3 significant new visitor attractions to watch out for in 2021
2020 may have failed to deliver on the tourism front, but that means all the more excitement has been stored up for 2021.
After almost a year of delays, disappointments and frustrations, the promise of effective new vaccines on top of well-honed COVID-19 health and safety measures promises to bring a raft of new visitor attraction openings back to the fore next year, including LEGOLAND New York, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan.
Here, we’ve selected 3 of the most significant new national and international visitor attractions to look out for in 2021.
Game of Thrones Studio Tour, 2021 (opening date TBC)
The trend for movie-based experiences shows no sign of abating. The green light was given to the Game of Thrones Studio Tour in August 2020. The attraction, in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, is being developed in partnership with HBO and under licence with Warner Bros Consumer Products.
Why is it significant? The interactive experience places authenticity at its heart, showing yet again how important this is to the visitor experience. It’s at Linen Mill Studios, one of the series’ principal filming locations, and, like Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, it will use props, costumes and sets actually used in the filming of Game of Thrones. Fans will be able to step inside the world of Westeros, starting with the Winterfell great hall. There will also be a restaurant designed to replicate the studio catering experience.
The Studio Tour adds a third world-class tourist attraction to Northern Ireland’s collection, alongside The Giants’ Causeway and Titanic Belfast. It’s expected to employ around 200 people, attract 600,000 visitors each year and help generate approximately £400m of tourism revenue annually.
The Grand Egyptian Museum, Cairo, 2021 (opening date TBC)
The world’s largest archaeological museum promises to open in 2021, almost 20 years after it was first announced. That’s around the same time it took Pharaoh Khufu to build the Great Pyramid.
The state-of-the-art, $1b museum was originally scheduled to open in 2011, then the 2020 opening date was further delayed by COVID-19. The new expected opening date couldn’t be better, coming a year before the 100th anniversary of Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
Almost all the artefacts from the tomb will be on show – the largest collection of Tutankhamun relics ever displayed – from his gold death mask and the gilded coffin to the pharaoh’s walking sticks and 115 loincloths. In an interesting twist, visitors will be guided through the exhibits in the same order as Carter discovered them.
Why is it significant? Described by Major General Atef Moftah, who is leading on the project, as “Egypt’s gift to the world,” the scale of the museum is vast.
100,000 artefacts will be on display, including an 11m-high, 83 ton red granite statue of Ramses the Great, in 490,000 sq m of museum space – that’s the size of a major airport terminal, and you could probably park a 747 in the atrium. A separate children’s museum within the museum will use state-of-the-art visual displays to engage kids with the stories of Ancient Egypt. The museum will also house 28 shops, 10 restaurants, a conference centre, a cinema and offer panoramic views of the Pyramids of Giza.
It will be impossible to see in a day, forcing visitors to rethink their time in Cairo. And they’re expecting millions of visitors: estimates say 2-3m in the first year of opening, potentially rising to 8m.
Nottingham Castle, spring 2021
Nottingham’s striking castle has been closed for an ambitious £30m redevelopment since 2018. The Ducal Palace and grounds and the sprawling cave system through Castle Rock beneath the castle are all up for restoration.
Why is it significant? This is no pressure wash and lick of paint. Expect the castle to re-emerge as a compelling world-class heritage destination that’s the pride of the city of Nottingham.
As well as exploring the national and international impact of its 1,000 year history, the attraction will highlight Nottingham’s creativity and take a deep dive into the city’s history of rebellion and its role in the rise of democracy. Interactive, virtual technology will be used alongside exhibitions and galleries to bring to life Robin Hood folklore. Look out for animated tours of the caves and interactive games and immersive digital experiences in the new Robin Hood gallery. It promises to be an exciting new interpretation of a story we’re all familiar with and we can’t wait to see what materialises.
