How can a holiday park make unused land profitable?
Holiday parks can make unused land profitable by converting it into outdoor adventure attractions such as ropes courses, zip lines, and net adventures. These installations generate direct ticket revenue, extend guest stays, and increase return visits, all from land that would otherwise sit idle. The questions below unpack exactly how to evaluate, build, and profit from that opportunity.
What types of unused land are typically found at holiday parks?
Most holiday parks have more unused land than they realise. Wooded areas, sloped terrain, open fields, and waterfront edges are the most common underutilised spaces. These zones are often left undeveloped because they seem difficult to monetise, yet they are precisely the environments that outdoor adventure attractions thrive in.
Wooded areas are particularly valuable. A cluster of mature trees provides natural anchoring points for zip line adventures and ropes courses, reducing construction complexity while creating an immersive experience guests actively seek out. Sloped terrain suits multi-level course design, where elevation changes add challenge and excitement without requiring artificial structures. Open fields work well for ground-level net adventures or entry-level climbing installations aimed at younger guests or families.
Even awkward parcels of land, such as steep banks or narrow strips between accommodation blocks, can be transformed into walkways, challenge elements, or connecting routes between larger attractions. The key is assessing what the terrain already offers rather than treating it as a problem to solve.
What outdoor attractions generate the most revenue per square metre?
Zip lines and elevated ropes courses consistently generate the highest revenue per square metre of any outdoor adventure attraction at a resort. Both attractions require relatively little ground footprint while delivering a high-throughput, premium-priced experience that guests are willing to pay significantly more for than passive leisure activities.
A zip line, for example, uses vertical space and linear distance rather than a wide ground area. A single zip line run can process dozens of guests per hour, each paying a premium ticket price, from a corridor of land that would otherwise contribute nothing to resort revenue. Elevated ropes courses work similarly, stacking challenge elements vertically through a tree canopy and allowing a small ground area to host a large, time-consuming attraction.
Net adventures occupy a middle ground: they cover more horizontal space but attract very high dwell times, meaning guests spend longer on the attraction per visit, which supports both direct ticket revenue and secondary spend on food and retail nearby.
How does an adventure attraction affect guest stay duration and return visits?
Adding an adventure attraction to a holiday park measurably increases the average length of guest stays and the likelihood of repeat visits. When guests have more activities to fill their time, they book an extra night, arrive earlier, or return in a future season to try what they missed or to experience it again with different companions.
Adventure attractions also shift a resort’s positioning. A park known only for accommodation competes on price. A park with a ropes course or zip line competes on experience, which is a much stronger driver of loyalty. Families in particular plan return visits around activities their children want to repeat, and adventure attractions are among the strongest triggers for that behaviour.
The effect compounds over time. Guests who have a memorable outdoor experience share it, both in person and on social media, which drives organic awareness and new bookings without additional marketing spend. This makes adventure attractions one of the few resort investments that generate both direct revenue and long-term brand value simultaneously.
What is the ROI timeline for a ropes course or zip line at a resort?
The ROI timeline for a ropes course or zip line at a resort typically ranges from two to five years, depending on the scale of the installation, ticket pricing, visitor volume, and operational costs. Smaller, well-positioned attractions in high-footfall resorts can reach break-even faster; larger bespoke installations in seasonal destinations may take longer but deliver stronger long-term returns.
The ROI calculation for a resort adventure attraction should account for several revenue streams beyond direct ticket sales:
- Direct ticket and session revenue from guests using the attraction
- Extended stay revenue from guests who book additional nights to fit the attraction into their visit
- Secondary spend on food, equipment rental, and retail driven by increased time on site
- New guest acquisition from visitors who choose the resort specifically because of the attraction
- Repeat bookings from guests who return in subsequent seasons
A thorough business case should model all of these, not only ticket revenue. When the full picture is taken into account, adventure attractions regularly outperform other resort capital investments in terms of return per euro spent.
How do you build an adventure attraction without damaging natural surroundings?
Building an adventure attraction without harming the natural environment is achievable through specialist construction techniques that work with trees and terrain rather than against them. The most important principle is using tree-friendly attachment systems that distribute load without cutting into bark or restricting growth, allowing trees to continue developing naturally around the installation.
Beyond attachment methods, responsible adventure park construction involves a thorough site assessment before any work begins. This identifies which trees are structurally suitable for load-bearing roles, which should remain untouched, and how to route the attraction to minimise ground disturbance. Experienced builders design around the existing ecology rather than clearing it.
Durable, weather-resistant materials that require minimal maintenance reduce the need for repeated interventions in the natural environment over the life of the attraction. When an attraction is designed and built correctly from the outset, the surrounding nature is not just preserved but becomes part of the experience, which is exactly what resort guests are looking for. You can explore completed projects in various environments in our portfolio of creations.
When should a holiday park partner with a specialist adventure park builder?
A holiday park should partner with a specialist adventure park builder as soon as the decision to develop an outdoor attraction moves from idea to serious consideration. Bringing in expertise early prevents costly design errors, ensures the attraction is viable for the specific terrain, and produces a realistic business case before any capital is committed.
Specialist builders add value at every stage of the process: site assessment, concept design, engineering, construction, safety certification, and ongoing maintenance. Attempting to manage any of these stages without specialist knowledge introduces risk, both to the safety of guests and to the financial outcome of the project. Safety compliance alone, including EN and ISO standards for adventure attractions, requires technical expertise that generalist contractors do not have.
The right moment to engage a specialist is also before finalising the land use plan. An experienced adventure park builder can identify opportunities in the terrain that a resort operator would not spot independently, and can advise on which attraction type will generate the strongest return for that specific location and guest profile.
How Funcha helps holiday parks turn unused land into a revenue stream
We work with holiday parks and resorts worldwide to design, build, and maintain outdoor adventure attractions that generate measurable returns from land that was previously contributing nothing. From the first site visit to opening day and beyond, we handle the entire process.
Here is what working with us looks like in practice:
- Site assessment and concept development tailored to your terrain, guest profile, and commercial goals
- Custom engineering of ropes courses, zip lines, and net adventures to fit your specific environment
- ROI modelling before construction begins, so you understand the business case clearly
- Tree-friendly construction that preserves your natural surroundings and grows with them
- Full compliance with EN and ISO safety standards, managed by our own engineers and technicians
- Ongoing maintenance and support to protect your investment over the long term
With more than 35 years of experience and projects delivered across environments ranging from tropical forests to coastal landscapes, we know how to turn underused resort land into an attraction guests talk about and return for. Get in touch to start the conversation about what your land could become.