Attractions 'hit hard' during coronavirus crisis as financial impact deepens
There is uncertainty for attractions during the lockdown as running costs build up and fears over visitor numbers once restrictions are lifted.
Museums across the region have today spoken of the detrimental financial impact of the Covid-19 crisis.
Some of Shropshire’s biggest tourist attractions have already entered “survival mode”, struggling to operate on a care and maintenance basis only.
With the UK entering lockdown a month ago today, the four-week closure has hit all industries hard, and with people forced to stay at home, the strain has extended to public institutions and places of interest.
Attracting thousands of people into the county every year, the Severn Valley Railway has been “fighting for its survival”, launching a £250,000 emergency appeal to ensure it stays afloat over the next few months.
Meanwhile, the Ironbridge Gorge Museums has seen 80 per cent of its income vanish.
Smaller attractions throughout the region have also been feeling the strain.
Severn Valley Railway
Severn Valley Railway fears the longer-term financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the attraction despite an emergency plea for donations.
Around £416,000 has been raised to ensure the heritage line between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster can continue to operate on a care and maintenance basis.
It was announced last week that the attraction’s short term future had been secured after its emergency appeal reached its target.
Severn Valley Railway has been forced to close and cancel numerous events as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a significant loss of income.
The appeal was launched less than a month ago, and initially aimed to raise £250,000.
But the attraction says it faces longer-term uncertainty with fears of lower passenger numbers amid the knock-on impact of the outbreak.
Bishop's Castle House
Bishop’s Castle House on Crutches Museum Trust, which includes the town’s heritage resource centre, has lost the majority of its income due to the coronavirus pandemic.
However, volunteers have taken to social media to keep people engaged by posting archive pictures of the town and museums – and the result has been a massive increase in page engagement. Bernard Edwards, deputy chair of the House on Crutches Museum, said the museum was meant to open for the season on April 10, but currently remains shut and protected during this period of self-isolation.
“We are a donations only museum, and because we have no visitors, we have lost our income,” he said. “It i
s about keeping people’s interests up. We have been putting up archived pictures from the Heritage Resource Centre onto Facebook. It creates conversation. We are also sending out newsletters to volunteers and subscribers to keep people in the loop.”
As well as the museums, many events have been cancelled that also bring in visitors and aim to keep the town’s history alive. Bernard said: “We have about nine different heritage organisations in the town, looking after different aspects of its history. One had organised a Georgian in Stones day, which is part of a project funded by the parochial church council.”
To support the museum, join the 100 club, for a monthly donation of £1. Details on 01588 638851.
West Midland Safari Park
The closure of West Midland Safari Park has had a big impact on key projects and upgrades planned across the attraction.
Bosses at the park said it was a “difficult decision” closing the Bewdley park back in March but it was a move which was both “necessary and sensible.”
But projects ongoing – including the new luxury safari lodges – have had to be paused while the park has closed.
Darren Chorley, managing director of West Midland Safari Park, said: “We took the hugely difficult decision to close the park on March 19 but it was a move which was both necessary and sensible to protect the health and wellbeing of our guests, staff and wildlife. Like the majority of businesses, it is undoubtedly a tough time but our whole team at the park have reacted superbly to what is a unprecedented situation.
“We have such a well-loved collection of wildlife here at the park and they have continued to receive the best care from our team of keepers who are sticking closely to social distancing guidance. The animals are doing really well and I am sure everyone will be pleased to hear that they have been enjoying the sunshine we’ve had in recent weeks.
“The closure of the park is only temporary but unfortunately it has had an impact on some key projects and upgrades we had planned. This includes the construction work of our new luxury lodges which has been paused for the time being. Moving the project forward will become a priority once we reopen.
“More than anything, we look forward to welcoming back our guests once we feel it is safe to do so.”
National Cycle Museum
As even the big boys of the tourism industry throughout the region feel the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, one museum off the beaten track said the pandemic “couldn’t have come at a worse time”.
Staff at the National Cycle Museum would usually be preparing for their busiest months, welcoming visitors and attending shows that bring vital income into the museum’s pocket, but had to close in line with lockdown restrictions.
Based in the Art Deco Automobile Palace in Llandrindod Wells since its formation in 1997, the attraction houses the UK’s official collection of bicycles throughout the ages, including more than 250 cycles dating back to 1819.
