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2017 TEA Attendance Report

Rob

Rob

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It never feels like there is a year between these reports, however there and the 2017 Theme Index by The Themed Entertainment Association has now been published!

As usual, I've compiled some key points from the report.

General
  • 2017 was a much more successful year for the top 25 theme parks worldwide than 2016, with an attendance increase of 4.7%.
  • Attendance was up at all Disney parks worldwide (excluding Hollywood Studios which saw a -0.5% decline), which I'm sure is welcome after their 2016 US performance.
  • Overall Disney saw 6.8% of growth across the company, and Merlin saw 7.8% of growth. OCT Parks China had a phenomenal year with 32.9% of growth, they could well overtake Merlin as second to Disney if growth continues over the next two or three years.
Europe
  • Disneyland Paris finally had a good year with attendance growth of 15% to 9.66 million! Studios Park saw growth also; 4.6%.
  • Europa-Park have retained there position as the second most visited theme park in Europe with 5.7 million visitors. I suspect they could well lose this position once developments at Walt Disney Studios are complete however!
  • Alton Towers saw a 1% increase and hit 2 million visitors in 2017. Let's hope for more of an increase this year with Wicker Man.
  • Once again, Thorpe Park's guest numbers saw no change.
  • Overall UK theme park peformance seems to have been very steady in 2017, with no decreased as the four Merlin parks but not significant increase.
  • It hasn't been such good news for Merlin in the mainland though, with Gardaland and Heide Park seeing guest numbers fall by 9.7% and 3.9% respectively.
  • Perhaps surprisingly, Phantasialand saw no change in their guest numbers in the year after Taron opened. However Symbolica at Efteling seems to have been a hit with over 5.1 million visitors in 2017 (up 8.7%).
  • French theme parks performed very well in 2017!
North America
  • SeaWorld Orlando has dropped out of the top 25 theme parks worldwide. They saw a 10% decline in attendance in 2017.
  • More bad news for other SeaWorld parks, with a declines of 13.9% at SeaWorld San Diego and 5% at Busch Gardens Tampa. Busch Gardens Williamsburg remains outside of the top 20 theme parks in North America.
  • As usual, the 5 most visited theme parks in North America are all Disney parks. Animal Kingdom saw a huge 15.3% increase in guests thanks to Pandora!
  • 2017 was another good year for Universal in California with an increase of 12%. Growth was far more steady in Florida with 2% at both parks.
Asia
  • After an overall fall in attendance in 2016, attendance across the region was up 5.5% in 2017.
  • Following its first full year of operation, Shanghai Disneyland has come in as the fourth most visited theme park in Asia with 11 million visitors.
  • There were very little changes at the major Disey and Universal theme parks in Asia last year with growth at all parks between 0.3% and 3%.
At the end of my post regarding last years report I asked the following questions which we now have answers to:
  • What effect will Pandora have had on Animal Kingdom and WDW as a whole? A big effect
  • Can EP maintain their outstanding guest numbers? Of course!
  • Will Alton Towers see more of a recovery leading up to SW8? Not really
All of my comments are of coursed based off the figures in the report. I am well aware that these figures are not accurate for all parks, but as I always say, the report gives us the clearest indication as to what is happening at theme parks across the world.

Please do discuss!

:)
 
I have to admit, whilst I obviously wasn't expecting sky rocket attendance figures at Alton Towers, I am still a little disappointed. I had though that they would have been just that little bit higher than 2M. Having said that, the TEA report does suggest some reasons for the lack of growth in the UK as a whole, so it's maybe not so fair to say that Alton specifically didn't do well in 2017.

I am pretty optimistic that Alton will achieve a higher increase in attendance this year. I'm predicting that they'll at least be over the 2.3M attendance mark, or if things are very good, maybe even 2.5M attendance.
 
^I have always been skeptical of these figures.

I can tell you for free that they have underestimated the attendance decline at SeaWorld San Diego, which is strange seeing as this is on public record, but have notably overestimated the decline at SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa.

TEA attendance reports are not at all accurate sometimes.
 
Scary isn't it how quickly the years go by. Sounds about right based on the last year. Thanks for sumerising the report Rob.
 
Just looked at some figures more specifically, Aquatica down 10%!?

I really don't know where they pluck these figures from, but many are not based in reality.
 
Alton gate figures up, goes to show, cuts was on the cards regardless of gate numbers and if what I've been told is true, more cuts are on the cards next year.
 
