How we spend our time and money is changing and it falls to businesses to adapt in order to survive and prosper.

Today's consumers are interested in ‘experiences’ and this has fuelled spending growth in UK holiday accommodation (up 7.6 per cent per annum), eating out (up 4.6 per cent) and leisure classes (up 4.5 per cent). This trend is being seen across all geographies and age cohorts, but is driven predominantly by the millennial demographic who present a unique challenge for businesses.

As the first digitally native generation, millennials are more demanding, more socially and environmentally aware and more health conscious, but often with less disposable income than previous young generations.

It is this generation’s desire for high-value but low-cost events that is expected to drive growth in the UK experience economy over the next 15 years, providing a unique opportunity for rural estates.

Savills Estate Benchmarking Index 2018 found that 17 per cent of managed estates already host events and those that have already diversified into visitor enterprises including catering and retail will be more likely to have the infrastructure in place to provide these new experiential events.

Spookily spectacular

One potential opportunity for rural estates is the new experience economy generated by Halloween-themed events. Halloween often comes close to the half-term break, which means plenty of families are looking for entertainment. It can be as simple as providing an educational experience and family events around seasonal produce, such as pumpkin carving, fancy dress and bouncy castles.

However, for those willing to invest more and with the facilities to do so, the so-called Fright Parks are increasingly popular for the older scare-seeker. Such attractions involve creating several horror-themed spaces featuring actors, props and sets through which visitors walk and experience live ‘jump-scares’. The concept can be scaled up into whole day events with separate family and adult times, and can include music, food and drinks or extreme performers to draw a larger and high-spending crowd.

Why go to the effort?

The benefits of this are evident and many. A well-planned and effectively managed Halloween event taps into the new experience economy and has the potential to generate profit by extending the traditional offering beyond September and into autumn. 

Our Estate Benchmarking Survey for the 2018 year found that commercial and leisure sectors now contribute 18 per cent to gross income on rural estates and it is recognised that a successfully diversified business has increased resiliency to external factors. Income from commercial and leisure sectors is more independent of agricultural returns and offers  the potential to add value to by using other estate based assets including produce.

Any form of diversification requires a commitment to a new skill set, and for well-executed experiences, distinct events management and marketing skills are needed to drive success. Factoring in these overheads to an events strategy is essential.

Planning for social media engagement with visitors, such as photo opportunities with live Halloween characters or a well-executed background display, offers scope to raise online profile. Social media engagement also opens up businesses to criticism online, so expectations have to be exceeded in service delivery.

Providing successful and enjoyable occasions for the local community will ideally produce positive sentiment that will endure beyond the function itself, encouraging new or repeat custom for the core business. Well worth the effort, if you dare...

Further information

Contact Savills Rural and Tourism, Leisure & Events Consultancy