Smeetz, a provider of smart all-in-one ticketing software for leisure and cultural attractions, has been providing its digital solutions to a range of attractions throughout the pandemic, as operators navigate through the challenges raised by COVID-19. During this time, it has been working with clients to help them rethink the welcoming of visitors as venues reopen.
Guest expectations have changed as a result of the pandemic, leading to the wider adoption of newer technologies, such as dynamic pricing and dynamic packaging.
Dynamic pricing
Attractions of all kinds, from museums and theme parks to zoos and aquariums, have had to adapt to new regulations and customer behaviours, and many of these changes are set to be long term.
For instance, the introduction of pre-booked slots began as a necessity but is likely to become the norm. Functions like capacity limitation and dynamic pricing help operators balance peak and off-peak periods and better distribute the influx of visitors.
Dynamic pricing has been around for some time in the travel and tourism industries, for example with hotel prices and aeroplane tickets. This model encourages visitors to plan their visit in advance and at times of lower attendance. Variable pricing models help to increase attendance during low-traffic periods while keeping institutions profitable during high-traffic periods, despite new regulations. Many attractions are now adopting this model.
Vaccine passports and package offers
Another issue raised recently is that of vaccine passports. In many attractions in Europe, visitors will need to show they have been vaccinated against the virus in order to be granted entry.
The Smeetz team has been working on this issue and is ready to help its clients implement checks in a streamlined manner. The integrated Smeetz ticketing solution allows the purchase of tickets to be authorised or not, on the basis of specific criteria such as a negative PCR test or vaccination booklet. The Smeetz scanner app can also scan and recognise the validity of COVID certificates around the world.
As they encourage visitors to return, many attractions have introduced new offers to attract local and domestic guests. Although not yet widespread in the leisure sector, the dynamic packaging dimension has already proved to be successful in other sectors, allowing unique and personalised experiences to be offered to consumers.
“With fewer people and less volume, many players have now seized the opportunity to think differently and offer experiences with greater added value, rather than trying to play with increased volumes,” says a statement from Smeetz. “That is for example the case of a leading chocolate museum in Germany and a family theme park & zoo in Ireland.
“In this context, the Smeetz team has redoubled its efforts since the beginning of the year and now enables players in the cultural and tourism sector to combine offers in an extremely simple way even between different service providers, transport companies and catering companies.”
Earlier this year, Smeetz announced that it had doubled its client base in the UK.