I always love this report! It makes for very interesting reading! Some particularly interesting points I picked up on were:
  • I was expecting Alton's attendance to be slightly bigger, but it's still an increase, which is always good! That number should be even higher in 2018, what with Wicker Man opening!
  • Thorpe stayed the same... again.
  • Gruffalo was reasonably successful for Chessie... up 20,000 on 2016.
  • Legoland has maintained its place as the UK's most visited theme park.
  • Merlin didn't have the best of years in mainland Europe, with Gardaland and Heide both seeing decreases of 9.7% and 3.9%, respectively.
  • DLP had a successful year, particularly at the main Disneyland Park, which went up by 15%!
  • Symbolica was a hit for Efteling, as attendance rose by 8.7% to 5,180,000, up from 4,764,000 in 2016.
  • SeaWorld Orlando under 4 million for the first time in recent history... yikes. 10% decrease to 3,962,000. In fact, SeaWorld didn't do the best generally; Aquatica Orlando down 10%, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay down 5%, SeaWorld San Diego down 13.9%. Hopefully 2018 sees somewhat of a recovery for SeaWorld.
  • WDW in Florida generally had a relatively quiet year, with Magic Kingdom and Epcot seeing marginal increases, and Hollywood Studios even saw a marginal decrease. Both waterparks also saw decreases. However, Pandora was very successful at Animal Kingdom, bringing in an increase of 12.5%.
  • Universal continued their growth spurt, with both Florida theme parks reporting increases. USF surpassed 10 million for the first time, with a 2% increase to 10,198,000. IOA also saw a 2% increase to 9,549,000 visitors. Volcano Bay also bought in 1,500,000 visitors! Great stuff considering it opened in May, and I reckon that number will be even higher in 2018, as the park will be operating for the full year!
  • Universal Studios Hollywood continued to grow also, with a staggering 12% increase on 2016!
  • Shanghai Disneyland had 11 million visitors in 2017. Must have been very successful!
  • Iron Man also bought Hong Kong Disneyland success, with a 1.6% increase in 2017.
  • However, Ocean Park saw a 3.3% decrease to 5,800,000.
  • Both of the large South Korean theme parks (Lotte World and Everland) saw huge decreases, of 17.6% and 9.5%, respectively. I'm sure 2018 will be better for them.
Overall, it was a very interesting report, and I'm sure I will find more within it over time!
 
MakoMania said:
It wasn't though :p
Click to expand...
I don't doubt you at all Mako, but I'm going off of what the report said.

On the subject of SeaWorld, I would like to commend the company on how they are still investing huge amounts into their parks despite their recent downfall. I say this because I took a very interesting look at the 2007 and 2017 TEA reports in order to compare SeaWorld Orlando's attendances in both. 2007 saw the park get 5,800,000 visitors. Whereas 2017 saw the park get 3,962,000 visitors. That is a huge decrease whatever way you look at it; nearly 2 million, to be exact! Considering numbers have gone down by nearly 2 million since 2007, it is commendable to see them investing at a huge rate. Let's think; in the last 5 years, SWO and Aquatica Orlando have seen:
  • Antarctica, a huge dark ride.
  • Mako, a huge B&M hyper.
  • Ihu's Breakaway Falls, a huge water slide.
  • Many different animal enclosures and general enhancements.
  • Infinity Falls, a huge rapids ride.
  • Ray Rush, a huge water slide
And they're receiving a massive Sesame Street Land in 2019! That's crazy! And there's probably more I'm forgetting! Well done SeaWorld! Anyway, sorry for being massively off topic. I hope SeaWorld has a better year in 2018!
 
I certainly hope that 2018 is a better year also, I'm cautiously optimistic.

You can't survive in Orlando without investing, I'm sure attendance would be worse now if it were not for Mako in particular. Infinity Falls should help as well.

Part of me does worry what sort of impact Star Wars is going to have on the Florida market though. It has the potential to equal or exceed Potter.

Then again, SeaWorld has been in the Orlando market since 1973, it has survived intense competition, media controversy & destructive hurricanes and will survive the current period also.

Part of the problem at the minute is that we are seeing some transitional pains, the park is changing. It can no longer compete with the increasingly strong IP power of Disney & Universal and so must become a more reigonal park. We're currently in the middle of a period when the park is not either of these things and it will take time to refine the focus.

Aquatica continues to do tremendously well; it's rare for it not to hit capacity on a summer day.
 
Good to see Towers attandance going up. Wonder if next year's will put it above Legoland? Wickerman seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment
 
For all it's failings under Merlin, AT is still a great park in my eyes. I think it deserves far more than 2 million visitors.

I hope it gets them. With the right investment it has the potential to be truly special, even against the most successful theme parks in the world.
 
Very pleased to see Efteling now exceed the 5M mark and Europa continue with steady growth too. I expect they may pass 6 million once Rulsntica opens.

It’s great to see DLRP finally see some massive growth again after years of visitor numbers declining, amongst almost every other Disney Park continue with growth.

Looks like Grõna and Parc Asterix did relatively well also whilst Tivoli and Phantasialand remained stable with numbers. Liseberg saw a slight fall in attendance, however that will hopefully pick up this year once Valkyria opens.

As for the Merlin bunch, Legoland still seems to be doing ok and is still first place for UK parks, Towers has seen a slight (but not massive) visitor and Chessington seems to have done ok with Gruffalo. Thorpe numbers haven’t seen any change, which is surprising as they seemed really down last season (except Fright Nights).

Whilst the parks may see higher gate numbers this year, I have no doubts the Merlin machine will continue it’s ‘Merlin Money cutback making’ programme. Where we will see even more cuts throughout all the attractions, even if Towers somewhat got near 3 million. Probably.

At the rate things are going, they could well be fourth, once Universal expand on their third gate and that Chinese park group progress further too. It’s possible.

Garda and Heide really aren’t doing too well, but I suppose it doesn’t help when one of their star attractions remains out of action.
 
1% increase at Towers? Well within the margin of error and a completely negligible. Pathetic, snacks of a managed figure where the cost base was built around last year's numbers.
 
matthewgcole said:
1% increase at Towers? Well within the margin of error and a completely negligible. Pathetic, snacks of a managed figure where the cost base was built around last year's numbers.
Click to expand...

These numbers are a guess, Merlin don’t publish to the TEA report.
 
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