16 Jun 2015
Exclusive: Continuum Attractions confirms Emmerdale experience to launch in August
BY Alice Davis
One episode ends and another begins – that’s the case at Continuum Attractions, which today (Tuesday) confirmed rumours it will operate a live set tour of the popular TV soap Emmerdale.
This follows a recent announcement that Coronation Street The Tour will end on 31 December 2015. Both Emmerdale and Coronation Street are long-running British soap operas broadcast on ITV.
“Following the resounding success of Coronation Street The Tour, we are delighted to continue our working relationship with ITV on Emmerdale The VIP Tour,” Juliana Delaney, chief executive of Continuum Attractions, told Attractions Management.
Emmerdale The VIP Tour will run as a limited-time twelve-week experience at first, on Sundays only, beginning 2 August 2015. During this time, Continuum will gauge whether the new tour is operationally viable.
Talk of a Continuum tour of Emmerdale has been circulating for some time, but rumours remained unconfirmed while planning permission was being processed.
The sets of the Emmerdale soap, on the Harewood Estate in Leeds, UK, will be the backdrop to the guided tour. Continuum said it will work directly with its approved coach companies to deliver the bookings and transport to the venue.
It’s believed that visitors will be able to visit the set and see how the cast and crew use the site for the filming of the show. The tour is expected to cater for up to 30 visitors at a time and last about two hours.
The Coronation Street attraction certainly proved popular, welcoming half a million visitors so far – 10,000 people per week. Initially commissioned for a term of six months, the tour was in such high demand that that it was extended through 2015. Coronation Street The Tour has generated more than £25m (US$39m, €35m) for the Greater Manchester economy.
After its close at the end of the year, The Coronation Street tour will make way for the development of a new cultural quarter, hotel and residential project, to be developed by Allied London.
Continuum’s portfolio of visitor attractions also includes The Canterbury Tales, York’s Chocolate Story and Spinnaker Tower.
For an interview with Juliana Delaney, see the next issue of Attractions Management
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