Parents spend up to £127 per week keeping kids entertained in school holidays
Parents will spend up to a quarter of their disposable income keeping their kids entertained over the summer holidays and, says an international tourism and attractions expert, that’s a stretch too far for the family budget.
Norman Wallis has been looking at the financial pressures on working families’ entertainment budgets and examining the costs of beating school holiday boredom blues – and come up with a surprise strategy.
The Pleasureland theme park owner, asked his management team to ‘test drive’ the rides and attractions experience at his and other parks with their own families to gather time v spend insights.
What they found was that children and teenagers were likely to race through the rides’ budget up-front, condensing a family day into a matter of hours.
Theme parks were cited in survey findings as the number one favourite destinations for a family day out. With more than a third of British parents believing their children will get bored during the school break they’ll be spending an average of £127 a week over the six weeks to liven things up.
Mr Wallis believes his industry could to more to work with hard-pressed parents. He and his team set about formulating an even more family-friendly pricing formula at his own park.
After studying the 2018 statistics* and testing the market, the first thing he did was reduce all ride prices for 2019.
“It may seem an odd move, but we thought about this carefully. As our own is first and foremost a family park we have a good range of rides, from kiddie rides through to the big muscle rides teenagers and adults love,” said Mr Wallis.
“Even at its busiest we don’t suffer from big queues for rides, because there are so many. So we sat down and thought that if we take rides down to £1, with the most expensive at £3, families can stay longer and ride more. Where there might have been rides running with a few empty spaces, they’ll be running full instead. It makes no difference to our cost-base. Families can still set their own budget, but that budget packs a much bigger punch.”
Pleasureland has always been free to enter, which gives families greater control over what level they choose to cap their budget and non-riders aren’t penalised.
He added: “With a wristband or day-pass system the spend-limit is pre-determined, and most parks won’t allow you to consume food and drink not purchased on site. Despite Pleasureland being well-served with food outlets families are welcome to bring their own picnics to keep costs down. Even the family dog is a valued guest so there is no necessity to rush an outing to get back home.
He said: “I wanted to do something to genuinely help working families stretch their entertainment budget. An important part of the experience for parents is great value and a return on the investment made in time and transport costs.”
The only rides outside the reductions are Pleasureland’s Big Wheel Attraction and the Reverse Bungee.
Mr Wallis is available for comment.
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