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Alton Towers visitor figures through the years
- Thread starter Matt N
- Start date
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Interestingly, it’s been quite accurate in the past. Some years within the past decade (I think it was 2018, 2017, 2015, 2013 and 2012) have been listed correctly by TEA to within 100,000, or even as little as 50,000 in some cases, according to the Merlin graph.
I wonder why the discrepancy has suddenly grown so much in recent years?
The TEA report also seems more accurate for some of the mainland European and American parks. These parks publicly report their figures, though…
What is TEA’s method for working out their estimates, out of interest?
AT86
TS Member
They probably just keep an eye on the queue times thread and go from there.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
There doesn’t look to be that much difference to me; according to Merlin, 2021 still attracted 2.35 million, which was nearly as high as 2012’s 2.4 million. And that was with a month of the season gone and restrictions in place until July; I’d wager that that figure could well have matched the 2.5 million ballpark seen in 2019 and 2013 had these detracting factors not been in place.
Or are you referring to the likes of 2010, where over 3 million was seen?
To me, the figures don’t looked to have dropped that much, if at all, since the early to mid 2010s. 2019 appeared roughly back on a par with 2013, at around 2.5 million, and given the factors working against high attendance in 2021, the post-COVID trend appears promising.
Matt.GC
TS Member
Have they? Why have they been giving away entry to the park with soap bottles and chocolate bars whilst selling bargain basement season passes; at the same time they've been closing secondary spend outlets such as shops and restaurants?
It seems the complete opposite to me. They've been ramming people inside an inferior park at bargain basement prices in the hope they'll fork out for one of their extortionately pieces hotel rooms. I can't spend money at Towers these days even if I tried. I get in for a cheap price because I've bought a park annual pass, when I'm thirsty or hungry I have to hunt high and low for somewhere to spend my money and they turf me out at 4pm before I get much of a chance to do so anyway. So McDonald's or the local Sainsbury's on the way home it is.
Seems like they're adopting the opposite strategy of pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap to me.
jon81uk
TS Member
They stopped the bargain basement season passes, cheapest annual pass is now £119 or the Discovery Pass at £89 that only allows entry on quiet days anyway. I do agree the crazy gate price and 2for1 vouchers need to go, but the trouble is it works as free advertising too well.
I think the reason they are going for fewer visitors is also because they aren’t operating food and beverage at full capacity, they know they can’t deal with a full park. They really need to fix that but I expect recruiting enough staff is an issue, hence all the food vans as that makes the staff someone else’s issue.
AstroDan
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance, Cedar Point
Yes, yes they have.
Perhaps part of the issue of it being rammed is due to the loss of attractions - but the days of 30,000 at Alton are long gone. The busiest days of the season now are 20-22,000 - with typical Saturdays being 12-14,000 - well below the levels we used to see with 2 hour queues on every ride across the park every weekend. Yes, there are exceptions, yes some rides are badly operated, yes the park closes too early off peak, yes the park is dirty, yes there are issues etc. etc. - but guest volume is lower than it was.
Also, to add - season passes are not "bargain basement" as they once were.
High yield/low volume generally means that each guest's entry price value is higher than it used to be. At one stage it was below £15pp - unsustainable.
John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Guest numbers have fallen but the loss in capacity across the board has disguised it. The park has lost rides, shops and F&B outlets which makes it seem much busier for a given number of guests. The biggest giveaway is how much quieter the paths are these days
The guest experience with 20k on park was far better in 2010 than today, that sort of figure back then was just a normal weekend but now they only really get those sort of numbers on event days.
The guest experience with 20k on park was far better in 2010 than today, that sort of figure back then was just a normal weekend but now they only really get those sort of numbers on event days.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
Out of interest, when are you holding up as the previous “higher” point for guest figures?
I only ask because in terms of a net decrease, they don’t seem to have gone down that much, if at all, in the last decade.
2012’s attendance figure was 2.4 million.
2021’s was 2.35 million, and that was with the season being a month shorter and the capacity remaining restricted until July.
