30 FEATURE: VISITOR ATTRACTIONS August 2014
creating an attraction that is going to be running – in most cases – for 10 years or more. This can impact on income too, particularly man-hours when projects overrun with no spare money in the budget. “Second,” he goes on,
“allow time to get to know
and install it, and then they can pay at least 30 days later. Credit in the electronics industry is fairly non-existent, so careful contract negotiation is necessary. “Third,” he adds, “is
keep up with evolving technology.”
‘A good integrator
brings a solid technical base and an awareness of what works best’ Lars Sandlund, Dataton
the industry and its foibles – and believe me, there are a fair few. Cash flow is a big issue, as clients tend to believe that you will just procure all the equipment
Long-term success Harkless also has some words of wisdom. “Sell on value, not price,” he says. “It’s easy to get pulled into low initial cost but
when things fail shortly after install it is often the integrator who takes the blame and therefore needs to reinvest to maintain a good reputation. Having the right design for the right application sets the stage for long-term success and repeat business.” The last word goes to Sormani, with a timely reminder. “It’s clear that the classic art/artifacts type of visitor attraction have their place in the market and will always draw a constant stream of visitors,” he says. “But with more ‘themed’ destinations, the future is not so clear – because in the last decade, everybody jumped on to the AV and interactivity bandwagon without thinking too long about the visitor experience. I’ve observed many times
that even the most technically sophisticated AV presentation nowadays doesn’t impress visitors that much any more if the content isn’t good enough, since virtually every visitor nowadays is used to a big screen HD TV at home, possibly with surround audio and 3D. That means that, for the future, the most successful visitor attractions will be those that bring an experience into play, which consists of good and dramatic content – not only video, but also audio, light and even smell.” Integrators and
manufacturers already in the visitor attractions market are, inevitably, fully apprised of both the opportunities and the potential pitfalls. Entering the market seems likely, however, to challenge
any integrator given that existing participants believe that experience is the primary requirement for customer acceptance and subsequent success. Success is, however, what many integrators – and manufacturers – are achieving in the visitor attraction market. If that success continues, it looks probable that those well intentioned but often miserable childhood outings may have been well and truly consigned to the dustbin of history.
www.alcorn.com www.avstumpfl.com www.dataton.com www.djwillrich.com www.holovis.com www.newmediaconcepts.nl www.reflex.co.uk www.sarner.com
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