Enhancing Summer Experiences with Scent: 6 Tips from AromaPrime

At summer events and attractions, guests are highly responsive to their senses. This time of year, we explore with an openness to sensory triggers that we might have been closed off from during winter. Suddenly, the feeling of the temperature is something to embrace. We wear lighter clothing and allow ourselves to touch sand, grass, water. Time is spent sitting outdoors, where sounds and smells contribute to the appeal of bright, visual beauty.

The heat of summer brings out a variety of fragrances and malodours in equal measure. At AromaPrime, we guide our customers through the best ways to utilise scent at this time of year. These are some of our top tips!

1. Temperature illusion

Summer lends itself to fresh, bright scents that help offset any discomfort guests may feel from the heat. For example, the aroma of chocolate outside your shop during winter may be comforting, but a hint of chocolate during a heatwave may turn guests the other way! If you are scenting a gift shop, a festival, a water park or a summer parade for example, consider fragrances like mint, citrus and the ocean, which can provide a feeling of coolness. Something fruity like mango could even tempt guests to cool down with some iced treats.

2. Plants

The scents of blooming flowers provide a timeless evocation of summer. Particularly in a resort hotel lobby, elegant floral fragrances can encourage feelings of tranquillity and comfort. Favourites from AromaPrime’s collection include Jasmine and Carnation, while Flower Shop is also useful to suggest an indoor greenhouse scene.

Theme parks and living museums are often smart to select plant life that benefits the overall smellscape. EPCOT is known for its aromatic flower arrangements, while Disneyland’s Main Street USA features flowers specifically chosen to reflect English Edwardian preferences. While scent can affect emotions, it can also educate: Visitors to Pompeii can walk through a family’s regrown garden, where fragrant sage and rosemary were once planted.

Liam at AromaPrime says: “Going a step further, Italy’s Roma World offers a botanical tour where smelling is used to help visitors understand how the plants and their scents were incorporated into Ancient Roman life. Some venues may be concerned about the safety implications of smelling organic material, in which case there are many artificial scents that closely match different plants.”

3. Nostalgia

Because summer is so fragrant, many have nostalgic connections to its scents. You may want to take advantage of this in your experience, using Coconut and Vanilla to transport guests back to their holidays, for example.

At theme parks, dark rides and water rides are great places to evoke nostalgia, because guests will flock to them in order to cool down. So-called ‘Smellitzer’ or ‘Smell Pod’ technology may diffuse artificial scents, but in rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure or It’s a Small World, even the smell of the water can evoke strong memories!

4. Odour control

Summer can bring bad smells too! There is little worse than sniffing an open, overheating rubbish bin. Consider what odours might occur at your event or attraction, and take steps to overcome this. Do the bins have lids? Is there air conditioning in the queues?

Of course, diffusing pleasant scents can help cover or distract from the inevitable stinks of summer.

5. Incidental scents

Those designing an event or attraction may want to consider how the materials used, and the activities that take place, will influence the smellscape. For example, Efteling’s Germanic area utilises the eatery food scents brilliantly, drawing guests in to have some lunch.

Liam at AromaPrime says: “Last summer, I visited Cinecittà World in Italy, where the wood used to build their Western town was swelling with scent under the heat. I really felt like I was in the Wild West! The choice of materials used in an environment, with consideration towards how they react in different weather conditions, can be a particular benefit to attractions that recreate historical or international settings.”

6. Outdoor scenting

Spreading scents outdoors can be a challenge to some attractions, especially as the wind can remove a scent in an instant. However, many summer experiences take place outside, and a beautiful fragrance can take a festival or a show to the next level.

Liam says: “There are powerful scent machines that are designed to spread scents outdoors. AromaPrime’s Vortex Utopia is designed to do just that. It also comes with a tube, so you can hide the machine indoors while the tube directs the scent to the outdoor location. Such technology can even be installed onboard a parade float, so the scent passes guests!”

As we embrace the sensory benefits of summer, be sure to consider how smell could enrich your experiences!