5 Things Visitor Attractions Need to Be Doing to Support Their Marketing in 2025

Last week I attended the National Attractions Marketing Conference hosted at Drayton Manor Resort in Tamworth. Hosted annually, the event brought together marketing managers from a range of visitor attractions from across the UK. Attendees were representing all types of attractions, including museums, prisons, farm parks and historic properties; all with a view to learn about what visitors are looking for and how best to reach and engage with them.

While the day captured lots of different themes, it was clear the overriding message was one of challenge and change. The visitor landscape is more competitive than ever and the marketing landscape is shifting fast!

We heard from Ant Rawlings of Navigate that household spend on leisure is actually broadly similar to what it was 40 years ago. However the difference today is it's spread across more channels thanks to the growth of subscription and streaming services. People have more choices than ever when it comes to leisure, including doing nothing!

There's also been an influx of new visitor attraction formats, driven by digitally-native businesses such as Netflix and gaming franchises. This 'new' breed of attractions include spin offs from the world of entertainment, offering immersive and experiential activities driven by storytelling and fan communities.

So the talks were all aimed at encouraging attractions to think and act more like digital-native businesses if they're to stay relevant, drive footfall (digital or physical) and grow revenue, and perhaps toughest of all, meet ever increasing audience expectations.

While there were lots of takeaways from the day, I've gathered what I considered to be the most important points for visitor attractions to be thinking of in 2025 to maximise their reach and ultimately, grow their revenue.

Everyone is talking about AI

Most people are now familiar with AI and tools like ChatGPT. You may already be actively using AI to analyse data from visitor reports or website traffic. You may be using it to help produce content and generate new ideas. But are you feeling overwhelmed by it?

Ian Miller from digital agency Crafted was first to take to the stage and he gave a fabulously grounding presentation on AI. He didn't speak so much about the tools, but how AI should be seen and used in the context of someone's role.

AI can automate the things we have to do but don't value, but it should also be used to augment the things we do that create the most value. This leaves us to focus on the valuable things we enjoy doing, with the added inspiration from augmentation.

Miller argued that AI is a multiplier, allowing you to operate faster and more effectively than those who don't. But he also said you don't need an AI strategy; it's not about planning how you should use AI or working out how it should be integrated into your business, but used to ideate and inform your strategy. In fact, as I increasingly read on LinkedIn (typically from those in the SEO space), AI is little more than a new search format. We've never knowingly created a strategy for how we use Google and other search engines, it just became seamlessly embedded in our lives.

You don’t need an AI strategy. You need a strategy powered by AI.

Ian Miller, CEO, Crafted

So the challenge for businesses is to look at where AI can be introduced and with which tools. ChatGPT is one many will be familiar with, but AI models are increasingly being introduced to operational software such as CRMs or email marketing platforms. We saw incredible animations created using Runway App and videos translated into different languages using HeyGen. The AI market place is growing rapidly with tools that can create astounding results.

Here's a quick example video created using Runway from the static image that can be seen on the thumbnail, given the prompt:

Animate this photo to show the person walking into the frame and closing with their right hand pointing towards the wall.

Created using free credits, there's a noticeable loss of quality, but for B-roll footage, it's more than acceptable. Upgrading to a paid plan would improve the output quality, but it gives a flavour of what could be possible for very low cost, even if it is slightly freaky!

Ensure your Website Converts - and Measure It!

Your website shouldn’t just be a brochure — it should be your most efficient salesperson. A simple change in your user journey could double conversions which means more revenue without having to spend more to gain it.

Based on research shared during a talk from Liz Dimes from Agility Marketing, 44% of visitor attractions who responded to a survey were not tracking sales conversions on their website. That's incredible! And worrying at the same time. Given that more than half of the same organisations were spending over £10k on Meta campaigns, this represents a huge opportunity to optimise spend and website performance to improve return on ad spend (ROAS). 

Without conversion rate optimisation you're literally leaving money on the table - it's no longer an option, but essential to maximise revenue and profitability during the booking process.

Simplify the Journey - Less is More

People are faced with making dozens of choices everyday, and when a decision should be relatively simple, too many options creates choice paralysis. The cognitive load to make what they consider to be the best choice is too high and they worry about making the wrong choice, or simply choose the alternative which is making no choice at all. 

Head of Group Support Marketing at Continuum Attractions, Alex Caley talked about the "choice paradox". Too many options will slow decisions and reduce bookings. The most successful attractions are those making it easier to act by reducing friction and guiding users through clear pathways to complete their booking.

It's a clear case of less is more so ask yourself if you're offering too many choices that could be damaging your conversion rate.

Think Beyond the Gate

Many visitor attractions have a certain geographical reach; a radius that people will be prepared to travel from to spend a day with your attraction. This limits your physical visitors, but digital channels can be used to extend your reach well beyond the gate.

Creativity in marketing can solve problems that financial efficiency alone never will

Nik Wyness, The Tank Museum

Nik Wyness, Head of Marketing and Engagement at The Tank Museum gave a content masterclass by explaining how they built a YouTube channel with over 1.2m subscribers, all of whom can still pass through a virtual gift shop. 

Through digital content, books, virtual products, memberships and branded merchandise, they fulfilled a goal to be more famous with content that was:

• Consistent
• Original
• Niched
• Generous
• Accessible
• Authentic

Nik argued creativity in marketing can solve problems that financial efficiency alone never will, so looking at how you could reframe your product can open new visitor behaviours or revenue opportunities.

Think like a digital first business

With the growth of visitor attractions stemming from major brand partnerships or blockbuster film productions, there's a growing pattern where businesses adopt digital best practice to grow.

Irrespective of your attraction, most initial interactions will take place online giving you opportunities to learn from how digital-native businesses build emotional connections to drive sales and loyalty. Digital businesses invest in storytelling to make their products relatable and memorable and naturally, continually collect and measure data to provide more personalised experiences.

Typically digital businesses will:

• Distribute faster
• Produce cheaper
• Iterate better

Programming events should be more like a release calendar than a schedule where capacity can be deliberately limited to capture buying signals or create the impression of being over subscribed - a tactic used by Glastonbury Festival who generate PR every year by saying how quickly their first batch of tickets sold out.

Final Thoughts

The visitor attractions that will thrive in 2025 won’t necessarily be the biggest or the loudest; they'll be the ones that are adaptable, creative and analytical in response to outside pressures and good data capture.

Learning from digital-first businesses and getting comfortable with analysing data to build personalised experiences will be key, especially when combined with an optimised buying journey. Remember there are always alternatives for visitors (that can also include doing nothing), so making them work harder to enjoy your attraction doesn't inspire them to book to spend time with you.

There was another talk worth mentioning which brought with it a live demo! Helen Nurse, aka 'WhatsApp Woman' walked us through how using WhatsApp can be used to build conversational engagement to enhance the visitor experience. With a few simple, automated conversation sequences which didn't feel at all intrusive, there are clearly options to bypass the noise of people's email inbox to enhance both on- and off-boarding. Setting clear expectations on things like parking, accessibility or possible disruption during a visit all helps towards a digital-first experience and rave reviews.

Finally, embrace to future with AI and look for the opportunities it can create to improve your storytelling and guest experiences, giving you more time to focus on what really adds value to your business, and your visitors. 

About the National Attractions Marketing Conference

The conference was organised by Martin Evans and hosted by Drayton Manor and will hopefully be back in 2026. For more information visit attractionsmarketing.co.uk.