Southend theme park expecting busy summer despite cost of living crisis
Adventure Island sees thousands visit every day
Last updated 3rd Aug 2022
The Summer Holidays are in full swing now, but with a cost of living crisis to contend with, how are Essex businesses coping?
Adventure Island, a theme park located on Southend seafront, has long been a popular seaside attraction for locals and tourists, and Philip Miller MBE, who owns the park, says this year is no different: "We've been exceptionally busy this year.
"I think the weather's been in our favour and also, lots of people aren't going abroad this year because of the messes at the airports. We're quite happy with that though - the more they stay at home, the more they come to Southend."
They've hired around 1000 staff to cope with the rush and are expecting the busiest summer of recent years: "On a reasonable day, we get 25-30,000 people through the park. On a busier day we get a lot more than that."
Another of the reasons Philip thinks the park remains so busy, despite people tightening their purse strings in response to rising prices, is because they're doing what they can to keep costs low: "We took the decision very early on to hold our prices from last year because we went half price on our annual prices and dropped all the prices.
"We changed our whole pricing structure because we knew people were hard up. We got such support from that move that we've just kept it the same this year."