Visitors flock to iconic landmark but shun well-known attraction

Snowdon Mountain Railway is operated by Heritage Attractions. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The roof-top tour of Liverpool’s iconic Royal Liver Building helped boost the group behind landmark attractions across the UK despite visitors shunning a well-known site.

Heritage Attractions operates Land’s End, Snowdon Mountain Railway, John O’Groats, and The Needles and Sandham Gardens on the Isle of Wight as well as Land’s End Hotel, 17th century pub First and Last Inn, Penwith Studios and Saddle and Stable rooms.

Newly-filed accounts with Companies House have revealed which attractions the Liverpool-headquartered group operates were the most popular in the year to January 31, 2024.

Land’s End saw a fall in visitor numbers by 3 per cent but an increase in spend per head of 10.1 per cent.

Snowdon Mountain Railway’s visitor numbers rose by 8.45 per cent and spend per head jumped by 18.84 per cent.

Visitors to The Needles, on the Isle of Wight, dropped by 5 per cent but the. spend per head increased by 7.88 per cent.

Sandham Gardens, which is also on the Isle of Wight, suffered a 25.4 per cent drop in visitors while its spend per head remained static.

The 360 tour of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool enjoyed a 39.4 per cent surge in visitors and an increase in spend per head of 2.5 per cent.

Overall, there was a fall in visitor numbers of 2.7 per cent and a a rise in spend per head of 11.6 per cent.

The accounts also show that the group’s turnover increased from £16.6m to £18.7m while its pre-tax profits edged up from £1.3m to £1.4m.

Holiday makers spend more but locals cut back

A statement signed off by the board said: “The directors are pleased with the results for the year.

“The 2023 operating season saw an increase in turnover of £2m compared to the 2022 season.

“The reason for this was the reopening of the Summit building at Snowdon Mountain Railway and a general increase in customer spend per head at sites.

“The 2023 season was against the backdrop of cost-of-living pressures in the UK, however, visitor numbers and spend at sites were generally pleasing against prior year and budget expectations.

“The company, like many in the sector, found the challenges to be in respect of catering margins and certain other overheads such as insurance and power which have seen high levels of inflationary pressure.

“The directors have been proactively looking at measures to limit cost increases and believe the upward pressures are now easing.

“The overall picture saw spend from holiday makers being strong, however, spend from local customers outside of holiday periods was reduced.

“Following three years of closure, the Snowdon Mountain Railway summit building, Hafod Eryri, reopened in June which provided a welcome boost to this site; this was later than planed but once opened saw a significant increase in demand from passengers and walkers.

“The directors believe the iconic and unique nature of its portfolio to sites has provided it with a resilience when consumer spending has bene under pressure.”

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