The amusement park Dreamland in the coastal town of Margate, southern England, has announced it will remain free for everyone to enter throughout the rest of the 2019 season.
The announcement comes following record-breaking 2019 opening attendance figures, with 105,433 guests visiting the park between 6th April and 22nd April, an increase of more than 380% compared to 21,988 visitors during the 2018 Easter break.
Visitor numbers peaked at 15,228 on Easter Sunday, with approximately 47,000 people coming to the amusement park over the long Easter weekend.
The park had announced it would waiver its £5 entry charge and would be free to enter over the Easter weekend. It seems Dreamland’s new free to enter incentive paid off in attracting thousands to the park.
Eddie Kemsley, Dreamland’s CEO said:
“We’ve had a phenomenal opening season, with nearly five times the number of visitors we had last Easter. We expected an uplift in visitors when we changed to a free entry offer, but the boom in visitors in the past few days has been staggering. We are so grateful to all the local families, the holidaymakers and the day trippers who spent their Easter break with us and left such positive reviews.
“What better way to say thank you than by keeping the park free to enter for 2019, so they can all visit again and again?
“The atmosphere in the park has been fantastic. Thousands of people from London and further afield have been enjoying the sun-soaked park alongside our Kent customers, and our team managed this surge in numbers smoothly and with a big smile on their faces.
“While our free to enter offer is certainly compelling, I think we’re seeing more and more people choosing to take a ‘staycation’ in the UK than travel abroad for the holidays,” Kemsley added.
Dreamland comprises of 26 thrill and chill rides, as well as new food and drink stalls, and even Instagram trails. The amusement park is also home to a programme of music and events throughout the spring and summer.
