What the government's summer VAT cut means for family attractions and how to manage it (UK)

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Temporary 5% VAT runs 25 June–1 Sept 2026. Find out what it means for farm parks, zoos and soft plays and how to manage your pricing in Beyonk.

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Summer 2026 VAT cut: what it means for family attractions

The government has confirmed a temporary 5% VAT rate for qualifying family attraction admissions from 25 June to 1 September 2026. Here's what it means for your business and how to manage pricing in Beyonk.

The temporary 5% VAT rate is confirmed. Here's what it means for your business, your pricing, and your visitors this summer.

What's actually been announced

On 21 May 2026, the Chancellor announced a temporary reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% on admission tickets to qualifying family attractions, children's meals, and children's tickets to theatres, cinemas, and shows. The reduced rate applies from 25 June to 1 September 2026, covering the entire school summer holiday period. HMRC

Qualifying attractions include amusement parks, theme parks, zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, farm visitor attractions, soft play centres, indoor bounce parks, adventure parks, and museums.

If you run a farm park, zoo, soft play, or adventure attraction, this applies to you.

What it means in practice

The VAT cut is genuinely good news for the sector, but it comes with a choice. The reduction does not automatically mean prices will fall, attractions will decide whether and how they pass savings on to customers.

You are not obliged to reduce your ticket prices. Some operators will absorb the saving and improve their margins. Others will reduce prices to drive footfall during peak season. Some may take a mixed approach by reducing children's meal prices, for example, while holding ticket prices steady. Blackpool Gazette

What matters is that you make a deliberate decision and that your pricing reflects it cleanly.

💡Top tip: Whatever you decide, communicate it to your visitors. Families will be watching prices this summer, and clarity builds trust.

We suggest a corner or a full banner on your website as a great way to inform your customers of your plan.

🤩What the big players are doing

The largest operators have been quick to act. Merlin Entertainments CEO Fiona Eastwood confirmed the company will pass the VAT savings directly to customers by reducing prices on admission tickets and children's meals across its 20 UK attractions, including Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, and Legoland Windsor. UK Theme Park Spy

At Alton Towers, a family of four currently pays £26 in VAT on four tickets costing £156 on a weekend visit in July. At Alton Towers, a family of four currently pays £26 in VAT on four tickets costing £156 on a weekend visit in July. With a cut to 5%, that falls to £6.50 — a saving of £19.50.

"This is great news for the UK's visitor economy and for families planning trips this summer. As the season gets underway, this timely move from the government will make it easier for people to get out, explore and create memorable moments together at destinations across the country. Merlin will be applying this VAT cut to both admission tickets and children's meals, adding more value to days out and short breaks at our 20 UK attractions." - Fiona Eastwood, CEO, Merlin Entertainments

Not every operator needs to follow Merlin's lead, and there's no obligation to. But it's worth being aware of what visitors may be seeing advertised elsewhere when planning their summer.

🔗A note on Beyonk's fees

One question we've already been asked: Does the VAT change affect Beyonk's booking fees?

The short answer is no. Ticketing and booking platforms are not included in the government's scheme. Beyonk's fees include VAT and will remain unchanged. This is consistent across the ticketing industry; the relief is specifically for attraction admissions and qualifying catering, not the platforms that process them.

🔴How to calculate the savings on your ticket prices

The VAT rate drops by 15 percentage points, from 20% to 5% but the actual reduction in your VAT-inclusive ticket price is smaller than that, because VAT is calculated on the net price rather than the total.

So the saving to pass on is roughly 12.5% off your current ticket price, not 15%.

The correct way to calculate it:

Current price (VAT inclusive at 20%): divide by 1.20 to get the net price, then multiply by 1.05 to get the new VAT-inclusive price

Example: £40 ticket ÷ 1.20 × 1.05 = £35 — a saving of £5, or 12.5% off the VAT-inclusive price

➗ Here's how to work it out:

Take your current VAT-inclusive ticket price and divide by 1.20 to get your net price

Multiply the net price by 1.05 to get your new VAT-inclusive price at 5%

The difference is the savings you can choose to pass on

Example — a £100 family ticket:

Net price: £100 ÷ 1.20 = £83.33

New VAT-inclusive price: £83.33 × 1.05 = £87.50

Saving: £12.50 per ticket

So if you wanted to pass the full saving on to visitors, a £100 family ticket would drop to £87.50 for the summer window.

💡Top tip: You don't have to pass on the full saving. Some operators may choose to pass on part of it and retain the rest as an improved margin. Either way, confirm your approach with your accountant before making changes — particularly if you have advance bookings already taken at the higher rate.

✍🏻How to manage price changes in Beyonk

If you decide to adjust your pricing for the summer window, Beyonk's price variations feature lets you set different prices by schedule. Meaning you can apply a reduced rate for admissions between 25 June and 1 September without affecting your pricing before or after that window.

Here's how: (estimated task time = 10mins)

Create the variation: Go to Products > Experiences, click Edit on the relevant experience, then navigate to Pricing. Under Additional Options, open Price Variations and click +Add New Variation. Give it a clear name, for example, "Summer 2026 VAT pricing" and enter the adjusted price for each ticket type you want to change. Leave any ticket types you don't want to change at their default. Click Save.

Create a Summer Schedule: Covering the dates that you want to apply the discount.

Assign it to your summer schedule: Go to the Scheduling page of the same experience. Click Edit on your summer schedule, scroll to Price Variations, and select the variation you just created from the dropdown. Save.

Your standard prices stay intact: Any schedule without a variation assigned will continue to use your default pricing automatically

For the full walkthrough, see the Beyonk help article: How to set up price variations based on your event schedules

💡Top tip: You can also control whether visitors see that price variations exist when choosing a date. If you're offering a lower summer price and want to encourage early booking, switching on Display Variations in the Pricing settings will highlight cheaper dates on the booking calendar.

What about advance bookings?

Government guidance confirms that businesses can choose to apply the lower VAT rate to advance bookings, and where customers have already paid at the higher rate for set date and time tickets within the set lower VAT period, they could receive a refund for the difference. If you have Summer tickets already sold, speak to your accountant before making any changes.

What to do next

You don't need to make a hasty decision, but you do need to make one before 25 June, ideally sooner, since summer bookings are already coming in.

Consider:

Will you pass on the savings, absorb it, or take a mixed approach (e.g. reduce food prices but hold ticket prices)?

Do you need to update your Beyonk pricing before the window opens?

Do you have advance bookings that may need reviewing?

If you'd like help setting up your price variations in the platform, please check this help article or use beyonk.com/support to chat with Arnie