Council to trial online booking for Blackpool Pleasure Beach
It would replace the Resort Pass
Last updated 15th Apr 2021
Blackpool Council is to buy £500,000 worth of Pleasure Beach tickets – but the move does not mean free rides for ratepayers.
Town hall tourism chiefs will re-sell the tickets on a new online booking platform which is set to replace the Resort Pass.
They want to use the ticket sales to test the new system this summer before introducing further offers.
The Resort Pass was launched in 2013 to give visitors admission to a number of Blackpool attractions at a discounted rate, and was aimed at encouraging holiday-makers to stay for longer in the town, with around 20,000 sold during the last full season.
But now the council wants to replace the outdated paper-based system with a contactless booking portal which is more flexible.
A report to councillors says: “A replacement for Resort Pass is required as Covid arrangements do not allow the old paper based system to function under the new regulations.
“Officers then need to test the system once it has been set up on a large scale basis to ensure that it is robust.”
The £500,000 investment will see the council buy around 15,000 tickets to sell – which is based on the number sold through the Resort Pass during previous seasons.
Customers will be offered the same price for tickets whether they go onto the VisitBlackpool website or the Pleasure Beach website.
Any outstanding tickers will carry forward for sale in future years, and the agreement allows the council to make a small return to reinvest in marketing.
As the online booking platform develops, tickets for other venues and attractions will be added to create packages for visitors.
The report adds: “Pre-paid packages are very much what many visitors and customers desire to ensure that their leisure trip is both organised and fixed price.”
This year’s trial will be used to iron out any possible glitches and to ensure the system can cope with sudden surges in demand, before moving to introduce further offers.