Theme parks go high-tech to lure stay-at-home consumers

Tourist attractions are going high-tech as they try to tear lazy consumers away from their DVDs and Playstations.

A stay-at-home mentality is leaving UK consumers slumped in front of the telly, according to research sponsored by BT. It found that 80 per cent of people surveyed go out less than twice per week - with 28 per cent saying they've got no energy to venture outside.

And a quarter said home entertainment is more fun that going out.

The most popular activity is watching TV, DVDs or videos - although men found internet surfing even more fun.

Chris Dare, group head of IT at The Tussauds Group, said improvements to home entertainment systems mean the waxworks and theme parks group has to add more technology as well.

He told silicon.com: "The more Playstation graphics improve, the more people want to play them. We have to compete to get people out from their Playstations and PCs.

"In our internal IT department we are supporting the back office systems but more and more [we are] being asked to develop technology and trial new technologies within the attractions."

Tussauds is looking at incorporating more multimedia, touch screens and image morphing technologies.

Dare added: "The better the technology in the home gets, the better the technology in our attractions has to be. But people still love the white-knuckle rides - and you wouldn't have plasma screens on them."

Other leisure companies are developing new business models to tap into the home market.

Neil McCrossen, IT support and infrastructure manager at bookmakers Coral, told silicon.com that some punters feel more comfortable having a flutter online than wandering into their local bookies where they might feel out of place. "The internet has been a growing market for us," he said. "The internet enables people to browse in a non-threatening way."