Multi-year contracts show signs of economy recovery

With leisure destinations now well underway with their first season in over two years, leading eCommerce platform software and app innovator Convious reports on the positive signs of recovery within the industry, the shift to online booking and the rise of mobile devices as the primary engagement platform. 

The Convious findings are based on trends from the data of its 130+ customers located throughout Europe and the UK. 

Convious is seeing positive signs of recovery within the experience economy after signing multi-year contracts with ten new venues across Europe including: Playpark Sprookjeshof amusement park, Smile Safari museum experience, Riebedebie, Haystax Farm Park, Flyview Paris, Ocean Adventurers, Julianatoren, Jungle City (part of Ice Mountain), Bavaria Filmstadt and Time Ride.

Bernard Kochen, Vice President of Sales for Convious Netherlands explains,

“These new partnerships are testament to the expansive growth we’re experiencing as a company, but are also indicative of a promising resurgence within the attractions industry.”

“Theme parks have had the opportunity to realign their strategies and are wanting to digitise their visitor journey. We’re seeing a steady rise in destinations swapping out their old legacy systems and now require a newer digital-first platform that focuses on the customer experience journey. Our mission here at Convious is to help streamline workflows, so destinations can offer a more efficient, pain-free guest experience. As the number of our partnerships grow, it gives us hope that the industry is back in action”.   

In response to the pandemic, online ticket sales have soared. In fact, online sales have increased by over 3000% from January 2022 in comparison to sales in January 2021. This figure is impacted by closures that were in place in 2021, but it is also indicative of a much bigger trend in the move to online booking. Over 80% of theme park web traffic now comes from mobile users alone. 

Attractions that already had an app in place to support their booking and digital guest experience have shown quicker signs of recovery, with average online conversion rates rising by over 20%.

Destinations that offer simple ways for a customer to change the date of their booking online are also seeing much better online conversion rates, as guests have the assurance that they can quickly change their plans should their situation change.

Germany is one market in particular that has seen the biggest change in buying patterns. Physical box offices and paper tickets were still prominent in Germany in 2020, but new Covid regulations forced the move to online to monitor capacity and for Test and Trace compliance.

Destinations using the Convious food and beverage module for mobile food ordering saw a transaction value increase of on average 25%. In addition, combining this with the Tap app for instant contactless payment generates on average between 1-2% extra revenue for locations due to its convenience, ease of use and the key part it plays during the guest visit.

Yvonne Lamein, Manager at Speelpark Sprookjeshof said: 

"Summarising our feedback will be tough, because we're happy with everything Convious has already done for us. Switching to Convious, was the best move ever!"

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