Ted Stimpson interview


The Tower of London is one o  attrations offered  LPG’s The London Pass


T


here can’t be many brands that boast a global


market share in excess of 65% but whose boss argues he has not yet reached more than 1% of the potential audience. This is the paradox Ted Stimpson outlines as he details how the Leisure Pass Group (LPG) plans to convince more consumers to buy its product. It’s a simple concept; persuade visitors to a city to pre-purchase a package of excursions and attractions at a discount rather than pay full price on the door, and give them a big choice (of around 60, in the case of the London Pass) for a set price. Suppliers that sign up get extensive third-party marketing, as does the destination; it sounds like a good deal all-round. LPG’s chief executive is evangelical about the concept and its prospects. He points out that globally, there are only “8-10” big attraction pass brands, of which LPG has three of the largest companies; the original London-based Leisure Pass Group and its various city attraction passes; Boston-based Smart Destinations, which operates the Go City Card US brands; and the New York Pass, which also operates the Philadelphia Pass. In March 201, private equity firm Exponent merged the three similarly


sized brands under LPG (which it acquired in December 2016) and later


that year added the New Orleans and Las Vegas Power Pass to its portfolio, giving it an enormous market share. Added to this is the fact that Exponent also owns Big Bus Tours, one of the top- five most-popular options for pass users. Surely the competition authorities had something to say about this? The regulators defined the market as attractions, not attraction passes,” Stimpson points out. “The tourism activity category is worth $100 billion globally. We have less than 1% of that. The concern of a regulator is that the consumer is getting ripped off. There is an easy response to this, as Stimpson puts it succinctly: “If someone doesn’t think there is value in the pass, they buy individual tickets.” It is certainly a high-growth industry. LPG is now active in 37 markets in 17


rati tours are an option for New York Pass holders


countries, and


technology is making it


easier for smaller attractions to join the combined pass concept, something Stimpson says is long overdue. “Tourism attractions are the final frontier in wiring up,” he says.


Stimpson divides his time between head office in ondon and the former Smart Destinations headquarters in Boston. It is a busy time; over the last five years, ’s brands have seen average volume growth of 21.4%. “Revenue numbers are higher,” he


says. “We will do three million passes this year with 15 million visits to 1,000 attraction partners. We are putting the category on the map in a way it wasn’t before. People ask me who buys them – it’s really anybody that travels.”


Global expansion Three million passes is a drop in the


ocean, LPG believes, and Stimpson says his biggest challenge to expansion is simply awareness. “The vast majority of people don’t know this exists. If we are 1% market penetration globally now, it’s entirely possible it could be 20-25%.” He marries this statistic to tourism’s global expansion as a whole – 3.5% annually – and that of online purchasing, which is growing at 12-15% a year. “The pass category is growing at 20%-plus,” Stimpson informs. Still fewer than a quarter of tourists


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