Freda Davies, curator at the museum, said: “For us, the coronavirus couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“As did all museums in the country, we closed under government instruction and at the moment we don’t know when we’re going to be able to reopen.”
Mrs Davies added that a number of shows and events planned at the museum on Temple Street have been cancelled, including a sale which kick-starts the attraction’s fundraising efforts.
She added: “We normally have our Annual National Cycle Jumble in the spring time. It was scheduled for April 4 this year. We’ve had to postpone that until September 19 and we hope that can go ahead – it usually starts off the season for us in terms of funds.
“Our busy months are really from now onwards. The coronavirus has affected us financially. It couldn’t have come at a worse time.”
Despite the £20,000 annual costs to run the museum, Mrs Davies said she believes it will be able to “ride it out” until the doors can be reopened.
“In April our visitor numbers usually pick up, but we’ll ride this out,” Mrs Davies said.
“We don’t have big pots of money to use but hopefully the visitors will make up the loss in the months we can reopen.
“It’s been here 23 years and we’re used to running on a tight budget anyway. It usually costs about £20,000 a year to run."
Ironbridge Gorge Museum
As companies stretch their resources to breaking point in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the strain has extended to The Ironbridge Gorge Museums.
It has seen 80 per cent of its income from ticket sales vanish in the last few weeks, and joins the score of establishments simply “surviving”.
Nick Ralls, who only became chief executive of the trust in December, has already had to deal with more than he could have possibly imagined.
“When you think having come through the floods, and the issues we had with two museums becoming flooded, and then with the increasing Covid-19 restrictions leading to a full closure, we’ve had an incredible strain to deal with,” he said.
“We are surviving at the moment. With the historic properties we’ve got, significant estate and overheads to manage, we’ve been dealing with those pragmatically to make sure we can maintain our obligations to run them and come out of it the other side.”
While in the current climate the museum’s sewing team have been making scrubs for health workers, and 3D printers are being used to make much-needed PPE, planning for an unknown future is proving tricky.
Mr Ralls added: “That’s the difficulty with this, we’re not sure how or when we’ll come out of lockdown or what restrictions will remain in place – it really is unprecedented.
“One of our biggest challenges has been around financial planning and forecasting.
“Museums of this scale are of national importance, but the income we get is invested back into what we are.
“We’re not a big multi-national sitting on massive cash reserves so it’s been a concern, but with the support of agencies and help of other funders we’ve got something we believe will be able to come out of this.”
With closures expected to last at least another few months, discussions between the three senior staff still working on how to reopen the museums have begun.
Alton Towers
It’s all quiet at Alton Towers in Staffordshire – normally the popular theme park is alive with thousands of visitors each day.
But since going into lockdown, the attraction now only welcomes a handful of engineers to keep the rides ticking over and several gardeners to keep the gardens and buildings looking neat.
The exception to this is Sharkbait Reef by SeaLife, where a team of aquarists still have to go in everyday to take care of their 2,500 aquatic animals.
Due to the lack of visitors, the team have to spend plenty of time with the marine life – playing games and setting fun challenges for them – to make sure they are happy and engaged during lockdown.
Aquarium manager Naomi Sale-Hancock heads up a team of five, for who it is “business as usual”.
She said: “Our team really love what they do. They’re doing a fantastic job as always. We have introduced social distancing and hygiene measures to keep us as safe as possible but apart from that we are running as usual.
“We’ve got 2,500 aquatic animals to look after, doing the daily checks, vital plumbing, food prep, water tests, and more. Our favourite time of day is feeding – the animals get so excited when they see our blue shirts or hear the doors banging – and if I’m honest our least favourite is cleaning tanks. But we keep them clean, nice and presentable for when we re-open.”
Naomi, aged 28, explained that the fish still needed entertaining while there were not many visitors.
“They lack stimulation because there are not many guests. When people visit it’s really engaging for the animals, especially the more intelligent ones like puffer fish or sharks.
“So the team try to replicate this by hiding treats in food boxes for the animals to find and open – it really gives them the attention they require. There’s definitely a difference when visitors aren’t here so we spend lots of time making sure they have one to one time.
“We also keep the music playing as normal – as the animals are so used to it. We don’t want it to be too quiet for them.”
The team are also busy creating a new rainforest display for when visitors return – and are keeping guests up to date on social media with what’s going on at the park.
The park staff have launched a campaign on social media with the hashtag #AltonTowersTogether.
