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Posted 27/08/2025 by Semantic

The Discount Dilemma for Attractions: Making Smart Choices in a Tough Summer

For many attractions this summer has been quite rough. Costs are rising, the weather has been hit and miss, and families are watching every penny.

This means footfall has been hard to predict and hard to grow, with last minute bookings, or scorcher days where everyone just heads to the beach.

So, to discount or not to discount? It’s the age-old dilemma, and from looking around at many top UK attractions, discounting seems to be becoming the theme of the summer holidays…

Here’s some of the more popular ones that I’ve seen being used out in the wild:

  • Some kind of family bundle price
  • Multi-day visit bundles
  • Multi-attraction discounts or freebies
  • Kids go free / reduced entry
  • Seasonal Annual Passes (e.g. a Summer of Fun 5 visit ticket)

Sometimes these are paired with extra online discounts or perks for booking ahead too, so do consider this if you want to try and drive people to book online.

Good discounting and bad discounting

Of course, marketers are aware that discounting too much or too often devalues your brand and quickly becomes a race to the bottom.

So what have all the discounting methods above got in common?

They’re not devaluing the core ticket prices. In fact, quite the opposite…

Good discounting helps to…

  • Adds value to enhance the guest experience
  • Doesn’t just reduce your prices
  • Incentivises early bookings
  • Targets specific guest types
  • Helps guests mitigate the risks of having a bad day (see Neil’s post about why no is booking online)
  • Grow secondary spend

Bad discounting can…

  • Cheapen your brand
  • Reduce the perceived value
  • Do more harm than good in the long term

In a nutshell, how you discount can either add or reduce value… either positively or negatively affecting the perception of your brand.

Smarter ways to add value

Discounting isn’t the only lever you can pull. In fact, the attractions that are doing best this year are the ones that are thinking beyond the quick sale.

Small changes can make a big difference:

  • Add bundles and perks rather than cutting the core ticket price
  • Build loyalty with members and pass holders so offers feel like rewards not desperation
  • Make sure your online funnel has clear upsells built in, from pop badges and drink deals to premium experiences

These don’t just drive extra revenue, they improve the overall guest experience.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Discounting

  • Do: Add value not just cut price > Think meal deals, parking or bonus experiences that raise the perceived value.
  • Do: Reward loyalty > Make discounts feel like exclusive benefits for members or subscribers.
  • Do: Create urgency without eroding value > Short, time-limited offers encourage action without creating long-term expectations.
  • Do: Upsell smarter > Keep your gate price firm and use upsells for upgrades that feel optional but irresistible.
  • Don’t: Panic discount when the weather turns > Prepare rainy-day campaigns and bounce-back offers ahead of time.
  • Don’t: Neglect mobile > nearly 90% of bookings happen there, so your messaging and upsells need to work flawlessly on small screens.
  • Don’t: Hide your hidden USPs > Gift aid giving 12 months entry is an amazing value point — but only if you actually tell people about it.
  • Do: Partner with nearby attractions > create discounted combi tickets so you both win.

What next?

Discounts will always have their place. In a tough economy, they can be a useful safety net. But if you lean on them too heavily, you end up conditioning your audience to wait for the next sale.

The smarter move is to use discounts sparingly, add value in ways that protect your pricing power and keep your guest journey optimised so every visit is worth more.

👉 How are you handling the Discount Dilemma this summer?

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