Royal Ascot 2022: Three enclosures to have reduced capacity as racecourse aims to ‘improve customer experience’ | Racing News

Capacity will be reduced in three enclosures at Royal Ascot this year as the racecourse aims to “improve the customer experience” at the prestigious five-day meeting in June.

There will 4,150 less racegoers in the Queen Anne Enclosure than in 2019 – crowd numbers at the last two Royal Ascot meetings have been affected by coronavirus restrictions – while capacity in the Windsor Enclosure and the Royal Enclosure will be reduced by 2,000 and 1,000, respectively.

The decision follows positive feedback from last year’s Royal meeting, which saw attendance limited to 12,000 per day.

Other changes on race day include an extension to the Royal Enclosure Gardens, while the Village Enclosure, located in the middle of the course, will be used for the first time since 2019.

In a statement, Ascot’s commercial director Felicity Barnard said: “We are really pleased to be making these customer-focused changes to Royal Ascot this summer.

“They will provide an improved experience for all our racegoers across the three main enclosures, ensuring a more enjoyable atmosphere and better access to facilities throughout the site.

“A key message in the feedback from the 2021 Royal Meeting, when attendance was limited to 12,000 per day as part of the Government’s Events Research Programme, was that people really appreciated the benefit of additional space.

“This set us on a journey to look at how we could reduce density to improve comfort across the site going forward in a ‘normal’ scenario. Incorporating feedback from previous years and other racedays, it became clear to us that we needed to make a fundamental change in terms of the capacities across the site.

“This was especially the case in our premier public area – the Queen Anne Enclosure – and reducing the number of people there significantly and investing in improved facilities will deliver a much better environment for people to enjoy the world-class racing on show.

“It is crucial that we protect the unique and very special sense of occasion that people feel when they come to Royal Ascot and we hope that these changes will provide an enhanced experience for all our racegoers.

“Ticket sales have been strong since launch last summer and they will clearly be in higher demand as a result of these changes at what will be a special Royal Meeting in the Platinum Jubilee year.”