New analysis of more than three million admission tickets has revealed just how late visitors are leaving it to book a day out, with almost half of online bookings made on the day of the visit
The first report from Visitor Attraction Intelligence (VAI) found that 45.9 per cent of bookings were made on the day itself, while 67.9 per cent were made within 24 hours of the visit.
The findings are based on more than three million anonymised admission tickets from 56 UK attractions between 1 January and 11 August 2026. The research focuses specifically on day visitors, rather than schools, coach parties and corporate bookings, which operate on different timelines.
VAI is a new data-driven initiative created through a partnership between visitor attraction specialists Agility Marketing and ticketing software provider DigiTickets. It brings together DigiTickets’ anonymised booking data with Agility’s visitor attraction knowledge and commercial expertise to uncover the trends shaping the sector.
Liz Dimes, managing director at Agility Marketing, who led the analysis of the data, said: “We all know visitors are booking closer to the day of their visit, but what stood out when we interrogated the data was the scale of that behaviour. Almost half of bookings are now made on the day itself and more than two thirds within 24 hours.
“But the headline numbers are only part of the story. When you look more closely, there are some really interesting differences between school holidays, term time and different types of attraction. That’s where the data becomes particularly useful, giving attractions context to better understand their own booking patterns.”
The analysis found that during school holidays, more than 70 per cent of bookings were made within 24 hours of the visit, compared with 63 per cent during term time.
The biggest change is among those visitors who do book further ahead. During term time, 36.7 per cent booked at least two days ahead, with an average lead time of seven days. During school holidays, only around a quarter booked at least two days ahead and, when they did, the average lead time shortened to just three to four days.
The report also explores differences between attraction types. Country parks and gardens recorded some of the latest booking behaviour in the data, with 80.9 per cent of bookings made within 24 hours, compared with 19.7 per cent for boat trips and railways.
Factors including exposure to weather, limited capacity and fixed departure times may help explain some of these differences.
Jamie Faulkner, operations director at DigiTickets, said: “This first report gives us a fascinating insight into when visitors are actually committing to their day out, based on millions of real bookings.
“By combining DigiTickets’ anonymised booking data with Agility Marketing’s sector knowledge and ability to contextualise the findings, we can start to build a much clearer picture of visitor behaviour. As VAI develops, the ambition is to keep exploring the data, identifying useful patterns and giving attractions intelligence they can use to inform their decisions.”
While late booking dominates, 32.2 per cent of visitors still book at least two days ahead. The report encourages attractions to test what might give more visitors a reason to commit earlier, whether that is added value, weather guarantees, flexibility or another compelling reason to act.
Anita Waddell, CEO at Agility Marketing, said: “These results demonstrate how important it is to make late bookings as easy as possible. We know some attractions close online ticketing the night before, but with almost half of bookings made on the day, keeping it open allows visitors to book on the day, on their journey or even from the car park.
“But booking later doesn’t mean discovering later. Visitors may only buy their tickets close to visiting, but they are likely to have been considering that day out for weeks.
“That means marketing needs to work across the whole journey. Attractions need to be building awareness through search, social, AI generated answers and third party listings well in advance, while making it incredibly easy for visitors to convert when they’re ready to book.”
The report is the first from Visitor Attraction Intelligence, which will provide an ongoing programme of free industry reports using real visitor behaviour to uncover the patterns, shifts and opportunities shaping the UK visitor attraction sector.
For more information about Visitor Attraction Intelligence and to download the full Booking Lead Times report, visit: www.visitorai.co.uk