How to make an airshow pay?

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Discussion

saaby93

Original Poster:

32,038 posts

186 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
quotequote all
A wll known plane (or two) is scheduled for this airshow
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-mid-wales-22800...
but how to make people pay when there's a much better view from the hills?
They're suggesting increasing gate prices but won't this have the opposite effect?
Donations for entering Powys?


Eric Mc

122,895 posts

273 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
quotequote all
An airshow should not be only about the air display. If they want to make sure people pay at the gate, they need to have attractions on the ground that make it worth paying to get in.

For aviation buffs, having a good static display is a good start. Having aviation related and aviation hobby related retailers and stands also helps

For the non-aviation buffs, having family attractions such as non-aviation traders, fairgrounds, dog displays, motor-cycle displays and any number of other non-aviation displays and activities also helps.

mph1977

12,467 posts

176 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
An airshow should not be only about the air display. If they want to make sure people pay at the gate, they need to have attractions on the ground that make it worth paying to get in.

For aviation buffs, having a good static display is a good start. Having aviation related and aviation hobby related retailers and stands also helps

For the non-aviation buffs, having family attractions such as non-aviation traders, fairgrounds, dog displays, motor-cycle displays and any number of other non-aviation displays and activities also helps.


exactly ...

Engineer1

10,486 posts

217 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
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Surely the trick is to make the show a family event that appeals to all after all if the enthusiast has to use up a pass to go its harder than being a day out that all will enjoy or tollerate.

Chrisgr31

13,761 posts

263 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
quotequote all
I see they did a collection from those on the hillside, and mainly collected coppers. I find this interesting because we have a carnival here and when I moved here 40 years ago our parents gave us a bag of coppers to put in the buckets, the kids of today are still given bags of coppers so the only change is the loss of half pennys. The outcome is that the Carnival raises no more than it did 40 years ago.

Putting up the prices really is not going to work and of course getting extra ground interest is all well and good but it costs more without the knowledge that it will increase gate receipts.

There really is a need for the public to realise that these things have to be paid for and that they have to give more than a handful of small change, but how you achieve this I know not. People will happily pay several hundreds pounds a year for Sky etc but then only give a handful of coppers for local live events.

I do wonder how the airshow at Manston is paying its way but apparently they have sold over 9,000 tickets.

mph1977

12,467 posts

176 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
quotequote all
Chrisgr31 said:
<snip>
There really is a need for the public to realise that these things have to be paid for and that they have to give more than a handful of small change, but how you achieve this I know not. People will happily pay several hundreds pounds a year for Sky etc but then only give a handful of coppers for local live events.
complete tangent - but this is a problem that St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross have with providing first aid and ambulance cover for events , in that people balk at the costs of the cover provided despite the mostly volunteer staffing ...

however pre CQC regulation of Ambulance services - the 'vanity' operators didn't help

IanMorewood

4,309 posts

256 months

Sunday 9th June 2013
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If they had advertised it on the M54 today Im sure they would have got a lot of Cosfords Unhappy/Overspill all of whom would have been happy to pay £5+ if it meant they didnt have to sit for over 4+ hours to get into the airshow today.

onyx39

11,220 posts

158 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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£5 is extremely cheap for an airshow anyway...

anonymous-user

62 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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I think you have to focus on attracting people into the paid area. I don't think you can or should try to charge people watching from outside the airfield. The airshow makes use of the surrounding airspace and the good will of the locals. To make an airshow pay you have to make people want to pay to come in or have it somewhere where people won't easily get a better free view somewhere else.

AndyNetwork

1,840 posts

202 months

Monday 10th June 2013
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Chrisgr31 said:
I do wonder how the airshow at Manston is paying its way but apparently they have sold over 9,000 tickets.
I can tell you where 14 of those tickets have gone, 5 to Manchester, and 9 to Surrey. An extended family day out for my Nephew's birthday.