A Fife attraction has received a phenomenal response after it issued a ‘pay as you please’ offer to visitors.
Conscious of cost of living pressures, The Scottish Deer Centre near Cupar is asking visitors to only pay only what they can.
Adult admission to the deer centre is usually £12.50, with a family ticket (two adults and two children) costing £38.
But bosses decided to abandon the attraction’s usual ticketing and throw open the doors to anyone, with this the final week of the school holidays for many children.
Chief executive David Hamilton said: “Everyone is facing the rising cost of living, even us as a business.
“Our visitor numbers are down by about 50% and people who do come are bringing picnic baskets because they’re spending a lot on the tickets.
“I thought it’d be a nice thing to spread some positivity.”
‘Incredible’ response to Scottish Deer Centre
Mr Hamilton – who rescued the park from administration along with business partner Gavin Findlay – said he has been amazed by the response so far.
He said: “It’s been incredible.
“It’s working in terms of spreading that positivity. We just want people to come and have a good day out
“Someone who saw the post contacted us to say she would like to make a donation to support us.
“We’ve also had the offer from a local charity of supplying us with picnic baskets, so it’s really been a great response.”
Caution advised for Deer Centre visitors
Mr Hamilton, whose background is in computer games, said the park had been busy from early on Monday.
He issued some advice to anyone planning a trip for later this week.
“We’ve got two overspill car parks, and as of 10.30am they were both full,” he said.
“There’s now people parking on the sides of the road and across driveways, so we’re a bit nervous about that.
“I hope people might arrange to get public transport. There’s a bus stop right outside.”
And Mr Hamilton said takings were on par with many other days.
“We’re probably on par in terms of takings for a normal day. When we came up with the idea we expected to make a loss, but that’s not been the case so far.
“We hope that when the world gets back to normal after the cost of living, people might return because they remember what we’ve done for them this summer.”
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