attractions are making the most of every opportunity to increase their visitor numbers and visitor spend.

With Visit Britain’s forecast of overseas visits to the UK increasing by 6%, and visitor spend increasing 14%, the growth trend looks set to continue. The challenge is how will visitor attractions grab the opportunities that this growth brings

Do you operate a visitor attraction and want to explore how you can encourage more visitors through the gate, and increase visitor spend?

Talk to us, established 1976, Greenspan Projects Ltd are a forward-thinking, market focussed company delivering creative design and build solutions to the visitor attraction industry by providing top-level service from concept to completion.

*Data source: www.visitbritain.org

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