Arivals “The State of Visitor Attractions” report, the third edition of the Global Operator Landscape, highlights that technology is a key limiting factor in the visitor attractions sector, particularly in ticketing and distribution. While demand for attractions remains strong, the technical infrastructure to distribute tickets effectively lags behind. Many attractions still rely on offline sales, with an astounding one in three lacking a modern online ticketing system or integration with reseller partners.
It is clear that the rapid rise of OTAs in the visitor attractions sector has contributed to the exposure of these technological shortcomings. While OTAs now account for 18% of all attraction bookings globally, a significant portion of attractions still lack the ability to integrate seamlessly with these platforms. This disconnect limits their ability to capitalise on digital distribution, forcing them to rely on outdated offline sales methods, which remain the dominant form of ticket purchases. The inability to connect with reseller partners online results in missed revenue opportunities and inefficient inventory management, making it harder for attractions to maximize profitability.
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have dramatically increased their market share, but many attractions struggle to connect to these platforms due to outdated technology. This disconnect limits revenue opportunities and makes it challenging to manage inventory effectively.
Those who do have connectivity, are via ticketing systems that are great at integrations, but risk overselling to OTAs, eroding their profit margins and losing control over their distribution strategy.
Moreover, these attractions struggle to balance yield management across multiple sales channels.
Many systems lack the functionality to allocate tickets dynamically and within capped thresholds, which can lead to over-reliance on OTAs, reducing margins and leaving attractions vulnerable to pricing pressures. The challenges lie in managing yield and preventing OTAs from consuming too much of the available ticket inventory, which can result in reduced direct sales and lower profitability.
Expian was developed in collaboration with a major UK visitor attraction to address these challenges. With contracts spanning 600+ global trade partners, it provides inventory management functionality that goes beyond basic OTA integration.
Unlike many ticketing systems that simply facilitate OTA connections, Expian enables granular control over inventory and pricing, ensuring third-party sales align with strategic revenue goals rather than consuming available capacity indiscriminately.
By ensuring that ticket sales remain within predetermined budgets and margins, Expian helps attractions protect their direct sales channels while still leveraging third-party distribution effectively.
In addition to its sophisticated inventory control, Expian also includes seemingly basic yet crucial functionality that is missing from many competing solutions. A prime example is the ability to create contract periods that differ from sales periods, with as many active contract periods as needed. For instance, an attraction could set a commission of 20% for the financial year April 1st, 2025, to March 31st, 2026, and another period for the following financial year, without any interruptions in selling or waiting for new booking periods to be put on sale. This eliminates downtime and ensures seamless ticket sales and revenue flow, a critical feature for attractions that rely on steady income from multiple sales channels.
By addressing both high-level strategic control and fundamental operational needs, Expian provides a holistic solution that empowers attractions to regain control over their distribution and revenue management.