Operational Reviews, Income Generation & Business Resilience Planning
We help visitor attractions, heritage sites, museums and accommodation providers improve operational performance, diversify income and build long-term business resilience. Our work focuses on enhancing the performance of existing visitor sites, reviewing operating processes, deepening audience engagement, and developing sustainable income-generating strategies.
A challenging operating environment
The landscape for visitor sites and tourism businesses has rarely been more demanding. Economic pressures continue to affect visitor demand and squeeze margins, while staff recruitment and retention remain an ongoing challenge. This is coupled with the climate emergency we are facing. We work with clients to build more resilient business and operating models that are better equipped to weather these pressures and to identify new opportunities.
Our operational review & revenue generation services cover
- Operational and process reviews, benchmarked against comparable visitor attractions
- Income diversification and secondary spend strategies: retail, catering, events, membership and admissions
- Pricing reviews
- Staffing structure, resourcing, and recruitment and retention advice
- Business resilience and contingency planning
- Financial modelling and forecasting
We can also produce the supporting business plan or feasibility study where new opportunities need testing before investment.
Operational reviews and business resilience plans
We have carried out operational reviews and prepared business resilience plans for a wide range of heritage, visitor and tourism sites, including:
- Chichester District Council at The Novium Museum
- Gladstone’s Library at Gladstone’s Library
- High Peak Borough Council/Staffordshire Moorlands District Council at the Pavilion Gardens
- Monmouthshire County Council at Caldicot Castle and Country Park
- Peak District National Park Authority as their visitor centre and bike hire operations
- Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation at Standalone Farm
- Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council at the Saltburn Cliff Tramway
“Planning Solutions Consulting offered a responsive service in the review of Pavilion Gardens, bringing to the project a large range of experience in the visitor attraction marketplace. They advised on current performance and assessed it against best practise, using relevant examples of how performance was increased elsewhere. They made several on site visitors and worked with HPBC on assessing the options for any operational changes which might have complemented the pending construction project. They helped increase HPBC understanding of the asset itself and its place within the wider context of visitor attraction and hospitality.” Paul Hare, Assets Manager, High Peak Borough Council/Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
Please explore our consultancy projects.
What makes us different
We’re not a typical consultancy. Through our sister company, Planning Solutions Limited (PSL), we bring 30 years of direct, hands-on experience managing and developing visitor attractions, heritage sites, and tourism businesses.
PSL manages:
- CONKERS, a discovery centre set within 120 acres of external grounds, including a covered amphitheatre
- Kent Life Heritage Park, an attraction celebrating rural life across Kent
- Cotswold Country Park and Beach a seasonal country park and watersports destination
- National Brewery Centre, formerly the Bass Museum (managed by PSL from 2010 to 2022)
- The Royal Esplanade Hotel, a 70-bed hotel on the Isle of Wight
- Burton Bridge Brewery and the Burton Bridge Inn
This hands-on practical experience of running real businesses, managing real teams, and navigating real financial pressures gives us a grounded, practical perspective. When we advise on operational resilience or income generation, it’s informed by what we know works on the ground.
How can we help?
Whether you need an operational review, a business resilience plan, or help developing an income generation strategy, we’d be glad to help. Contact Richard Linington on 07866 742628 or richard@pslplan.co.uk to discuss your project.