Growing a repeat audience is a considerable challenge for event organisers. By catering to tourists however, you can ensure a fresh supply of attendees for every event you run.

Tourists are always looking for things to do and they have money to spend. So if you’re located in a destination that is already popular with tourists, it’s a business model well worth considering.

In this article we will look at some research produced by VisitEngland detailing what sort of experiences tourists to the UK are seeking, and the best type of events to meet those needs.

Top tourist needs

The research found those visiting Britain on holiday have six ‘tier one’, or primary, needs. Enjoying the natural scenery came out on top, with 71% stating it was particularly important. This was closely followed by ‘seeing the most famous sights in the destination’ (67%) and ‘learning more about the destination’ (also scoring 67%).

Still important, but slightly less so was ‘experiencing the local culture’ (63%), ‘rest and relaxation’ (62%) and ‘learning about history and heritage’ (59%). The least important experience for tourists – which might surprise you – was partying. Only 20% said it was a key activity. They also showed a lack of enthusiasm for helping the local community or environment (24%) – while we might be happy to take part in CSR activities during work time, it’s not necessarily something we want to do on holiday.

Tier one needs were found to be generally consistent across Britain’s key tourist markets (Germany, USA, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, China and domestic tourists). The only anomalies were Spain, which doesn’t attach as much importance to experiencing local culture, Italy, which doesn’t think rest and relaxation is a priority, and the Netherlands, which is not so interested in learning about history and heritage.

It could be worth speaking to your local tourist board to establish the exact demographic of your local area’s inbound visitors to help you better understand the market. If your town is predominantly visited by Italians, maybe don’t try to target them with a spa experience!

Where the money’s at

Figures show that tourist spend is heavily weighted to ‘experiencing city life’, and ‘history and heritage’. These two categories account for £3.7 billion and £3.6 billion in annual spend respectively. To put this in perspective, tourist spend on outdoor leisure activities, such as golfing, only accounts for £430 million.

Visitors primarily spend on “immersive urban experiences” that help them “soak up everything the city has to offer.” This includes entertainment, culture, shopping, sightseeing and food & drink.

It’s no surprise that visiting iconic tourist attractions/places is the number one activity tourists would consider on a trip to the UK, but VisitEngland also investigated activity preference at a much more granular level. The ‘tier one’ activities are as follows:

  • Seeing world famous or iconic places (80%)
  • Visiting a castle, palace, historic house (77%)
  • Visiting a historic monument (76%)
  • Trying local food and drink specialties (73%)
  • Visiting a museum (67%)
  • Visiting a park/garden (66%)

Most of the above fall into the ‘experiencing city life category’. The activities that tourists are least likely to consider doing on holiday in Britain include golfing (19%), taking part in competitive sports (21%) and watersports (24%).

Creating events to capitalise on tourist need

What this research demonstrates is that tourists want to feel a connection to and understanding of the place they’re visiting. They want to tick off the key sights and buy the t-shirt (or take the selfie) but they also want to get under the skin of the city experiencing some local culture.

Events organised and led by knowledgeable locals are an amazing way to be instantly immersed in an environment. The question to ask yourself is, “How can I help people get to know my city or culture better?” You don’t have to have lots of money and experience behind you – just a passion to share what’s important to you.

The market for authenticity is booming – you only have to look at the 4,000+ experiences now offered by individuals on Airbnb or the growth of EatWith, a website that gives tourists the opportunity to dine in a local home (it has 25,000 registered hosts).

Another trend driving the market for tourist events is the rise in solo travel. According to VisitEngland, it’s one of the fastest growing categories and offers huge potential to create events that help solo travellers experience and enjoy a destination.

How tourists discover events

Traditionally, tourists are targeted on the ground, but the research shows they may already have decided what they’re going to see and do before they land in the UK. The majority of tourists from all markets (and all demographics) agree they find out as much as they can about a destination before they go.

This means using traditional travel guides in combination with review sites, apps, blogs, social networks – and even event listing sites like Eventbrite to find out what’s available in a destination.

Make sure your event is highly visible online and try to amass as much social proof as you can i.e. encouraging participants to leave you reviews on TripAdvisor or Facebook. These reviews really do hold a lot of sway when travellers are trying to choose between multiple tourist attractions in a place they have never visited before.

But while more pre-planning now takes place, booking is more instant than ever. Once a traveller has made a decision, they want to be able to buy tickets online – more often than not from a mobile device.

For maximum appeal, you should have both a mobile friendly platform and use an online payment provider they can trust with their personal details. Selling through Eventbrite, for example, offers the confidence of a big brand name, as well as immediate digital ticket delivery – important for travellers who don’t have access to a printer.

Conclusion

If you’re passionate about your city, why not share that love with visitors? Organising an event tailored to tourists will help them get more out of their visit at the same time as earning you money. And with new tourists arriving every day – all looking for things to do – it could be the start of a whole new career.

Got a great idea for a tourist event? Want to know what others think of it or need some help getting started? Join fellow event organisers on the EventTribe forum.