A new collaborative research initiative aims to give visitor attraction operators fresh clarity on market trends and guest behaviours.
Formed by two established industry supply partners, the project blends transaction records with commercial expertise to produce ongoing sector reports.
Agility Marketing, a specialist visitor attraction marketing agency, has partnered with ticketing software supplier DigiTickets to establish Visitor Attraction Intelligence (VAI). The initiative processes anonymised booking data generated across millions of transactions handled by DigiTickets, matching those figures with Agility Marketing’s industry knowledge to uncover broader operational and visitor insights.
VAI will produce regular, free-to-access reports examining key commercial questions and market patterns across a wide cross-section of the UK visitor attraction sector. The coverage spans zoos, water parks, museums, heritage sites, botanical gardens, family attractions, and adventure parks.
The initiative officially launches today ahead of IAAPA Expo Europe in London. VAI’s debut report focuses on visitor booking lead times, aiming to give attraction operators benchmark data to evaluate and adjust their marketing and commercial strategies.
Sharing expertise
Speaking on the launch, Jamie Faulkner, operations director at DigiTickets, explained the background behind using transaction data for sector benchmarking:
“For a number of years, we’ve been aware that the volume of tickets processed through DigiTickets gives us a substantial source of insight into visitor behaviour.
“We have wanted to explore how we could use that anonymised data for the benefit of our clients and the wider sector, but finding the right partner was important. Agility brings the visitor attraction knowledge and commercial marketing expertise to help us interrogate the data and understand what it is telling us.”
Anita Waddell, CEO at Agility Marketing, highlighted the practical application of combining data analysis with specialist sector expertise:
“After working in the attractions industry for over 25 years, I know how vital accurate data is to better inform and shape commercial planning. With VAI, we’re taking this one step further. We are providing new context, and sharing our expertise to accompany this data, in perceptive and purposeful reports that businesses can learn from or use to validate their own findings and experiences.”
Both organisations bring established backgrounds in the UK visitor attraction sector to the joint project. DigiTickets supplies online and on-site ticketing, booking software, and visitor management systems for attractions and events. Agility Marketing provides strategic and outsourced marketing services, and already produces the UK Digital Ad Benchmarking Study alongside Footfall Trackers for the sector.
The team will also be sharing information about the new intelligence platform and its initial report at IAAPA Expo Europe on the DigiTickets stand N4721 from Tuesday 22 September.
