An innovative leisure consultancy specialised in assisting leisure
operators and destinations to 'add value' through a unique
model driven consultancy
The Visitor Experience
A scientific approach to leisure
Who we are…
Introducing Vision XS
•
Founded in 1993
•
Representation in 6 countries, head office near Oxford in UK
•
Specialist consultancy service advising leisure and attraction operators,
destinations and developers internationally
•
Vision XS provides a unique scientific approach to evaluating and shaping the
visitor experience
•
Vision XS offers a multidisciplinary team of highly skilled consultants,
psychologists and researchers
A scientific approach to leisure
Clients and projects
Zoos/Aquaria
Shows/Events
2 Oceans Aquarium
Bristol Zoo Gardens
Colchester Zoo
Detroit Zoo
South-Africa
UK
UK
USA
Dudley Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo
Living Coasts
Marwell Zoo
National Aquarium Baltimore
Paradise Wildlife Park
Port Lympne Zoo
Pretoria Zoo
Shedd Aquarium
Slimbridge
Ushaka Marine World
Woburn Safari Park
Zoo Hannover
Twycross Zoo
UK
UK
UK
UK
USA
UK
UK
South-Africa
USA
UK
South-Africa
UK
Germany
UK
Arabian Show
Hit Entertainment
Scooby Doo
Walsall Illuminations
Erlebniswelt
Fashion Hotel
UAE
UAE
UK
UK
Germany
UAE
Floriade 2012
Global Village
Orca Whale watching
Table Mountain Cableway
Netherlands
UAE
UK
South-Africa
Family Entertainment Centers
Dunes Project
Jump
Kids Play
Noah’s Ark
A scientific approach to leisure
UAE
UK
UK
UK
Clients and projects
Farm Parks
Historic Visitor Attractions
Stirling Castle
Warwick Castle
UK
UK
Theme Parks
Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Crealy Adventure Park,
Devon & Cornwall
Freej Park
Gold Reef City
Legoland
Paulton’s Park Southampton
Portugal Fantasia
Six Flags Dubai
Universal Studios
UK
UK
UK
UAE
SA
Germany
UK
Portugal
UAE
UAE
Alice in Wonderland
Barleylands
Big Sheep
Bucklebury Farm
Cantref
Cotswold Farm Park
UK
UK
UK
UK
UK
UK
Fishers Farm
Greenwood Forest Park
Marsh Farm
Obst-Erlebnis-Garten, Baltic Farm Park
Odds Farm Park
Pennywell Farm Park
Spring Barn
Tulleys Farm
UK
UK
UK
Germany
UK
UK
UK
UK
Union Farm
Wild Britain
Willows Farm Park
Windmill Farm Park
York Maze
UK
UK
UK
UK
UK
A scientific approach to leisure
Clients and projects
Sports
EDAW – legacy planning London Olympics 2012
Newbury Race Course
Hamburg Football Club
The Tote (betting experience analysis)
Soccer City 2010 Johannesburg
Fan Park Planning 2010
2012 Olympic Mountain Biking Legacy Plan
2012 Olympic White Water Legacy Plan
ISPO Sport Exhibition Munich
A scientific approach to leisure
UK
UK
Germany
UK
South Africa
South Africa
UK
UK
Germany
Clients and projects
Museums/Science Centres
American Museum of Natural History
Ballinstadt Auswandererwelt
Dornier Museum
Frazier International History Museum
Imperial War Museum
MTN Science Centre Cape Town
USA
Germany
Germany
USA
UK
South-Africa
Museum of Science & Industry, Air & Space
National Needlework Museum Redditch
Natural History Museum (Antarctica exhibition)
Natural History Museum (Dino Birds exhibition)
Old World Wisconsin
Pendon Museum
Wallingford Museum
UK
UK
UK
UK
USA
UK
UK
Bletchley Park
Urquhart Castle
UK
Scotland
A scientific approach to leisure
Pressing the Psychological Buttons
for Maximum Experience
A scientific approach to leisure
Benefits – Strengths and Weaknesses
through metrics
WHAT ARE THE KEY PARAMETERS OF A VISITOR EXPERIENCE. HOW
CAN THEY BE MANAGED FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS
•
What are the Key Parameters
•
How can they be measured and then managed
•
What are the Key Dynamics to achieve optimum results
•
What is the relationship between the Visitor Experience and Revenue
A scientific approach to leisure
The Experience
The Visitor Experience
Visitor Flow
Learning Capability
Experience Quantity
Experience Quality
Experience Value for Money
Capacity Effectiveness
Psychological Appeal
A scientific approach to leisure
Psychographic data base
Vision XS works from the basic premise that all human experiences can be dissected
into a sequence of qualitative and quantitative psychological elements.
These elements are used to model psychological profiles of potential customers in
markets that focus on attitudes, interests, personal opinions and preferences.
