FEATURE: VISITOR ATTRACTIONS The power to attract
Activity levels remain strong as installers work to strike a balance between innovative, immersive group experiences and offering a more personal touch, writes Ian McMurray
In the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway, Sarner used an interactive projection system to highlight climate change – in this instance it shows scorched earth as a result of the climate changing but when visitors walk over the area, it changes to green fertile land
“WHEN EVERY house has a high-definition television and a Nintendo Wii or Xbox 360 with Kinect, children have access to media rich interactive technologies at home,” smiles Alex Carru, CEO of the North American arm of French show control company Medialon. “Museums and parks are challenged to entice these same children to their attractions and exhibits using new technology, clever storytelling techniques, or even familiar technology applied in a way they couldn't possibly have at home.” ‘Challenged’ is, perhaps, the
operative word at a time when economic turbulence is possibly discouraging investment in visitor attractions. Perhaps
[KEY POINTS]
The visitor attractions market is surprisingly buoyant, with most growth coming from the Middle East and Asia
The challenge is to deliver an experience that even the current sophistication of home AV technology can’t match
‘Immersive’ is the dominant theme, with advanced projection and a range of interaction technologies helping to create ‘being part of it’ experiences
www.installation-international.com
The key to good visitor attraction design is not to use technology for its own sake, but to allow it to support a specific creative purpose
surprisingly, though, the market appears to be buoyant – although there are regional differences. According to Stephan Villet, principal associate at Smart Monkeys, which specialises in providing advice, project management and programming for show control, global attendance at theme parks grew by almost 4% in 2011 – twice the rate of the previous year – and visitor attraction spend on AV solutions reflected that. “In the past, the out-of- home entertainment market has been relatively immune to poor economic conditions,” notes Henry Corrado, who has created Tejix, an integrator focused exclusively on theme parks.
“This crisis is no different.” He believes that theme park attendance in Europe has grown by 5% in the past year – and the Asian market at twice that rate. “The visitor attractions
market is very healthy,” says Fredrik Svahnberg, marketing director at Dataton. “We are seeing increasing use of our Watchout multiscreen software and Pickup audio guide as museums and visitor attractions invest in more efficient ways of storytelling, information and knowledge transfer.” “We’re handling around the same level of business as we were five or 10 years ago,” says Rowland Hughes, commercial director at ShowCAD, which
manufactures DMX lighting and show control systems, “and the majority of it is new projects.”
Most industry players see a
similar picture: good growth in Asia, an emerging recovery in North America, and a flat- to-up European market. It’s not just about geography, however, as Ross Magri, managing director of visitor attractions design and build company Sarner, points out. “There are still quite a few
relatively small projects,” he says. “It’s a well-known fact that, during a recession, visitor numbers to such venues peak, as many look for more cost-effective ways to spend their money.” He makes the point that visitor attraction investment was at
its highest to support celebration of the new millennium – and a similar level of investment is unlikely to occur until the end of the century.
NEW VERSUS OLD Then, there is the question of whether money is being spent on new attractions – or on upgrading what’s already in place. “We are seeing a significant number of new projects,” says Pierre Gillet, VP of European sales for digital signage company BrightSign, 30% of whose worldwide sales come from the visitor attractions industry. “Museums and attractions recognise that they need to offer interactivity in particular to appeal to younger visitors, and see digital signage as a flexible platform for delivering this.” “We’re seeing a mix,” says
David Willrich of DJ Willrich, an integrator whose focus has historically been on the visitor attractions market. “In the Far East, we are working
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