Leisure facilities face numerous challenges in today’s competitive environment. By having more accurate and in-real-time knowledge of visitor activity, decisions can be efficiently made to improve visitor experience and overall worth of each visit.
In 2013 a forest park in county Monaghan installed two footfall counters, one pedestrian and one vehicle at respective entrances. For the first time ever the management of the park had verifiable statistical data which acted as a catalyst to attract funding for further development.
A playground within the grounds of the park was officially opened in March 2014 and by June 2014 visitor numbers had increased by 75%. This in turn led to additional funding being secured to provide a new car park and toilet block.
It is also used to measure footfall during specific events such as a fishing festival, in order to gauge the effectiveness of certain marketing initiatives.
“Even though we spent money on advertising, there was no way to determine how effective the campaigns were at driving traffic into the park.” Indeed, monitoring the movement of visitor traffic is a key metric in evaluating the impact and performance of money spent.