IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormksc/v29y2010i4p721-737.html

Return on Roller Coasters: A Model to Guide Investments in Theme Park Attractions

Author

Listed:
  • Rutger D. van Oest

    (Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

  • Harald J. van Heerde

    (Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand, and CentER, Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands)

  • Marnik G. Dekimpe

    (Tilburg University, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands; and Catholic University Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium)

Abstract

Despite the economic significance of the theme park industry and the huge investments needed to set up new attractions, no marketing models exist to guide these investment decisions. This study addresses this gap in the literature by estimating a response model for theme park attendance. The model not only determines the contribution of each attraction to attendance, but also how this contribution is distributed within and across years. The model accommodates saturation effects, which imply that the impact of a new attraction is smaller if similar attractions are already present. It also captures reinforcement effects, meaning that a new attraction may reinforce the drawing power of similar extant attractions, especially when these were introduced recently. The model is calibrated on 25 years of weekly attendance data from the Efteling, a leading European theme park. Our return on investment calculations show that it is more profitable to invest in multiple smaller attractions than in one big one. This finding is in remarkable contrast with the current "arms race" in the industry. Furthermore, even though thrill rides tend to be more effective than theme rides, there are conditions under which one should consider to switch to the latter.

Suggested Citation

  • Rutger D. van Oest & Harald J. van Heerde & Marnik G. Dekimpe, 2010. "Return on Roller Coasters: A Model to Guide Investments in Theme Park Attractions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 721-737, 07-08.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:29:y:2010:i:4:p:721-737
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.1090.0553
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mksc.1090.0553
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mksc.1090.0553?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dipak C. Jain & Naufel J. Vilcassim, 1991. "Investigating Household Purchase Timing Decisions: A Conditional Hazard Function Approach," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(1), pages 1-23.
    2. Reza H. Ahmadi, 1997. "Managing Capacity and Flow at Theme Parks," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 45(1), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Jehoshua Eliashberg & Anita Elberse & Mark A.A.M. Leenders, 2006. "The Motion Picture Industry: Critical Issues in Practice, Current Research, and New Research Directions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 638-661, 11-12.
    4. Van Ittersum, Koert & Pennings, Joost M.E. & Wansink, Brian & van Trijp, Hans C.M., 2007. "The validity of attribute-importance measurement: A review," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 1177-1190, November.
    5. Harlam, Bari A. & Krishna, Aradhna & Lehmann, Donald R. & Mela, Carl, 1995. "Impact of bundle type, price framing and familiarity on purchase intention for the bundle," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 57-66, May.
    6. Ashish Sood & Gareth M. James & Gerard J. Tellis, 2009. "Functional Regression: A New Model for Predicting Market Penetration of New Products," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 36-51, 01-02.
    7. R. Preston McAfee & John McMillan & Michael D. Whinston, 1989. "Multiproduct Monopoly, Commodity Bundling, and Correlation of Values," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(2), pages 371-383.
    8. McAlister, Leigh, 1979. "Choosing Multiple Items from a Product Class," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 6(3), pages 213-224, December.
    9. Kumar Rajaram & Reza Ahmadi, 2003. "Flow Management to Optimize Retail Profits at Theme Parks," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(2), pages 175-184, April.
    10. Stephen J. Hoch & Eric T. Bradlow & Brian Wansink, 1999. "The Variety of an Assortment," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 527-546.
    11. van Everdingen, Y.M. & Fok, D. & Stremersch, S., 2008. "Modeling Global Spill-Over of New Product Takeoff," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-067-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    12. William James Adams & Janet L. Yellen, 1976. "Commodity Bundling and the Burden of Monopoly," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(3), pages 475-498.
    13. R. Venkatesh & Vijay Mahajan, 1997. "Products with Branded Components: An Approach for Premium Pricing and Partner Selection," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(2), pages 146-165.
