The Business of Leisure Investigating in Leisure and Tourism

Leisure at the Alton Towers Resort Leisure activities can be divided into two sections Active e.g. Playing Tennis Passive e.g. Reading a Book These may take place either at home or elsewhere and various factors will affect this choice

Leisure at the Alton Towers Resort People who visit a variety of places in their leisure time: Leisure centres Libraries Restaurants Clubs Bookshops Cinemas And hopefully theme park resorts!!

Leisure at the Alton Towers Resort Various factors affect what people choose to do for their leisure activities: Age Occupation Gender Income Family Situation Religion Where they live These factors will affect those that choose to visit Alton Towers Resort and those that choose to go to another attraction Those that visit us are known as our target market

Leisure at the Alton Towers Resort Alton Towers Resort Visitors are: Individuals - Coach Groups Families - Companies Groups - School Parties How these visitors get to Alton Towers Resort will again depend on various factors. The marketing strategy is designed to encourage as much of our target market to visit as possible and to extend their one day visit to a short break

Leisure at Alton Towers Resort

Customers by Drive Time 7

Customers by Drive Time - Customers by Drive Time Visitors to Alton Towers Resort travel further than to the other parks within the Merlin Entertainment Group With over 50% living in the 120+ drive time zone The middle distance zones have experienced growth over the last three years, whilst the 120+ drive time had lost almost 10% of visitors

Visitors to the Alton Towers Resort Visitors to the Alton Towers Resort travel significantly further than any of our other Merlin attraction making us a truly National Brand Our positioning as a short break destination and overall appeal to the family market has helped encourage this

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Leisure and the Merlin Entertainments Group - Alton Towers Resort is owned by the Merlin Entertainments Group (MEG) MEG own many attractions in the UK and appeal to different people looking for leisure activities By having different attractions MEG can appeal to a greater target market

The Merlin Entertainments Group

Travel to Alton Towers Resort - The guests that visit Alton Towers Resort live in various places in the UK. To visit Alton Towers Resort they therefore need to travel We can define travel in two ways: Leisure travel: which is travel to a destination taking place in an individual’s leisure time Business travel: if the reason for travel is business-related

Travel to the Alton Towers Resort Our guests reach us by a variety of transport methods: Car - Coach Rail - Taxi Bus - Air The type of transport will depend on the visitor profile E.g. Family = Car School = Bus/Coach

Travel to the Alton Towers Resort Leisure travellers can either be day visitors or tourists who stay overnight As most guests that visit the Alton Towers Resort are not local to the area and have the intention to return home, they are looking for leisure and tourism activities Examples of leisure and tourism activities: Sport and physical recreation Arts and entertainment Courtside recreation Home-based leisure Visitor attractions Children’s play activities Catering

Travel and Tourism at the Alton Towers Resort Guests that travel to the Alton Towers Resort are part of the travel and tourism industry The travel and tourism industry consists of: Travel Agents - Accommodation Tour Operators - Attractions Tourist Information centre - Transportation

Travel and Tourism at Alton Towers Resort Our market research has revealed that over 30% of our guests stay away from home overnight as part of their visits Alton Towers Resort has two hotels to help cater for these guests

Travel and Tourism at Alton Towers Resort Questionnaire results found: 2002 35% stayed at the resort or nearby 2003 38% stayed at the Resort or nearby 2004 38% stayed at the Resort or nearby 2005 38% stayed at the Resort or nearby 35% stayed at the Resort or nearby 2007 37% stayed at the Resort or nearby

The Tourism industry Our attractions cover the following sectors: Leisure travel – day and overnight Visitor attraction Accommodation Catering Private sector organisation

Conclusion Leisure activities can be passive or active Many factors can contribute to the type of leisure activity an individual may choose (e.g. religion, gender etc.) Those that do visit us are known as our target market As long as there is an intention for the person to return home, it can be classed a tourism. Visitors to the Alton Towers Resort are classed as tourists As our visitors are not always local to the Alton Towers Resort they will choose a mode of transport to get here – this makes the Alton Towers Resort part of the travel and tourism industry

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