Letter from PGAV Chairman Mike Konzen

 

Rebound and Resiliency

We are pleased to present our 7th Edition of PGAV’s Voice of the Visitor (VOV 2022). 

As with prior editions, VOV 2022 enables us to evaluate the prior year’s industry performance and look forward to the coming year. Across twenty different attraction types, we paint a picture of the many factors that will shape 2022’s performance for the thousands of attraction destinations across America. We are proud that so many of VOV’s readers have come to rely on it as a valued resource in planning their success strategies for the coming year.

While VOV 2022 is developed by surveying attraction visitors, the results are also shaped by larger societal forces in play at the time. Whether it is a presidential election, rising or ebbing economies, consumer confidence, or a global pandemic, these forces affect the travel and tourism industry in dynamic and often surprising ways. As we look back on the industry’s performance over 2021 and as we enter a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, one thing is abundantly clear:

The attraction industry is amazingly resilient. 

As I write this letter, the Omicron variant is surging throughout the U.S. While this might be viewed as portending a difficult start of 2022 for the industry, we also know that resiliency will help attractions and their visitors adapt to such new variants. 

Perhaps even more importantly, VOV 2022 demonstrates that the factors which led to the remarkable rebound of 2021 will continue to play out in force in 2022. In the coming eight weeks, we will be sharing some remarkable findings, such as:

  • By nearly all of our key metrics, 2021 performance for the overall attractions industry exceeded our VOV 2021 projections. In fact, we heard from so many of our clients that 2021 represented their best year ever on a financial basis.

  • Pent up demand, combined with a continuation of strong personal savings, will continue to drive attraction visitation throughout 2022.

  • Increased per capita spending – one of the happy surprises of 2021 – will likely continue through 2022 as almost two-thirds of survey respondents indicated that they will continue to “splurge.”

  • This year we dramatically increased our sample size so as to perform a deeper assessment of issues that are specific to people of color. In particular, we learned many important findings regarding their motivations, barriers to visitation, and other factors.

  • In many ways, the industry has reinvented itself. We will hear from multiple attraction leaders about the learnings of the pandemic, including finding the benefit of timed ticketing, more efficient staffing, and more targeted messaging.

We invite you to review our presentation of VOV 2022 in the coming weeks. And as always please contact us with any thoughts or questions. We love your feedback!

-Mike

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Destinology Team