Government and Met Office join Chester Zoo talks on fixing ‘misleading’ rain forecasts
The Met Office, government officials and the heads of 16 of the UK’s biggest visitor attractions meet at Chester Zoo on Monday to discuss how weather forecasts are displayed to the public.
The summit follows a warning issued in March that misleading rain icons on weather apps could be costing some attractions up to £137,000 in a single day.
That call was backed at the time by more than 80 attractions, including the Eden Project, RHS Gardens, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Blenheim Palace.
Organisers say the problem is not the accuracy of the forecast itself but how it is displayed, with a brief overnight shower sometimes shown as an all day washout.
The summit will be chaired by Nigel Wilkinson MBE, a VisitBritain board member.
Around 30 delegates are expected, according to organisers, including the Head of Domestic Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, senior Met Office figures including the Head of the Public Weather Service and the Head of Science, and representatives from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
CEOs and directors from 16 leading UK visitor attractions are also due to attend, including Chester Zoo, the Zoological Society of London, the Treasure Houses Group, Bletchley Park and Go Ape.
New research from Chester Zoo and tourism consultancy Navigate, surveying UK visitor attractions, found more than 60 per cent experience a drop in visitors of over 40 per cent following a poorly displayed weather forecast.
Some attractions reported declines of more than 50 per cent, according to the same survey.
Attractions are proposing changes including splitting each day into shorter time slots, similar to the approach used by Norwegian forecaster YR, which breaks a 24 hour period into four six hour windows so a brief early morning shower does not skew the picture for the rest of the day.
Other suggestions include clearer written summaries and a dry hours indicator.
More than 80 per cent of attractions surveyed by Navigate saw this kind of approach as a useful solution.
Organisers say the summit is designed to produce a set of jointly agreed recommendations rather than conversation alone.
Since the March warning, support has spread beyond the visitor attractions sector, with the National Association of British Market Authorities, the National Market Traders Federation and UK Events all adding their backing.
Dom Strange, Chief Operating Officer of Chester Zoo, said.
“In March we said the problem wasn’t the forecast, it was the single icon depicting the forecast for an entire day. Getting the Met Office, government and 16 of the country’s biggest attractions round the same table shows people are taking that seriously. We’re not looking for a nice chat. We want to leave this room with recommendations we can actually put into practice.”
Olly Reed, Marketing Director at Navigate, said.
“Our latest data shows this issue hasn’t gone away, it’s become more significant. In March we were talking about a 30 per cent drop in visitors from a misleading rain icon. Today, some attractions are reporting losses of more than 50 per cent. The difference now is that the people who can influence what happens next are in the room. That’s the point where a campaign becomes change.”
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