Scottish Visitor Attraction Industry - Benchmarking Report
Added: 26 Jan 2024
To inform the industry and support the work ASVA does to represent it, a benchmarking report was commissioned in 2023. The work was completed by Shanks Research, and we are now pleased to share the results of this research.
This was the most comprehensive data gathering exercise undertaken within the attractions sector in Scotland and the results will be used by ASVA to inform, educate & inspire members and to help shape and influence future policy decisions taken at a Scottish and UK Governmental level.
Within the report you will find insights on: organisation size and structure, funding, marketing, ticketing, HR and employment, sustainability, visitor statistics, finance and more.
Just under 400 individual ASVA attractions submitted data for inclusion in the report, from which some of the key points are as follows:
- In 2022, attractions mainly invested in maintenance and upkeep, into the development of new facilities, and into marketing and promotion. These were common across all types of attractions.
- Visitors tend to be older than the population, with the most common age group being 55-64, and low numbers of under 25s.
- The most common awards held by attractions were the Visit Scotland Quality Assurance award, followed by the Green Tourism Award.
- 99% of attractions offer living wage salaries.
- Increased footfall was the main criteria of success for organisations.
- Funding comes mainly from ticket revenue, with more than a third of revenue coming from this source. Remining funding comes from retail –particularly key for distilleries.
- Half of tickets are still purchased as walk-up tickets. Adult ticket prices averaged around £13, while a child ticket cost £5.50. More than half had set prices, but some attractions are now branching out into variable pricing models.
The full in-depth report can be found in the members area here.
A huge thank you to those who took the time to contribute to the completion of the report, we appreciate your time and hope you find this report useful to use as a reference for future benchmarking and insights.
Please do provide any feedback to ASVA CEO, Michael at michael@asva.co.uk that can help to inform future benchmarking reports.