Theme park travellers head to where the fun is

From Disneyland and Dreamworld to Luna Park, Legoland and Dollywood, there’s a theme park out there for just about every kind of fun-seeker — and the latest findings from Roy Morgan Research show that 740,000 Australian holiday-goers visited at least one on their last holiday.

While Australia is still the most common destination for holiday-makers who have visited a theme park on their last trip (55%), foreign destinations were also popular, with 45% of holiday-makers who visited a theme park on their last trip being overseas when they did so.

The USA was the most popular international destination by far among people who went to a theme park on their last overseas holiday, attracting 33% of them. Other popular destinations for overseas travellers who visited a theme park on their last overseas holiday were Japan (15%), Singapore (12%), the UK (9%) and Thailand (7%).

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2014 – September 2015 (n=169).

Angela Smith, Group Account Director, Roy Morgan Research, says:

“Given the plethora of theme/entertainment parks around the world, it’s no surprise that so many people who visited one on their last holiday did so overseas. Our data shows that folks who went to a theme park on their last trip are considerably more likely than the average overseas traveller to have gone to the US,  Japan and Singapore – all of which are renowned for their world-class theme parks.

“Although families with children and people travelling with other family/family and friends account for more than half of holidaying theme-park visitors whose last trip was overseas, it seems that couples (25%), solo travellers (11%) and people travelling with friends (7%) can’t resist theme-park fun either.

“Overseas theme park visitors tend to have a slightly higher household income than the average traveller who went overseas on their last holiday, and they  do a greater number of activities while they’re away -- being more likely to have also visited a zoo/animal sanctuary, gone shopping,  had restaurant/international food and wine experiences, visited museums and art galleries. Overseas theme-park travellers appear to be a lucrative market, and offer a golden opportunity for savvy tourism operators and travel agencies to tailor their marketing communications so as to encourage this special breed of holiday-maker to really enjoy every aspect of their chosen destination.”