As Costs Rise, So Should Prices (but Are They?)

With record inflation, operators and attractions report rising costs across their businesses. Price increases are following, but probably not fast enough

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Tour, activity and attraction operators report rising costs across a range of areas in businesses, and a majority are increasing prices. 

Arival’s latest survey of visitor attractions across North America and Europe, conducted in partnership with Tiqets, found that a significant majority report rising costs across several key areas of operations: 

More than three in four attractions cite staffing and wages, technology and equipment as the top drivers of increasing costs.

Staffing & Retention Are Top Concerns

Higher labor costs appear to be particularly acute: one in five attractions report that labor costs have increased by more than 10%.  It’s no surprise then that the top business priority over the next year, say visitor attractions, will be staffing and retention. 

Fewer attractions, but still a majority at 55% and 54%, respectively, report increasing marketing and insurance costs.

Costs are Up, so What about Prices?

A majority of visitor attractions have raised ticket prices in 2022. Just over half, or 54%, say they have increased pricing, but most say they have made only moderate increases of less than 10%. 

Given how widespread and pronounced Inflationary pressures have been in 2022, we would have expected more operators and attractions to have increased prices. However, many visitor attractions are not-for-profit or public institutions and may have governing rules which restrict their ability to change prices. 

Ticket price increases are far more pronounced for for-profit attractions: 74% have increased prices this year, while just 34% of non-profit attractions have raised prices. However, that still leaves one in four for-profit attractions that have not raised their prices but probably could – and should – in 2022. 

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