Universal 'to lean into new customer trends' as next park goes on sale
Harry KembleUniversal says customers are staying for longer and arriving outside the school holidays, and is also highlighting how popular its parks are for adults without children.
The emerging trends were revealed a week after Universal Orlando Resort’s fourth theme park went on sale, comprising five themed worlds: Celestial Park; The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic; Super Nintendo World; How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk; and Dark Universe.
Speaking to TTG at WTM London, Alison Montague, vice-president and managing director, international sales and marketing, explained how customer demographics and behaviours were changing.
"We like that we fall into the category where we can be fun and playful for adults," said Montague. "We love that we can sell all year round – adults without kids are our secondary market. Around 98% of the park appeals to this demographic. It allows us to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek and a bit more risque.”
Montague name-checked nightlife spot Universal CityWalk Hollywood in California as one venue which attracts Universal’s adult customers.
While Montague admits adults without kids were unlikely to become Universal’s top customer demographic, she revealed: “The length of stay is one of the things where we’re seeing change. We’re really easy to holiday with as you can drop in and out of the park.
"The average length of stay is more than 10 nights, but we will soon see people stay for even more days. We want to lean into this. I can see this increasing. To be specific, 10 nights is the length of the hotel stay, with a week’s worth of time in the parks.”
In the past two years, Universal has also started seeing British holidaymakers – who account for around 30% of the operator’s international business – arrive outside the summer school holidays. “We tend to attract Brits during the school holidays – that is when our peak time is," said Montague. "But we’re seeing overspill into June though.”
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