    14. Richins, Marsha L & Bloch, Peter H, 1986. "After the New Wears Off: The Temporal Context of Product Involvement," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 13(2), pages 280-285, September.
    15. Magid M. Abraham & Leonard M. Lodish, 1987. "Promoter: An Automated Promotion Evaluation System," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(2), pages 101-123.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vossen, Alexander & Ihl, Christoph, 2020. "More than words! How narrative anchoring and enrichment help to balance differentiation and conformity of entrepreneurial products," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    2. Kamakura, Wagner A. & Schimmel, Carl W., 2013. "Uncovering audience preferences for concert features from single-ticket sales with a factor-analytic random-coefficients model," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 129-142.
    3. Janisch, Jonas & Vossen, Alexander, 2022. "Categorically right? How firm-level distinctiveness affects performance across product categories," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vithala R. Rao & Gary J. Russell & Hemant Bhargava & Alan Cooke & Tim Derdenger & Hwang Kim & Nanda Kumar & Irwin Levin & Yu Ma & Nitin Mehta & John Pracejus & R. Venkatesh, 2018. "Emerging Trends in Product Bundling: Investigating Consumer Choice and Firm Behavior," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 5(1), pages 107-120, March.
    2. Rustam Ibragimov & Johan Walden, 2010. "Optimal Bundling Strategies Under Heavy-Tailed Valuations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(11), pages 1963-1976, November.
    3. Raoul Kübler & Rouven Seifert & Michael Kandziora, 2021. "Content valuation strategies for digital subscription platforms," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(2), pages 295-326, June.
    4. Son, Minhee & Hahn, Minhi & Kang, Hyunmo, 2006. "Why firms do co-promotions in mature markets?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(9), pages 1035-1042, September.
    5. Vaubourg, Anne-Gael, 2006. "Differentiation and discrimination in a duopoly with two bundles," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 753-762, July.
    6. Hanming Fang & Peter Norman, 2014. "Toward an efficiency rationale for the public provision of private goods," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(2), pages 375-408, June.
    7. Stefano Galavotti, 2014. "Reducing Inefficiency in Public Good Provision Through Linking," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 16(3), pages 427-466, June.
    8. Rahul Deb & Anne-Katrin Roesler, 2024. "Multi-Dimensional Screening: Buyer-Optimal Learning and Informational Robustness," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 91(5), pages 2744-2770.
    9. Sebastiano Della Lena & Alessio Muscillo & Paolo Pin, 2026. "How do you know you won't like it if you've (never) tried it? Preference discovery and data design," Papers 2604.14260, arXiv.org.
    10. Matthew O Jackson & Hugo F Sonnenschein, 2003. "The Linking of Collective Decisions and Efficiency," NajEcon Working Paper Reviews 666156000000000057, www.najecon.org.
    11. Wu, Desheng (Dash) & Lee, Chi-Guhn, 2010. "Stochastic DEA with ordinal data applied to a multi-attribute pricing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1679-1688, December.
    12. A. Yeşim Orhun & Sriram Venkataraman & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2016. "Impact of Competition on Product Decisions: Movie Choices of Exhibitors," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 73-92, January.
    13. Jihui Chen & Qiang Fu, 2017. "Do exclusivity arrangements harm consumers?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 311-339, June.
    14. Marinoso, Begona Garcia, 2001. "Marketing an upgrade to a system: compatibility choice as a price discrimination device," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 377-392, December.
    15. Bonatti, Alessandro & Bergemann, Dirk & Haupt, Andreas & Smolin, Alex, 2021. "The Optimality of Upgrade Pricing," CEPR Discussion Papers 16394, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    16. Ritwik Raj & Mark H. Karwan & Chase Murray & Lei Sun, 2022. "Itemized pricing in B2B bundles with diminishing reservation prices and loss averse customers," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 375-392, August.
    17. Fang,H. & Norman,P., 2003. "An efficiency rationale for bundling of public goods," Working papers 19, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    18. Stole, Lars A., 2007. "Price Discrimination and Competition," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 2221-2299, Elsevier.
    19. Arribas, I. & Urbano, A., 2017. "Multiproduct trading with a common agent under complete information: Existence and characterization of Nash equilibrium," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 14-38.
    20. Robert Marquez & Rajdeep Singh, 2024. "Selling Assets: Are Sellers Better Off with Strong Buyers?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(9), pages 5731-5752, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:29:y:2010:i:4:p:721-737. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.