A scientific approach to leisure
Psychographic data base
•
Psychographic data is data that links objective demographic characteristics like
age and gender with more abstract characteristics related to ideas, opinions and
interests.
•
Psychographics identify personality characteristics and attitudes that affect a
person's lifestyle and purchasing behaviour.
•
Psychographic data can be gathered first-hand through personal interviews,
focus group interviews or questionnaires, or purchased from research
companies.
A scientific approach to leisure
Psychographic Element Groupings
Skills and Senses
Emotion or Reaction
Motion
Learning
The Surroundings
Action and Activity
A scientific approach to leisure
Our unique data base
The world’s largest experiential database meets the most sophisticated
modelling software. X-Mod is driven by three types of data:
◘ General population psychographic data collected in each target market country. Data
is already collected in:
♦United Kingdom
♦Germany
♦Portugal
♦Poland
♦Australia
♦UAE
♦Iran
♦Pakistan
♦Egypt
♦Finland
♦USA
♦South Africa
♦China
♦Singapore
♦Russia
♦India
♦Holland
♦Romania
Tracking studies data base.
◘ Benchmarking data base that incorporates results data from the analysis of over 110
projects.
A scientific approach to leisure
Component elements - example
For example the Olympic way in Athens contained the following elements:
• On or near water
• Passion for your country
or region
• Emotional
• Inspiring
• Themed area
• Visual Effects
• Sounds Effects
Olympic Way, Athens
A scientific approach to leisure
What is X – MOD?
•
X-MOD is an experience modelling tool developed by mathematicians,
psychologists, statisticians and market researchers. It is operational in 16 countries
and has already been used by over 110 facilities and two destinations.
•
X-MOD offers a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the visitor
experience on offer, along with analytical evidence to define, direct, and support a
dynamic solution.
•
It measures eight parameters of visitor enjoyment:
 Visitor flow
 Experience intensity
 Experience quality
 Experience quantity
 Capacity effectiveness
 Experience value
 Learning capability
 Psychological appeal
A scientific approach to leisure
How easy is it to predict the visitors route through your attraction?
Impossible
Difficult
Easy
0%
44%
56%
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Do you manage the visitors journey time in any way?
Yes
No
Sometimes
16%
25%
59%
A scientific approach to leisure
How much of your experience changes each year?
Always the same
17%
A little
A lot
3%
80%
A scientific approach to leisure
TThe
 How to improve visitor flow.
 Minimise queue
times.
 Better navigation
of the site.
 Position toilets,
restaurants, kiosks.
 Direction for stra
tegies and plans for
any future additions
to the attraction.
A scientific approach to leisure
0
A scientific approach to leisure
Top Secret - The Ending of War -
Behind the Scenes Tour
The People of BP - Characters
1940's Show Stage
Spies Tour and Workshop
Hut 12 - exhibition
Block H - exhibition
The History of Computing - Tour
Billets - exhibition
Off Duty - exhibition
Hut 8 - exhibition
Women at War - tour
Pigeons at War - exhibition
Vintage Cars Display - exhibition
The Country House at War -
The Rise of Radio - exhibition
Hut 1 - exhibition
The History Of Radio - Tour
Post Office
A History of Cods and Chipers
The Polish Memorial Garden
Hut 11 - exhibition
Hut 6 - exhibition
Hut 3 - exhibition
Code Breacking - Tour
Recruitment and Choice of BP
History of BP - exhibition
The Build Up To The War - intro
Element count
Typical visitor journey for age 41 - 65
A typical psychological journey for visitors
age 41-65
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
A scientific approach to leisure
Top Secret - The Ending
The People of BP -
1940's Show Stage
Spies Tour and
Hut 12 - exhibition
Block H - exhibition
The History of
Billets - exhibition
Off Duty - exhibition
Hut 8 - exhibition
Women at War - tour
Pigeons at War -
Vintage Cars Display -
The Rise of Radio -
Hut 1 - exhibition
The History Of Radio -
Post Office
A History of Cods and
Hut 11 - exhibition
Hut 6 - exhibition
Hut 3 - exhibition
Code Breacking - Tour
History of BP - exhibition
The Build Up To The War
Element count
Typical visitor journey for age 17 - 25
Typical visitor journey
age 17-25
Dwell Time vs Experiences per Hour
6
5.5
Dwell time (hours)
5
Optimal
4.5
4
3.5
Boredom
3
2.5
Burnout
2
1.5
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Experiences per hour
A scientific approach to leisure
7
8
9
10
Active time
Active time
Age
group
Survey
active time
Benchmark
active time
Site
active
time
0-2
40.8
40.8
48.7
50
3-5
40.1
42.1
49.9
40
6-10
41.6
44.1
49.4
11-16
41.9
40.7
39.6
20
17-25
39.4
44.4
38.6
10
26-40
41.1
49.1
42.5
41-65
39
48.4
42.4
66+
34.4
48.3
38.7
Active time
Active time(%)
Survey data
60
Active time (%)
*
*
30
0
0-2
3-5
6-10
11-16
17-25
Age group
26-40
41-65
66+
The time ‘active’ i.e. in exhibits, rides, talks etc is fairly close to the ideal. This
should be maintained through and after the future planned developments.
