As they take stock of the season just gone, blooloop catches up with executives from two popular UK resorts: Flamingo Land Resort in the north and Crealy Theme Park & Resort in the south. Did Brits visit in the same numbers now that they can holiday abroad again? And how did each venue cope with rising costs, staffing issues and other challenges?
Located in Devon, Crealy Theme Park & Resort was once one of two Crealy venues in the Southwest of England. Its owners used the proceeds of the sale in 2015 of what is now Camel Creek Adventure Park in the neighbouring county of Cornwall to develop their resort offer in Devon. The on-site lodges, glamping and camping facilities served them well the past two years as Britain emerged from the pandemic and families holidayed at home.
“We saw a huge spike, as every family bought a tent, caravan or motorhome and headed for the Southwest,” says general manager Josh Haywood.
Up in North Yorkshire, Flamingo Land theme park and zoo has had a significant holiday park offering for many years.
“We already have a loyal customer base,” says Gordon Gibb, CEO at Flamingo Land Resort. “But Yorkshire’s become a really strong brand. There’s so much going on in the area around here, and there are loads of documentaries featuring Yorkshire at the minute.”
Paying for quality
‘As seen on TV’ has also been a good calling card for Crealy Theme Park, which has featured in two series of Channel 5 programme Happy Campers. This, together with the opening of Sooty Land in May, helped the Devon park achieve similar attendance to 2019 levels. The Christmas season has still to run its course, however, approximately 465,000 guests are expected by the end of the year.
“All this summer, we heard about people having OK but not fantastic seasons,” says Haywood. “Whereas we’ve done better than we expected.”
The post-lockdown boom may be subsiding. Yet Crealy is now enjoying a more nationwide profile.
“Getting on board with Sooty has seen people come from all over the country,” says sales and marketing manager Jodie Hodgkins. “Before it was just up the M5 [motorway] corridor; we never used to tap into London, Essex, Kent. We’ve even had families from as far north as Scotland.”
At Flamingo Land, Gibb thinks that: “Customers are becoming a little more discerning. They will spend more for a day out if it’s quality. We’re not particularly cheap, because we resist the scatter gun half-price promotion strategy of some operators. However, I think people realise we are not just a theme park.”
With its tagline ‘Wild Animals, Wilder Rides’ and the addition of the word resort, Flamingo Land succinctly sums up its offering. And in spite of rising operating costs and the introduction of a 10-inversion coaster, admission prices were not increased this season.
Rising costs
“I think there’s been a little bit of opportunism in other sectors,” says Gibb. “The biggest cost for us is utilities. We came out of a long-term agreement for electricity and were offered a 350% increase, which we just weren’t prepared to accept. We did a bit better, but it was torturous. There’s nothing you can do about it really though.”
“We have daily discussions about power usage and are going to have to be clever in next year’s budgets,” says Haywood at Crealy Theme Park. “Our electricity bill is going to quadruple. We’ve invested in solar panels, but that will help only partially. Do we start opening our water rides an hour later, or doing rides on rotation on quieter days? I feel sorry for those operators who’ve got huge launch coasters.”
Even before the rise in energy bills, UK attraction operators had to contend with a return to 20% VAT this season. This followed a 5% and briefly 12.5% tax rate during the pandemic. This coming April, the national minimum wage will rise from £9.50 ($11.35) to over £10 an hour for those over 21 (£7.48 for those under 21 and £5.28 for those under 16).
Both Crealy and Flamingo Land already pay employees above the minimum rates. The latter did, however, have to bus staff in this season from Middlesborough, about an hour away, where there is a greater population and unemployment than locally.
Where does it all end?
“I’ve heard horror stories from other places,” says Haywood. “There was a huge problem last summer with an oversupply of tourists in Cornwall. “Businesses just couldn’t get enough staff. People avoided Cornwall this year and stayed in Devon.”
Crealy Theme Park & Resort was careful not to overcharge for accommodation. “We put up prices a bit for our lodges because had to make up the deficit [during lockdown]. However, we weren’t greedy, that’s for sure. We realised we’re going to need to fill them again in subsequent years. Whereas a lot of holiday park operators hiked their prices the past two years and haven’t retained that level of business.”
“The airport chaos earlier this year helped the domestic tourism market,” says Gibb. “But that will not last forever. Especially when the weather’s bad and people want to seek out the sun again. However, the spending crunch will affect everyone in our industry, and we are not an essential purchase. Maybe the industry will become a bit more regionalised like it used to be 30 years ago. Or perhaps we’ll become more of a day visit than a shorter stay.”
“It’s difficult,” says Haywood. “With the pandemic, there was always a glimmer of hope; with the jabs, we might survive and bounce back. But with rising food prices, mortgages and fuel bills the way they are, you don’t know where it all ends.”
Winter recreation at Crealy Theme Park & Flamingo Land
The Christmas season is now in full swing at both the resorts featured in this article. Families are expected both for day trips and winter breaks.
Visitors to Flamingo Land can enjoy its award-winning zoo and a handful of children’s attractions including the Peter Rabbit Adventure playground. But thrill seekers will have to wait until next spring to ride Sik, the aforementioned new roller coaster.
“We are pleased with Flamingo Land’s financial performance for 2022 given the amount of uncertainty in the UK economy,” concludes Gibb. “We do have to be mindful that we opened a massive new coaster in July. So perhaps this protected us a bit from outside economic factors.”
The full Sooty Land experience is not available during the Christmas at Crealy season. However, guests can enjoy a special show featuring the famous bear and his puppet companions until December 23, along with other festive activities and attractions.
“Sooty has had an effect this season for sure,” says Haywood. “We’ve seen both a rise in retail spend and a massive uptake in sales of season passes.”
Sooty Land success at Crealy Theme Park
The new themed area at Crealy Theme Park features four themed outdoor rides and a playground including some wheelchair-accessible attractions. Daily Sooty Shows take place in the 700-seat Big Top Theatre. In addition, a building called The Pier houses indoor attractions such as the Sooty Hall of Fame, a mirror maze, interactive games, activities, soft play and themed food & beverage. This takes the resort’s weather-proof play offering to around 75,000 square feet (7,000 sq m).
A very British IP with a lot of nostalgia attached to it, Sooty is the star of the world’s longest-running children’s television programme. Sooty Land was created at Crealy in partnership with Sooty licence owners Richard and David Cadell. A smaller Sooty Show appeared previously at Brean Leisure Park in Somerset, where the brothers were once ride operators.
“Richard was keen to take Sooty to the next level,” says Haywood. “He’s done more TV and recorded a Christmas single this year with Sooty. There’s a lot of activity behind the brand.”
Next season Crealy Resort will strengthen its relationship with the bear and his puppet friends when it introduces some Sooty-themed lodges. Staycations clearly aren’t going out of fashion any time soon. And neither is this tried and tested IP.
Top image: Sik coaster at Flamingo Land © Owen Ralph
