What is going on out there?
I have to say (and I have a meeting coming up this afternoon which could change things) that it has been a pretty nice week.
We all had a fantastic time at Jousting over the May Day Weekend - a flood of letters from our visitors confirms this view is widely held. Over a quarter of our annual pass holders came over this weekend which is a great result. We know the car queues slowed you down but we are working on plans to sort this. With your help, we had roughly twice as many visitors at this event than last year.
The gloss was obviously taken off it by learning that many of our peers did just as well (btw did you spot the very subtle pun in there? oh never mind). National Trust are doing well with visits roughly doubled too. Our Treasure House friends are all reporting strong progress.
How annoying is that? We've worked really hard to attract more visitors. They could at least have the decency to report lower numbers than us.
It is one of the quirks of our "industry" that in many ways we are not direct competitors of our equivalents. For example, Chatsworth House is in many ways a comparable place to us but in reality no-one wakes up and thinks "I feel like going to a stately home, which shall I go to? Blenheim Palace or Chatsworth?"
All of this means that we do become good friends and tend to admire each other rather than anything else. We had a visit from our friends at Chatsworth this week, in which we feigned great pleasure at how well they were doing. In all seriousness, it's definitely a house worth visiting - if you enjoy Blenheim, you'll absolutely enjoy Chatsworth too. If you go, ask for Sarah Montgomery and tell her she should copy our "Buy One Day Get 12 months Free" offer. She'll like that.....
We are all getting out more. I think the National Trust article above explains some of this effect. Stately homes offer an awful lot, while the branded theme parks are very expensive (Futuroscope in France at Easter was great for all four of us but it was £200 all in). Annual memberships offer great value for money, especially for somewhere like an active stately home as there is so much to see, and it frequently changes through the year. As an example, our jousting tournament brought out 1 in 4 of our annual pass-holders as it was there for three days only (well, actually it is back in August).
It seems that while people are cautious with their money, they are prepared to work to get great value from UK visits.
It does also seem to be a stay-cation year, as they say. Many of my friends are planning either no foreign holiday or less than normal. The gain is felt by attractions like us. The UK is also cheaper to foreigners thanks to exchange rate movements but frankly if you are an insolvent American the fact that we are cheaper than last year in dollar terms is no comfort whatsoever.
The challenge for all stately homes is to ensure that this is not a one-year phenomenon. It is a challenge for which we are already planning.
Meanwhile, keep coming; the Park and Gardens look more stunning with each sun-filled passing day. And yes, Billy Connolly is still hanging around!
Four weeks until the triathlon - first lake practice on Sunday. It's all a bit too close for comfort.
Post a comment
We all had a fantastic time at Jousting over the May Day Weekend - a flood of letters from our visitors confirms this view is widely held. Over a quarter of our annual pass holders came over this weekend which is a great result. We know the car queues slowed you down but we are working on plans to sort this. With your help, we had roughly twice as many visitors at this event than last year.
The gloss was obviously taken off it by learning that many of our peers did just as well (btw did you spot the very subtle pun in there? oh never mind). National Trust are doing well with visits roughly doubled too. Our Treasure House friends are all reporting strong progress.
How annoying is that? We've worked really hard to attract more visitors. They could at least have the decency to report lower numbers than us.
It is one of the quirks of our "industry" that in many ways we are not direct competitors of our equivalents. For example, Chatsworth House is in many ways a comparable place to us but in reality no-one wakes up and thinks "I feel like going to a stately home, which shall I go to? Blenheim Palace or Chatsworth?"
All of this means that we do become good friends and tend to admire each other rather than anything else. We had a visit from our friends at Chatsworth this week, in which we feigned great pleasure at how well they were doing. In all seriousness, it's definitely a house worth visiting - if you enjoy Blenheim, you'll absolutely enjoy Chatsworth too. If you go, ask for Sarah Montgomery and tell her she should copy our "Buy One Day Get 12 months Free" offer. She'll like that.....
We are all getting out more. I think the National Trust article above explains some of this effect. Stately homes offer an awful lot, while the branded theme parks are very expensive (Futuroscope in France at Easter was great for all four of us but it was £200 all in). Annual memberships offer great value for money, especially for somewhere like an active stately home as there is so much to see, and it frequently changes through the year. As an example, our jousting tournament brought out 1 in 4 of our annual pass-holders as it was there for three days only (well, actually it is back in August).
It seems that while people are cautious with their money, they are prepared to work to get great value from UK visits.
It does also seem to be a stay-cation year, as they say. Many of my friends are planning either no foreign holiday or less than normal. The gain is felt by attractions like us. The UK is also cheaper to foreigners thanks to exchange rate movements but frankly if you are an insolvent American the fact that we are cheaper than last year in dollar terms is no comfort whatsoever.
The challenge for all stately homes is to ensure that this is not a one-year phenomenon. It is a challenge for which we are already planning.
Meanwhile, keep coming; the Park and Gardens look more stunning with each sun-filled passing day. And yes, Billy Connolly is still hanging around!
Four weeks until the triathlon - first lake practice on Sunday. It's all a bit too close for comfort.
Post a comment
posted by Dominic Hare at
Friday, May 08, 2009
0 Comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home