Right some figures I have found from a number of articles published on line....
Visitor figures for Blackpool apparently peaked at 17 million in 1992 ( I cannot find any other details of visitor numbers from the 90's but a number of articles claim that 17 million was the peak during the 90s).
2017 saw 18 million people visit Blackpool (according to the Blackpool Gazette) and numbers have been increasing steadily over the last few years.
Regarding on-line booking. Of course most people book on line because almost every UK attraction is cheaper if you pre-book. Even if it's just a couple of quid saving I will still book online (because I am a tight Yorkshireman - as rob666 knows).
But the point I was trying to make is that Pleasure Beach is by far the worst park in the country for disparity between online and gate price, which in PB's case is £25 - 7 days in advance, £28 the night before and a whopping £39 on the day. That is almost 60% more than the 7 day advance price.
So yes almost all of pleasure beaches guests will book online - they have no real choice if they don't want to be fleeced. But it is a seaside park and it will always have potential for walk up trade which it is completely ignoring with the ludicrous gate price, early closing and pay per ride prices that are so crazy that they may as well just scrap them altogether because hardly anyone will use them - especially as it is now £10 just to go through the gate !!
Compare that to every other seaside park - who offer reasonable pay per ride options and in most cases a gate price that will still attract punters, later opening and an online discount that can be booked the night before for no more than if they booked weeks in advance.
With Blackpool's overall visitor numbers apparently on the increase there has to be a reason that pleasure beach are seemingly (from observations at least) losing visitors, despite a shiny new coaster. So what is the reason if it is not a poor business model for a seaside park ?
You make some interesting points here.
In terms of online booking, most theme parks, from my experience, incentivise pre-booking. I know that Thorpe for example, have a very similar model to BPB for booking more than 7 days in advance.
It’s no bad thing in my opinion. It allows the parks to gauge a rough idea of how busy they’re likely to be and know how many guests to expect, how many trains to run etc and it also means that the parks aren’t ghost towns on rainy days. It works well for guests as they get discounted rates and BPB make it so easy to pre-book that you may as well. I really don’t see any issue with it and I think that these days, most people prefer to go online to look for discounted rates for everything- not just Yorkshire folk- purely because it’s just so super easy to do these days. I’d say that even at the more traditionally operated seaside parks, you still probably get a fair few wristbands booked online. It’s just the way the world’s going.
As for other seaside parks, I agree that they operate differently to BPB but they are completely different types of parks. BPB is by far the largest and most well known and they want to maintain a good reputation.
Rightly or wrongly, seaside amusement parks have a reputation for being tacky, dated and more funfair-esque than theme parks. BPB is in the sort of awkward stage between being an amusement and theme park, but certainly in recent years they’ve leant far more towards the theme park model and I think that this is the right direction for them to be taking.
Whilst I agree with Ash that a lot of people turn up at BPB and then don’t go in, you have to think long term. Yes, I’m the short term, they lose money from those people. But in the long term, the entrance fee keeps trouble makers away, makes the park feel a lot safer and gives it a more pleasant reputation.
This links to my previous point about why BPB are different to other seaside parks. They not only work to keep the trouble makers away by having the entrance fee and security checks, they also care a lot more about the aesthetics of the park which, again, has seen BPB move away from the old tacky seaside funfair image of precious years. So long term, I’d say that the decision to distance themselves from other smaller and less successful seaside parks is a wise business move.
I don’t think that the figures about visitor numbers to the town which you got from the Gazette are entirely accurate anyway. It’s been well documented that the U.K. seaside is struggling and, whilst some of the other seaside parks struggle under the old free entry model, BPB have re-invented themselves to remain relevant in the 21st century.
Look at how many seaside parks have stuck to their old ways and ended up closing down. The U.K. seaside industry is in trouble and has been for a fair few years. BPB has a responsibility to react to that to protect their business and I’d say they have a tough job but do it pretty well.
