Time to Come Clean
The Importance of Safety
2020 changed our perspective on a lot of things—virtual meetings, baking, binge-watching…well maybe not that last one. It shouldn’t be surprising that it also changed our motivations for visiting attractions. Safety is now the number one driver when choosing to visit attractions, moving up from 14th place in 2019. We’re predicting that health safety will continue to affect the attraction industry for years to come so don’t put away those foamy hand sanitizers just yet!
Cracking the Safe(ty) Code
Last week, Voice of the Visitor shared five psychographic segments based on individual risk tolerance for visiting attractions. Safety ranked number one across the board with every segment, from the Early Birds, who continued to travel during 2020, to the Cautious Consumers, who are waiting to see the effects of a proven vaccine.
Having highly visible precautionary measures and procedures in place lets visitors know the level of safety you require. Some of the most popular measures visitors noted include mask requirements, deep cleaning, and providing hand sanitizer. Choosing which safety measures to implement and how can depend on your specific audience. For example, if you tend to draw an older crowd, they may love to see policies firmly in place and strictly enforced. If your audience is young families, they might prefer requests for safety measures rather than requirements.
Stormtroopers at Walt Disney World encourage social distancing through fun guest interactions.
Say it with a Smile
The attraction industry is no stranger to communicating and enforcing safety rules. Attraction staff enforce rules every day such as seatbelts, height requirements, and safety barriers. Pandemic safety does add another layer to that experience but, after months of lock-down, a Walt Disney World expert recently observed, “[P]ark-goers seem happy to adhere to these rules in exchange for being able to enjoy themselves.”
Just because you want to enforce new safety rules, doesn’t mean you can’t find creative ways to remind guests to stay safe while enjoying themselves. Thinking outside of the take-out box, some restaurants have thought up creative ways to enforce social distancing - care to dine next to a table of mannequins? Now more than ever, people are looking to visit their favorite attractions to break away from their everyday lives and relive memories they may have from when life was “normal.”
Messaging Matters
Regardless of your visitor demographic or tolerance for risk, clear safety messaging is a must. Before they arrive, visitors want to know:
YES, you are open!
What measures are you taking to keep them safe?
What is expected of them—policies regarding face coverings, maintaining social distances, temperature screenings at entry, etc.?
Not only should precautionary measures be clearly explained before arrival, they must also be posted repeatedly throughout the site—from turnstile to toilet!
While safety is the number one concern, visitors have other emotional drivers in play when deciding between attractions. We’ll dive deeper into these other drivers over the next few weeks.
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