2014 Theme Index - Global Attractions Attendance Report

[Rob]

It's that time of the year again, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) have released their 2014 Theme Index - The Global Attractions Attendance Report.

Here's a summary of some main points:

General

• There was healthy growth of 4% across top parks in the global attractions industry in 2014
• Merlin saw guest numbers rise 5% across the company, less than the 10% in the previous year
• Universal Studios Japan is the most visited non-Disney theme park worldwide

Europe

• 2014 has been a brilliant year for European parks with an average of 3% growth across the top 20
• Alton Towers saw a 3% increase, 75,000 more guests than in 2013.
  
• Legoland Windsor, Chessington and Thorpe Park all saw growth of 7.3%, 6.7% and 5% respectively.
  
• Europa-Park's 2% growth to 5 million visitors in 2014 cemented its place as the second most visited theme park in Europe
• Of the top 20 parks in Europe only the two Disney properties suffered declines in guests numbers (-4.7% for both). This means that Tivoli Gardens and Efteling have also overtaken Walt Disney Studios Park (this park has falled from the second most visited in Europe to the fifth in just two years)
• Parque Warner Madrid saw a massive increase of 25.9%, by far the biggest grown in Europe
• The additon of Helix at Liseberg was very successful, facilitating an 8.4% increase in guests

USA

• By far the biggest grower in the States was Universal Studios Florida. Diagon Alley brought in an extra 1.2 million guests
• The top 6 more visited parks in the USA are all owned by Disney, and they all saw growth of between 2 and 4%
• SeaWorld parks in San Diego and Orlando saw declines in growth, -12% and -8% respectively
• Six Flags, Cedar Fair and SeaWorld Parks & Entertainments all saw decreases in overall guest numbers

Asia

• Guest numbers at Disney's two Tokyo properties seem to have finally stabilised, this year they both saw growth of under 1%
• Growth in Asia as a whole was 4.9%

2014 was cerainly the year of Universal, they had outstanding results worldwide.

I know a lot of people take these figures with a pinch of salt but they do give us a good indication of how the industry as a whole is performing.

 

[Plastic Person]

What did Parque Warner do to facilitate such a growth? Was is the waterpark development?

 

[Harv]

Always enjoy reading these, did my maths coursework on the correlation between Disney yearly attendances and various factors. Magic Kingdom is just getting crazy numbers now. Also intriguing that Hollywood Studios is starting to hide behind Animal Kingdom in terms of guest numbers now!

 

[AstroDan]

The Merlin UK figures are far off reality. Alton is way higher.

 

[Tom]

Are the figures just an estimation based on research?

 

[Rob]

Are the figures just an estimation based on research?

I recommend you read the "About this study" section of the report. It gives a full description of how it works. They encourage parks to to provide them with attendance figures which many do directly. Then they make estimates, based on a number of factors, for parks that do not. Park operators are given the option to comment on and review the estimates that have been made.

It certainly is not numbers picked out of thin air, this is a very thorough study/report.

 

[Rob]

Just a point on Alton Towers guest numbers. This report stated that Towers had a 3% rise in guest numbers last year, however Merlin's 2014 annual report confirmed that the rise was actually 10%.