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2016 TEA Attendance Report

Rob

Rob

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It's time for one of my favourite threads of the year, and I am always amazed at how quickly these come around. The Themed Entertainment Associated have released their 2016 Theme Index and as ever it makes for interesting reading.

Here is my summary of key points from the report.

General
  • 2016 was a steady year for the theme park industry as a whole. An overall 1.1% decrease in attendance across the top 25 most visited parks worldwide.
  • Merlin remain "second only to Disney" with a 1.2% increase on attendance worldwide. It will be interesting to see if sustained growth in Chinese park operators changes this over the next 5-10 years.
  • Disney see a 1.8% increase in visitors worldwide, largely thanks to the opening of Shanghai Disneyland. Attendance at all their US parks was down.
Europe
  • Alton Towers had a steady year with a 2.9% increase in guest number to 1.98 million. Still over 500,000 less than they had been getting in 2014.
  • Thorpe Park saw no change in their guest numbers despite their biggest ever investment - yet another flop for a park that can't seem to get it right (it was the same story with The Swarm).
  • Legland Windsor remains the UK's most visited theme park with 2,183,000 visitors in 2016, however that was down 3% on 2015.
  • Yet more major declines at Disneyland Paris, with Disneyland Park seeing decrease of 14.2% to just 8.4 million visitors. Studios Park was much more steady with only a 1.6% decline.
  • Europa-Park remains the second most visited theme park in Europe (5.6 million) and by far the best visited seasonal park in Europe (next best is PortAventura on 3.65 million). That's a difference of 2 million, more than most parks even get in year! Staggering.
  • I notice that the 2 most popular water parks in Europe are both in Germany. This surely bodes well for Europa and their water park when it opens.
  • Parque Warner's impressive growth continues with a 9.7% increase (number went up 12.4% last year and 25.9% in 2014). That is a 41% increase in 3 years!
  • Klugheim at Phantasialand helped bring a 5% increase in guest numbers.
USA
  • The 5 most visited theme parks in the USA continue to be Disney parks (the 4 WDW parks and Disneyland) despite all seeing their attendance decline between 0.5 and 1.8%.
  • Unversal's upwards trend continues with increase of 13.9% at Universal Studios Hollywood (hello Harry Potter) and 4.3% and 6.5% at Universal Studios Orlando and IOA respectively.
  • Busch Gardens Williamsburg has falled out of the top 20 most visited parks in the USA and been replaced by Six Flags Great America.
  • SeaWorld Orlando saw a decrease in guest numbers of 7.9% despite the addition of Mako.
Asia
  • Shangai Disneyland had 5.6 million visits in its first year (open from June). They should comfortably be in the top 4 Asian parks in the 2017 report with a full year of operations.
  • There was actually an overall decrease in attendace across the region of 2.8% led by large falls at Hong Kong Disneyland (10.3%) and Ocean Park (18.8%).
As I said, overall it was a very steady year. I feel that next year's report will prove to be even more interesting. What effect will Pandora have had on Animal Kingdom and WDW as a whole? Can EP maintain their outstanding guest numbers? Will Alton Towers see more of a recovery leading up to SW8?

Anyway, please do discuss!

:)
 
Always an interesting report, many operators don't actually release there figs to the TEA report. Disney certainly don't, and in the past I understand actual attendance is higher than those the report states. There is no longer quiet periods to visit Disney world and universal now, they have been very successful with events and free dinning offers to fill what used to be quieter times.

Also I understand Disney World don't currently want to increase attendance much more at Orlando (certainly not until they have more capacity at their parks) as they are becoming too busy which Is starting to impact the guest experience, they are looking at making more money from the guests they do have!

Also I understand with Seaworld Orlando, the first half of 2016 saw huge drops (partly blamed on massive drop in visitors from Brazil and they stopped a lot of pass holder deals, these where re introduced in the second half) but after Mako opened they saw an increase in the second half compared to the same period the year before. Interestingly Seaworld San Diego which was previously seems to be the park most affected by the negative publicity at Seaworld managed to remain level with no Change on the previous year
 
The report can never be taken as fact as not all parks like to provide their attendance figures meaning that best guesses have to be used. Apparently none of Disney's figures are totally accurate either, they have been under reported. Still, it gives a good indication of what is going on!

:)
 
Many think that the Disney figure dropping is what Disney want. They are putting in a lot more premium and upcharge stuff and therefore making more money off fewer guests. Also the new Fastpass+ which can be pre-booked means they can allocate staff and resources only where they expect to need them, another cost saving. I think Disney will pick up again this year with Pandora, but it will take Star Wars for a big jump in attendance. I think Disney are happy with that, they want more money but not really more guests.
 
Could DLP's attendance decrease be because of the tragic incident in Paris in November 2015 that put a lot of people off visiting the city?
 
TedTheHuman said:
Could DLP's attendance decrease be because of the tragic incident in Paris in November 2015 that put a lot of people off visiting the city?
Click to expand...

I would imagine it is partly down to that yes. Tourism in Paris generally has been down since November 2015 which obviously is a factor in DLP attendance. On the other hand tourism in Madrid over the last few years has been heading in a postive direction and as a consequence Parque Warner's figures have improved significantly.
matthewgcole said:
Would be interesting to see the formula they use to best guess the Disney figures?
Click to expand...

This is what they say about making estimates for parks that do not provide figures:

Where we do not receive specific park/museum-level figures from the operator, we use a detailed methodology that considers the following: historic attendance trends at the park/museum; generally available information on the park/museum and/or operator; park/museum changes, such as new rides, areas, shows, exhibits, ticket prices, intellectual property connections, etc.; general economy of the nation and the specific metropolitan area; tourism trends nationally and in the metropolitan area; for parks, weather trends in the area, particularly during peak periods; the performance of nearby parks/museums and other attractions; media coverage about the operator/park/museum; and select factors as relevant.

They also give the parks a chance to review and comment on their estimates.

:)
 
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