*Survey data is the world’s largest database of its kind, storing vast amounts of data on psychological and leisure needs of different populations and age
groups (8 age groups, 16 countries, 25,600 surveys),
A scientific approach to leisure
Active Time: Major theme park in Dubai
Before Project
Amenities inc. queues
13%
After Project
Active
14%
Amenities inc. queues
17%
Active
28%
Transient
16%
Transient
25%
Queuing
33%
Spectating
14%
Queuing
25%
Spectating
15%
Here this major new theme parks first design was only
delivering 14% of a visitors day ‘Active’ (on the rides and in
shows) whereas after design changes around 28% was
achieved. Result – much happier customers
A scientific approach to leisure
Do you measure average dwell time?
Yes
No
44%
56%
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Average Catering Spend vs Average Dwell Time
£5.00
Average catering spend
£4.50
£4.00
£3.50
£3.00
£2.50
£2.00
£1.50
£1.00
£0.50
£0.00
0
1
2
3
4
Average dwell time (hours)
A scientific approach to leisure
5
6
7
Learning Styles
Learning styles
Learning styles
70
Style (% on site)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Creative
Reading
Talking
Practical
The mix of learning styles offered by a day out at XXX does not reflect how the UK
population want to access the experience. Whilst the amount of learning via reading
is perfect, the most popular method of creative learning is barely reflected and
needs rectification in future plans.
A scientific approach to leisure
Experience Quality
EQS
Experience quality
Quality
Benchmark data
World class
200
*
180
160
Quality
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0-2
3-5
6-10
11-16
17-25
26-40
41-65
66+
Age group
The psychological quality of the experience offered is in the red ‘unacceptable’ band
and is below the zoo benchmark quality for all but the 3-5 year olds. Adding the
elements in the next table will make a big difference to this result.
*Benchmark data is the data taken from 100+ real attractions across the globe; their quality of experience
A scientific approach to leisure
Psychographic elements to add
The list identifies the missing psychographic elements and should be use in design
phase to create new experiences that will psychologically appeal to young age groups.
0-2
3-5
6-10
11-16
1
Visual effects
Push buttons and pull
levers
Physical activity
Rides / machines that you
control
2
Sound effects
Physical activity
Futuristic
Physical activity
3
Push buttons and pull
levers
Relaxing
Spending money
Extreme motion
4
Physical activity
Touching something rare
Fast motion
Fast motion
5
Touching something rare
Futuristic
Push buttons and pull levers
Relaxing
6
Staff who talk to you
Visual effects
Artistic activities
Going round and round
7
Themed areas
Spending money
Relaxing
Spending money
8
Tasting
Themed areas
In water or getting wet
Simulated motion
9
Relaxing
Sound effects
Being close to or on water
Learning by being creative
10
Viewing something rare
Interactive computer
displays
Extreme motion
Futuristic
11
Artistic activities
Smelling
Going round and round
Fantasy
12
Smelling
Artistic activities
Rides / machines that you
control
In water or getting wet
A scientific approach to leisure
Key capacities
The indoor capacity at 81% is fine,
although many of these experiences are
very similar.
Key capacities
Percentage of
total capacity
(%)
Indoor capacity
81.4
Repeatable
capacity
9.5
Water capacity
3.7
Show capacity
1.9
Spend capacity
3.1
The repeatable capacity is very low and will
need to improve to 30+% in order for the
zoo to reach its desired market
penetration.
As water remains popular with all ages and
all populations, the Water capacity needs
improving to 10+% to be in line with
modern zoo experiences.
The demonstration (show) capacity is very
low and requires increasing to 10-15% of
the total capacity on the site.
The spend capacity should never go above
5%.
A scientific approach to leisure
Experience value
Experience value
Experience value
Value(GBP)
Ticket price
Benchmark data
12
Value(GBP)
10
8
6
4
2
0
0-2
3-5
6-10
11-16
17-25
26-40
41-65
66+
Age group
Currently XXX represents reasonable value for children and very poor value for
adults.
A scientific approach to leisure
Benefits – Strengths and Weaknesses
through metrics
•
Master Planning
•
Analysing Concepts
•
Capital Investment Appraisal
•
De-risking by modelling different ideas
•
Shaping even more detailed briefs to designers
•
Operational Quick Wins
•
Capacity Effectiveness
•
Benchmarking
A scientific approach to leisure
THANK YOU
Chris Webster
Chief Executive
Vision XS Ltd
Abingdon, Oxford, UK OX14 3YS
+44 (0)1235 420327
M: +44 (0)7787 563392
chrisw@visionxs.co.uk
www.visionxs.co.uk
A scientific approach to leisure