Blooming Success: How Outdoor Attractions Are Sweating Their Spring Assets
As we emerge from the chill of winter, attractions and outdoor venues are presented with a golden opportunity to capitalise on their gardens, grounds and other outdoor spaces. With longer days, milder temperatures, and the enchantment of blooming landscapes, the spring season provides a perfect backdrop for attracting the public.
Though the rainy season has felt endless, we stand poised for the spring months and, if UK attractions wish to make the most of their outdoor experiences, then the groundwork starts now.
Let’s explore the various ways to create a buzz around the grounds and look at how UK outdoor attractions can be sweating their spring assets:
How Attractions Can Showcase Springtime
Whether nestled in the countryside or perched in the heart of a bustling city, UK attractions with outdoor spaces can usually expect a rise in footfall in Spring. However, it is those that go full bloom with their outdoor assets and promotions that will truly blossom in spring.
The Royal Palaces, for instance, don’t just rely on their impressive architecture and indoor grandeur – they showcase their exquisite gardens. From formal flower beds and box hedging to tudor-inspired, baroque and Victorian cottage styles, each garden is unique. For this reason, the grounds of Kensington, Buckingham, and Hampton Court Palace, are a celebration of Britain’s passion for gardening and landscaping – A journey through traditions and trends.
Still, Hampton Court Palace, in particular, leverages its outdoor spaces to create a memorable springtime experience with flower festivals, the Easter Bunny Hunt and an artisan fayre. With over 100,000 tulip bulbs, Hampton Court Palace plays host to the biggest display of planted tulips at their annual tulip festival.
For historical attractions, springtime can be a wonderful opportunity to give visitors a glimpse of what life was really like. Warwick Castle hosts outdoor mediaeval-themed events such as jousting tournaments and falconry displays. Spring at the Weald and Downland Living Museum brings outdoor demonstrations celebrating rural heritage, from woodworking to gardening. Interactive experiences immerse visitors in springtime activities and educational workshops offer opportunities for all ages to celebrate the season and learn about traditional practices in a picturesque setting.
Attractions that have the benefit of outdoor space serve their visitors best when they invest in harnessing the natural beauty around them and incorporate experiences in keeping with the history or style of the site.
Attracting Visitors With Springtime Events
Inevitably, heritage sites with outdoor space and many National Trust spaces will host Easter events – most likely, easter egg hunts. Whilst organising typical springtime events is a positive way to embrace the season and meet visitor expectations, there are some equally compelling, more diverse ways in which outdoor spaces can be leveraged.
Attractions can be ideal venues for outdoor day festivals. Fearne Cotton, for instance, hosts her wellness-focused Happy Place festivals in the gardens of Chiswick House and Tatton Park and many other attractions host large-scale day events on their grounds in springtime. Historical venues, including Goodwood and Firle, often make the most of the warmer weather to revive past glamour with vintage-themed festivities. Some incorporate sculpture and art into the outdoor landscape transforming a stroll through the gardens into an open-air art exhibition.
For many attractions, such as theme parks, spring is when they begin to get busier. Still, without the school holidays and with the tourist season not yet fully begun, footfall needs harnessing. One of the ways Thorpe Park is encouraging spring visitors is by hosting a week-long Mardi Gras celebration. Amongst the rollercoasters and knuckle-whitening rides, there’ll be themed food stalls, live entertainment, music and parades through the park.
Large-scale events work well in spring months for attractions with generous grounds, but what about those with more modest outdoor spaces? How can they ensure their visitors won’t be attracted elsewhere when the sun makes an appearance?
Spring isn’t just about flowers; it’s about cultivating a sense of community, which is what Sky Garden has aimed to do with its rooftop space. Sky Garden in London is primarily known for its breathtaking city views. By tapping into the allure of a nature space against an urban backdrop, Sky Garden attracts visitors seeking a unique experience.In springtime, Sky Garden hosts seasonal events like rooftop yoga sessions, garden-themed cocktail evenings, and flower-arranging workshops.
Attractions with outdoor space, both large and small, may create new revenue streams by providing a venue or even playing full host for private events in springtime. Corporate events, weddings, live music events and outdoor theatres may not only benefit from hiring you space but could bring in new visitors and diverse audiences to your visitor attraction.
Promoting Your Outdoor Spaces In Springtime
To effectively promote springtime spaces and outdoor events, attractions should harness the power of imagery, utilising social media and marketing channels to create a virtual buzz that will convert to bustling springtime crowds.
