by James Kennard, Leisure Development Partners
Analyzing and understanding the available resident and tourist markets is one of the first and most fundamental steps in feasibility and attraction planning. Demand for all attraction typologies is drawn from these markets, and therefore, it is imperative to grasp their size, characteristics, and future growth.
While no attractions market is the same, small island nations are a particularly interesting subset of markets with inherently unique features. At LDP, we have completed market and feasibility studies across multiple islands over the past few years, and one of the main commonalities between them is the importance of tourism to their economies.
Unique markets
In the first chart, we show markets we have worked in recently and the mix of residents (people who live there) and tourists (those who visit). In all instances, the number of tourists arriving each year outweighs the number of residents, in some cases by large multiples. Tourists represent over 80 percent of the available markets for an attraction in any one year in Aruba, Bermuda, and Iceland.
This alone makes these markets unique. More interestingly, most tourists are international, as there is typically little domestic overnight tourism in relatively small island nations. This creates an unusual but interesting dynamic for would-be island attractions developers.
In most of our work, attraction developers or investors have looked to tap into the international tourist market. This is logical, as they are typically the largest segment and biggest spenders. For public sector clients, the focus is often on enhancing the overall leisure and entertainment offer to drive tourism and economic impact.
For tourism-focused projects, it is critical to understand the island visitors, including their demographic profile, how long they are staying, where they are coming from, why they are coming, and what the seasonal visitor patterns are. The profile of the tourist market will help determine the type of attraction and shape the attractions’ scaling and programme. It will also determine projected attendance and financial performance.
(On other occasions, we have analyzed planned attractions that seek to appeal to the resident markets. In this case, developing highly repeatable attractions can be an effective way to maximize visitation from a relatively modest number of inhabitants. High-value, low-throughput attractions are also well suited to smaller markets for obvious reasons).
Seasonality of island attractions
In the following chart, we show the seasonality of visitors to the markets we have worked in recently. In places like Bermuda, Malta, and Cyprus, there are clear summer peaks in tourist arrivals. Most visitors in these markets are on summer vacations, and if pitched right, attractions should be able to appeal to and draw from this market. This can mean a busy few months during the summer at attractions and then, in many cases, closing for the cooler, quieter months.
In locations such as Mauritius and Iceland, where the tourism seasonality is relatively flat, tourist demand is available to attractions year-round, meaning operating seasons are far longer. Iceland is a particularly interesting market with adventure visits during long summer days and visitors drawn by the Northern Lights during the shorter winter months.
Another example of a solid year-round tourist market is Tenerife (although we can’t claim to have worked there recently!), which drives good year-round visitation at Siam Park (one of the world’s leading water parks).
Overall, the island markets can represent a challenge in terms of attraction development as they are often not of the scale of other mainland locations. Scaling a project to the market based on robust demand forecasts is key to good attraction development planning. Understanding the nuances in the visitor profile and seasonal patterns can help shape projects and lead to clear strategies for attraction development.
James Kennard and the LDP team will attend IAAPA Expo Europe 2024 in Amsterdam. They will be at booth #11409 during the trade show, from 24 to 26 September.
