How the Attractions Industry is Battling COVID-19

IAAPA brings us all together every year to meet, socialise and network. But it also lends to bonding our industry, allowing companies to get to know one another and strengthen relationships between professionals within it. In doing so it’s created a network of people that want to help one another, especially in a time like right now.

We’ve seen kind words of support shared by companies across the industry about how they’re putting the safety of their employees first and adopting a remote working course of action during the lockdown as well as wishing good health and the hope of resuming normal operations again soon. Many are offering to help where they can, be it with assisting isolated loved ones or in donating excess PPE to the health services that are on our front lines fighting for us. We’ve even seen how some companies, with the ability to, have been able to diversify and start manufacturing PPE to help with national shortages in the health sector.

The theme park fan community, tightly knit in their collective love for the parks and their rides, have expressed their sadness for the parks forced to closed but their excitement to return. European Coaster Club worked together with coaster enthusiast fan clubs from across the world to create a video of solidarity and appreciation for the industry, wishing us all well through this unprecedented time.

The job of the attractions industry has always been to entertain, educate and bring joy to families. But without our venues to do so at we, like so many other industries, we have taken to the digital world to continue our duties.

Now forced to work from home, we’re still continuing our projects where we can, utilising technologies that we’re fortunate to have like video conferencing, collaborative working software and the internet. As well as using social media to stay connected to our clients and customers.

But many parks are also using their social media platforms to continue to entertain their audience, going above and beyond to create content for all ages. We’ve seen colouring books to Point-Of-View videos of our favourite coasters, recipes for theme park snack cravings to virtual visits to the zoo. Anyway that they can think, to bring the amusement to their guest’s homes. Although a touching way to interact with their audiences and spread positivity, it is also a great way of nurturing that long-distance relationship, strengthening it for post isolation to encourage these potential guests to return to their parks and attractions again in the future.

The fans have even been showing off their ideas, to inspire others, with the hashtag #homemadethemeparks. Re-creating their favourite rides at home with what they can find to recreate these beloved attractions.

Some businesses have gone above and beyond for fans. We’ve seen Aroma Prime, creator of themed smells for attractions across the world, release a ‘Theme Park Fan Collection’ allowing isolated fans to feel just like their in their cherished attractions with scents and diffusers that can be delivered to their homes.

We released, with Simworx, our 360 POV Video of our Immersive Superflume that we completed last year at Trans Studio Cibubur. Allowing those who can’t leave their house or wouldn’t get the chance to visit the ride in Jakarta the chance to experience it.

It’s can be hard to stay optimistic when things get overwhelming. Not only can COVID-19 effect our physical health but it is affecting our mental health too. We’re all finding our own ways to stay sane at home, cooped up. But looking at the positives to come from these hardships can help us to see the bright side of the situation.

The majority of us are getting time, we wouldn’t usually have, to spend time with our families, partners and pets which we might typically take for granted. Kids are home from school and parents are taking on the role of teachers giving them the chance to get more involved in their education. Man’s best friend is getting more walks than they could ever have asked for, and company from their humans throughout the day when we’d usually be at work. We’re gaining back commuting time. Catching up on work. Improving ourselves by learning new things from online courses or webinars. We’re picking back up our hobbies that are all too often cast aside, without the time to dedicate to them. And we’re supporting the local businesses that are fighting to stay afloat by buying local produce for delivery.

We’re all learning to appreciate what we have and not take even the smallest things for granted. To applaud our key healthcare workers for their undeniable hard work and bravery, to look out for those less fortunate, to lend them a hand and volunteer to assist the vulnerable.

Going forward, attractions will have to consider how they can make themselves a safe place for people to visit, whether this be with additional sanitation measures or decreased capacities to begin with. Many people will still be apprehensive to leave their homes from fear, therefore it will be important for these attractions to clearly communicate how they’re prioritising health and safety to reassure visitors as they begin to return. And we’ve already begun seeing parks gathering feedback from surveys on how they can help their guests feel at ease going forward when they are allowed to open their gates once again.

With travel restrictions still potentially in place, people will be more likely to visit what’s on their doorsteps rather than further afield for a change, and therefore attractions will be catering to a more local audience than global.

None of us know how long this might last, or the steps governments will have to take in  phasing us back into a kind of normality. However, what we can predict is our industry’s ability to regain it’s strength, as venues reopen, people can see their friends again, and there’s a surge in the desire to to finally go out, socialise and enjoy themselves again at our attractions.