Use of e-ticketing for tourists sees revenue rocket for Thai national parks

Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has seen its revenue soar following the introduction of an e-ticketing system. According to a report from the National News Bureau of Thailand, Rakchanok Paenoi, chief of Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi-Phi National Park, said that revenue from entry fees from the sale of e-tickets has …

Manchester introduces tourist tax to develop events and more

Manchester has imposed a tourist tax for guests staying in order to develop and run large events, conferences, festivals and marketing campaigns.  The city is the first in the UK to impose the £1 tourist tax, which will be added per night, per room for those staying in hotels, and is part of a new …

UK attractions see rise in visitors, but still down on pre-pandemic levels 

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) has said that while there has been a 69% increase in visitors to top UK attractions, the total still represents a decline of 23% compared to visits in 2019.  ALVA’s figures for 2022 demonstrated that 123.4 million patrons visited ALVA sites, compared to 73.1 million in 2021. The …

Major events bring sell-outs and tourism highs for Adelaide

Adelaide (pictured) is set to celebrate a busy April with tickets to major events selling out and hotel bookings hitting new highs.  The Australian city is set to welcome capacity crowds for the opening match of the inaugural Australian Football League (AFL) Gather Round, with the number of sold-out matches reaching four out of nine. …

Shanghai Disney increases park ticket prices

Shanghai Disneyland management has revealed a series of park ticket price increases that will be implemented from June 23. At present, a regular day pass costs RMB 453 (£53/€60/$63) which will increase to RMB 475 in June, while a special regular day pass currently sets back Disney fans RMB 545. From the summer, this pass …

Northern Territory events receive A$2.34m boost

Northern Territory residents and visitors to the Australian state will be able to enjoy a jam-packed events calendar in 2023, thanks to a A$2.34m (£1.3m/$1.6m/€1.5m) funding boost through the local government’s Event Funding Programme (EFP).  The Northern Territory Government’s funding is administered by Northern Territory Major Events Company (NTMEC). Categories of funding include community, event …

Dubai’s Global Village attraction to reopen today

Dubai’s Global Village is set to reopen today (Tuesday) with new attractions, shows and additional amenities to improve the visitor experience.  During its last season, which usually runs for six months but was extended for a further four weeks, a record 7.8 million guests visited the attraction. The attraction is celebrating its 27th season, with …

Angkor Archaeological Park sees significant increase in ticket sales

Cambodia’s Angkor Archaeological Park saw an increase in ticket sales of more than 1,000% year-on-year, for the first half of 2022. Angkor Enterprise, a state-run institution that manages ticket sales for international visitors to the UNESCO site, said that 59,983 tickets had been sold between January and June, for a total of $2,420,081 (£2m/€2.3m). Some …

Tech Stack: Metascreen, digital transformation and more…

Our weekly tech round-up from the world of ticketing and associated industries… Metascreen movies  SquirrelVerse, a metaverse first company, has launched Metascreen, a curated NFT (non-fungible token) commerce platform for showing NFTs as movie tickets. ‘Mithila Makhaan’, a Maithili film that will be screened on Metascreen, is the first Indian movie that can be watched …