The problems with the UK industry run far, far deeper than any of the points you've made I'm afraid.
- I agree that Merlin have a monopoly on the industry. However, I doubt a lot of operators could really run them independently in the current climate and under increased operating costs (Rick has already touched on this).
- Having any sort of advertisement explaining safety has the opposite effect. Reactive statements were put out by Merlin after the Smiler accident as well as video explanations of any subsequent minor incidents for a while. But you don't want to actively publicise the fact you've had accidents over actually advertising the park's offerings. For the vast majority, accidents at parks are not in their mind these days
- Guest numbers do not accurately represent a park making a profit. Average revenue per guest is the key indicator, which is not public knowledge for the vast majority of parks across the world, yet alone the UK.
- There's a real underestimation of the running costs of a theme park. As Rick already mentioned maintenance costs can be sky high, minimum wage was introduced and continues to rise. The pound isn't as strong as it once was so it costs more to purchase rides as they come from abroad, and they're infinitely more complex than they used to be too. In terms of Chessington, there's the zoo to consider too which can't simply be switched off - it has to be run at the same standard whether there are guests entering the park or not. Likewise with all the southern attractions, the wage costs are even higher than other parks and attractions.
- The parks already take into consideration and are well aware of what they make back from Fastrack and what the hit on their customer satisfaction is. For parks with a high number of pass holders with thrill attractions (hey Thorpe) it's often the only way they will manage to make any decent level of profit, so they are worth the damage I'm afraid.
- I think there's a real misgiving that theme parks within Merlin are what makes them money, but sadly it's not. The midway attractions are where they make their fortune, which is why we've seen such an expansion on them in the past decade or so. In comparison to the theme parks, they're less technically challenging so they're far cheaper to build, they're on a smaller footprint of land and they're located in tourist areas that already have high footfall. I don't see any sort of proof that profits from UK parks are being spent overseas either, as there's nothing in their previous reports as a public company that demonstrate that.
Finally, we really need to remember that the thrill market makes very, very little money in comparison to the family market. There's a reason Paulton's do so well in comparison to others, why Alton Towers built CBeebie's Land and the hotel and why Drayton Manor have concentrated on Thomas Land so much. Families will visit, buy day tickets, spend lots on merchandise and food, maybe stay over too. Thrill markets are more likely to be pass holders, not spend as much on merchandise and are more likely to drive home after a day at the theme park. Lightwater have realised this, hence their repositioning, albeit in my view too late and on too much of a shoestring budget to really save them I'm afraid.
The UK market has been in demise for a lot longer than Covid being around, or even Merlin coming along. The real reason for a theme park - escapism, was lost. Operators had an obsession with getting as many people through the turnstiles and into queues for rides, with low entry prices being the attraction - a "pile it high sell it cheap" approach. Because the gate price was so low, investment inevitably took a hit. The experience element was lost, live entertainment was reduced, food options were watered down and ride operations were reduced. That's then not an easy hole to dig yourself out of, as that low ticket price and lack of extras for people to spend their money on disappeared. That's where the "quick fixes" of Fastrack came in. Get the big spenders to spend big, and then you can keep the low ticket prices for everyone else. What they should be doing is ensuring everyone has a decent time and spends additional money by teasing that money out of your wallet.
We saw a shift toward that with Oktoberfest this year with entertainment and the additional F+B stalls being left out for Scarefest. From what I saw, it seems to have been received
extremely well, and I really hope it continues, but sadly Covid means everything will be baby steps for the next 18 months to two years while the industry recovers, especially for the smaller parks.
