{"id":1072,"date":"2020-05-08T12:53:12","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whitehutchinson.com\/blog\/?p=1072"},"modified":"2020-05-08T12:53:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:53:12","slug":"whos-ready-to-return-to-out-of-home-entertainment-and-cultural-experiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whitehutchinson.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/whos-ready-to-return-to-out-of-home-entertainment-and-cultural-experiences\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s ready to return to out-of-home entertainment and cultural experiences?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Now that states are starting to allow businesses to open and the lockdown is winding down, will people return to out-of-home (OOH) entertainment and cultural experiences? Our company has access to a large number of national U.S. polls with very current data. So, I dug into the data of some of them to see what people are saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to look at what the polls are indicating not only about peoples\u2019 intent to return to OOH entertainment and cultural activities, but it is their views on returning to dine-in restaurants. Our reasoning for this is based on the following: all the polls have consistently indicated that people miss restaurants the most; recently younger generations are considering dining out as a form of entertainment; and many entertainment venues are actually a combination of a restaurant and entertainment, known as eatertainment, with half or more of their revenues coming from the food and drink. Therefore, people may be considering returning to eatertainment venues as much as for the restaurant experience as a visit for entertainment. So, restaurant data will have relevance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no difference across the generations of what people are looking forward to. Socializing with family and friends that people have been isolated from and visiting a restaurant\/bar are the most desired. Baby Boomers are most looking forward to those activities. Visiting culture and entertainment venues and going to the movies are ranked much lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Washington Post-University of Maryland April 28-May 3 poll found that \u201cRegardless of current restrictions in your area,\u201d 22% of people said they would \u201cfeel comfortable eating out in restaurant at this time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Ipsos April 29-30 poll found a similar propensity to return to eating at a restaurant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is interesting that the likelihood to return to bowling ranked low, the same as moviegoing or attending a sporting event in a large stadium (all three were within the statistical margin of error).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AmusementAdvantage<\/a>, a secret shopper consultancy for the OOH cultural and entertainment industry, just released results from an April 23-29 poll of 2,117 of their secret shoppers age 18-65 (70% female). They found that people are more likely to return within three months to non-profit cultural institutions (zoos, aquariums, museums and cultural attractions), considerably more so than to bowling centers and family entertainment centers. 15% of respondents indicated they were least likely to visit a museum or zoo within three months of reopening, while 32% said they were least likely to visit a family entertainment or bowling center within three months. The percent of people saying they were likely to visit a bowling center was identical to the Ipsos polls findings. Respondents said they were least likely to return to trampoline parks\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With the ranking of the cultural institutions, with zoos being ranked highest, AmusementAdvantage hypothesized, \u201cthat primarily outdoor attractions with more space for guests to physically distance are more appealing than facilities with less available space.\u201d It is also interesting that the higher ranked cultural attractions are less interactive than the entertainment ones. The percentages of survey respondents indicating they were least likely and most likely to return to an amusement park fell exactly midway between the cultural institutions and all the other entertainment venues. This ranking might be explained as amusement park are a hybrid, both outdoors and interactive (most and least desired).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

IMPACTS Research and Development has been surveying how likely people are to visit particular cultural attractions compared to their pre-Covid normal behaviors after the current coronavirus-related restrictions are removed and they are able to resume your normal activities. In their March 24th, April 6th and April 20th surveys, public parks, botanical gardens, zoos and public beaches were rated as more likely to be visited than usual followed by aquariums and art and history museums. Least likely to be visited as normal were movie theaters, performing arts (live theater, dance), concert halls and science centers\/museums.\u00a0Colleen Dilenschneider, who reported the IMPACTS research on her\u00a0website<\/a>, says the data shows that \u201cdemand to revisit cultural organizations is being redistributed toward some kinds of entities and away from others.\u201d She believes the research indicates:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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