If we look back to just before COVID, where nothing was affecting the figures; 2019 was actually higher than 2012 according to Merlin, at 2.5 million. That put it only slightly lower than 2013, which most consider to have been a successful year pre-crash.
I only ask because in terms of a net decrease, they don’t seem to have gone down that much, if at all, in the last decade.
2012’s attendance figure was 2.4 million.
2021’s was 2.35 million, and that was with the season being a month shorter and the capacity remaining restricted until July.
If we look back to just before COVID, where nothing was affecting the figures; 2019 was actually higher than 2012 according to Merlin, at 2.5 million. That put it only slightly lower than 2013, which most consider to have been a successful year pre-crash.
2021 figures are completely out of line because of Covid.
All the parks had massively increased attendance...high pent up demand after lockdowns, and a lack of continental alternatives for holidays, meant attendance everywhere was up.
Blackpool had zero quiet opening days in 2021...not a usual season.
All the parks had massively increased attendance...high pent up demand after lockdowns, and a lack of continental alternatives for holidays, meant attendance everywhere was up.
Blackpool had zero quiet opening days in 2021...not a usual season.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
What I would counter there is that the parks lost nearly a month of operation due to opening in mid-April, which would wipe a good couple of hundred thousand off a regular year at somewhere like Alton. The attendance also remained capped until July (at the very earliest), so visitation should in theory have been no higher than in 2020 on those capped days.
The likely reason (or at very least a significant contributing factor) why the attendance increase for 2021 was so drastic is because of how little the parks operated in 2020, as well as the fact that every day they did operate was capped. In 2021, the parks only missed a month of operation, and the parks’ attendance was only capped until July. Even if it was capped beyond July, the cap was likely to be lower.
Your explanation also wouldn’t explain why Chessington’s 2022 figure still showed an increase of nearly 200,000 over 2021. If 2021 was an anomaly due to pent up demand and lack of continental holiday options, surely Chessington would have decreased again in 2022, no?
It should also be noted that none of the 4 Merlin parks hit their 2019 (pre-COVID) attendance in 2021… Alton admittedly wasn’t far away from 2019 levels, at only 6% lower, but Thorpe remained 15-20% lower, Chessington remained about 20% lower, and Legoland remained about 25% lower.
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Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
The 2022 TEA report is out, and Alton Towers got 2,300,000 visitors in 2022 according to that report, representing a 28% increase on 2021: https://aecom.com/wp-content/uploads/documents/reports/AECOM-Theme-Index-2022.pdf
Legoland Windsor is listed as 2,400,000, Thorpe Park is listed as 1,600,000, and Chessington is listed as 1,500,000.
I’ll be interested to see the updated version of Merlin’s graph to see how these numbers compare…
Legoland Windsor is listed as 2,400,000, Thorpe Park is listed as 1,600,000, and Chessington is listed as 1,500,000.
I’ll be interested to see the updated version of Merlin’s graph to see how these numbers compare…
AT86
TS Member
The 2021 figures they are basing these off to calculate the 2022 uplift are way off the official figures that Merlin released as part of the Chessington Waterpark consultation.
(From @Matt N’s very detailed post here)https://towersstreet.com/talk/threa...st-figures-through-the-years.5778/post-388240
Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
The 2023 Index is now out, showing that Towers has seen a 2.2 per cent increase in guests to 2,350,000. The UK in general saw some of the smallest growth percentages in terms of attendance, somewhat attributed to the fact overall tourism to the U.K. remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Elsewhere, Chessington has dropped out of the top 20 highest attendance parks in Europe.
Elsewhere, Chessington has dropped out of the top 20 highest attendance parks in Europe.
Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Shambhala (PortAventura Park)
That’s interesting. I do debate the accuracy of the TEA figures based on the Merlin graph from planning applications giving very different ones, but it’s an interesting resource nonetheless.
For instance, Thorpe Park is said by the Theme Index to have received 1,620,000 guests in 2023, whereas the park themselves confirmed that they got 1.5 million in their end of season summary.