Creating Content For Experiences And Events
‘A picture paints a thousand words’ becomes truer every day as we move through this highly digitalised world. Scrolling through image after image on social media and swiping through what’s on listings, we know what it is that usually makes us stop and tap through – it’s a picture.
Creating captivating content is essential to attracting visitors, particularly in the spring months when competition will be high. If your attraction has lots of lovely lush outdoor space then not only should you be sharing images of this but you should be sharing the story. Show the transformation in your gardens from winter through to the spring months. Tell the story of what the team has been doing to prepare – describe the challenges and shout about the wins. Use photographs, videos and social media tools to share sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and stories that evoke the spirit of the season, enticing your audience to come to experience it firsthand.
Attractions relying more on events to attract people to outdoor spaces, such as Sky Garden, will need to create content for promotional purposes. If you don’t already have images of past events then you might consider staging an event for photographic purposes rather than using stock images that won’t showcase your space. For upcoming events, you should ensure professional photographs are taken for use in future content.
Promoting Outdoor Attractions Through Social Media
Social media is the ideal place to both attract and keep in touch with the public. Attractions may use social media to build relationships with the local community and to extend their reach.
To keep up your social media game, you’ll need to be creating and posting regular content that is on-brand and engaging. Update your social profiles with posts about upcoming spring events, special promotions, and exclusive offers. Nurture engagement by responding to comments, messages, and inquiries promptly, building a sense of community and excitement around your attractions.
Don’t wait until your spring exhibits and events begin to start shouting about them on social media – it’s all about generating excitement and building anticipation for the outdoor wonders that await. Moreover, this can help with early ticket sales.
The Eden Project is an excellent example when it comes to social media and lessons can certainly be learnt from them. They use their social media to keep followers updated regarding what’s new and what’s emerging onsite, they post advice, educate on and showcase the wonderful world they have created at the Eden Project through some incredible images and videos.
With a proper strategy that focuses on documenting the happenings at your attraction, social media can ignite a virtual interest that turns into foot traffic in the spring months.
Effective Ticketing Processes For Outdoor Attractions
Connected to your marketing promotions should be a ticketing or booking system that enables visitors to take swift action to secure their reservations. Promotions for spring exhibits and events mustn’t lead to your website homepage but directly into the ticketing process, to avoid confusion or unnecessary extra navigation.
Early bird pricing can be highly effective, especially because it can be more challenging to create buzz around the season during the run-up to events. So early booking discounts can secure those visitors who may then take their own pictures to share on social media and even heighten interest in springtime festivities at an attraction.
You may also consider changing your pricing strategy during the spring and summer months for those who are only interested in visiting the grounds of your attraction. For example, heritage sites often have an inclusive ticket for gardens and house, but during the warmer months and especially if there are more events, exhibitions, special tours, etc of the outdoor spaces, it may be better to split tickets into tiers. This way, those who would rather spend the day outdoors will not feel as if they’re also paying for entry to the indoor attraction that they may not want to or have the time to see. Apart from making this simpler for bookers it can also encourage return visitors who – having seen the grounds – endeavour to come back to see the indoor exhibits on another occasion.
By combining engaging social media content and marketing promotions with seamless ticketing and booking integration, attractions can effectively promote their springtime assets, drive ticket sales, and create memorable experiences for visitors.
Remarketing To Springtime Visitors
Sophisticated ticketing software will feed into CRM systems, allowing attractions to remarket to the springtime visitors. Some may have come for the blossoming gardens and springtime flowers, others may have come for special events. Either way, you’ll want to reach out and encourage them to return and make the most of your attraction in other seasons too.
Email marketing campaigns can help you keep in touch with spring visitors, presenting an opportunity to highlight summer activities, Halloween events and wintertime experiences. You may also draw visitors to other opportunities you have to offer, building a relationship that goes beyond one visit and transitions into life-long patronage, when executed effectively.
Spring is a time of renewal not only for the earth but for experience-based, educational and historical attractions because it’s an ideal time to draw people out of their winter bubbles and encourage them to explore the world you have created. Be it a theme park full of thrilling rides, or a heritage site that connects the past with the present and provides a range of experiences for those who venture there.
For many attractions, spring is the pre-season to the high footfall and that makes it as, if not more, important. Those fortunate enough to have outdoor spaces must flaunt those, nurture the connection with nature and provide stand-out opportunities to ensure they’re the ones visitors choose to spend their precious free time in during the glorious springtime season, but also beyond.
