GLOBAL ATTRACTIONSATTENDANCE REPORTCover image:
Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s Journey
Of Lights Parade — Zhuhai, China
Photo courtesy of Miziker Entertainment

CREDITSTEA/AECOM 2018 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report
Publisher: Themed Entertainment Association (TEA)
Research: Economics practice at AECOM
Editor: Judith Rubin
Producer: Brian Sands
Lead Designer: Matt Timmins
Publication team: Tsz Yin (Gigi) Au, Beth Chang, Michael Chee, Linda Cheu,
Celia Datels, Lucia Fischer, Marina Hoffman, Olga Kondaurova, Kathleen LaClair,
Jodie Lock, Jason Marshall, Sarah Linford, Jennie Nevin, Nina Patel, John Robinett,
Judith Rubin, Brian Sands, Matt Timmins, Feliz Ventura, Chris Yoshii©2019 TEA/AECOM. All rights reserved.
CONTACTS
For further information about the contents of this report and about
the Economics practice at AECOM, contact the following:
John Robinett
Senior Vice President – Economics
john.robinett@aecom.com
T +1 213 593 8785

Chris Yoshii
Vice President – Economics, Asia-Pacificchris.yoshii@aecom.com
T +852 3922 9000

Brian Sands, AICP
Vice President / Director – Economics,
Americasbrian.sands@aecom.com
T +1 202 821 7281

Beth Chang
Executive Director – Economics,
Asia-Pacificbeth.chang@aecom.com
T +852 3922 8109

Linda Cheu
Vice President – Economics, Americas
linda.cheu@aecom.com
T +1 415 955 2928

Jodie Lock
Associate – Economics, Asia-Pacific and EMEA
jodie.lock@aecom.com
T +852 3922 9000
aecom.com/economics

For information about TEA (Themed Entertainment Association):
Judith Rubin
TEA Director of Publications
judy@teaconnect.org
T +1 314 853 5210
TEAconnect.org

Jennie Nevin
TEA Chief Operating Officer
jennie@teaconnect.org
T +1 818 843 8497

GLOBAL ATTRACTIONSATTENDANCE REPORTThe definitive annual
attendance study for thethemed entertainment andmuseum industries.
Published by the Themed
Entertainment Association(TEA) and the Economics
practice at AECOM.

1.9m
Thermas Water Park,São Pedro, Brazil,
attendance 2018

CONTENTS
THE BIG PICTURE
THE AMERICAS
ASIA-PACIFIC
EMEA
MUSEUMSOBSERVATION EXPERIENCES
ABOUT THE STUDYFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

6
22
40
50
62
78
86
87

Thermas Water Park, São Pedro, Brazil© Thermas Water Park
4

5

THE BIG PICTURE

2018 HAS BEEN AMILESTONE YEAR FOR THE
THEMED ENTERTAINMENT
INDUSTRY

5.4%
Top 10 theme park
groups worldwide
attendance
growth 2017–18

501.2mAttendance at themed attractions
at the major operators has
exceeded half a billion visits forthe first time in history. This isequivalent to almost 7% of theworld population. And not only that,
but this number keeps growing.
Just five years ago, the market
capture of the industry was only
5% of the global population.
—

Top 10 theme park
groups worldwide
attendance 2018475.8mTop 10 theme park
groups worldwide
attendance 2017

JOHN ROBINETT
Senior Vice President –Economics—
6

This noteworthy achievement has
been accomplished by focused capital
investment, technology enhanced products,
intellectual property based stories, anddestination tourism development.

7.9%
Tokyo Disneyland at
Tokyo Disney Resort,Tokyo, Japan, attendance
growth 2017–18

Tokyo Disneyland at Tokyo Disney Resort Tokyo, Japan© Tokyo Disney Resort7

18.8%
Parque Warner, Madrid,
Spain attendance
growth 2017–18

1 WALT DISNEY ATTRACTIONS

4.9% 157,311,000 150,014,000

2 MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS GROUP

1.5% 67,000,000 66,000,000

3 UNIVERSAL PARKS AND RESORTS

1.2% 50,068,000 49,458,000

4 OCT PARKS CHINA

15.1% 49,350,000 42,880,000

5 FANTAWILD

9.3% 42,074,000 38,495,000

6 CHIMELONG GROUP

9.6% 34,007,000 31,031,000

7 SIX FLAGS INC.

5.3% 32,024,000 30,421,000*

8 CEDAR FAIR ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY

0.7% 25,912,000 25,723,000*

9 SEAWORLD PARKS & ENTERTAINMENT

8.6% 22,582,000 20,798,000*

10 PARQUES REUNIDOS

1.5% 20,900,000 20,600,000

TOP 10 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

5.4% 501,228,000 475,767,000*

ATTENDANCE
2017

Overall, it’s been an outstanding year, as
the themed entertainment industry has
matured and been recognized not only
as a significant driver of international
development, economic impact, andtourism, but as a common shared global
experience. We’re looking forward to what
next year brings with several special new
attractions coming on line such as Disney’s
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, opening in both
California and Florida.

ATTENDANCE
2018

We have observed a number ofphenomena that have led to this andother strong years’ performance in thebusiness. These include the addition of
second gates, the continued leveraging ofblockbuster IP’s, and the building of resort
hotels adjacent to park properties.

TOP 10
THEME PARK GROUPSWORLDWIDE% CHANGE

Honorable mentions are in order this year
for a number of players including: SeaWorld
Parks & Entertainment which turned aroundfrom a 5% drop last year to an almost 9%
increase this year; and several individual
parks with double digit increases including:
Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, Parque
Warner in Madrid, Parque Xcaret in Mexico,
and Changzhou Dinosaur Park in China.

RANK
GROUP NAME

This year also showed strong and steadybusiness volume through most regions andattraction types. In an unusual alignment,
theme park attendance grew by roughly
4% in all major markets. Waterparks’attendance rose at 2.5% globally, with
North America at 5.8% and EMEA showing
strong growth of 6.7%. The top museums
were relatively flat this year.

© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report

Parque Warner, Madrid, Spain© Parque Warner
8

5.4%

501.2m475.8m*Top 10 theme park groups
worldwide attendance growth
2017–18

Top 10 theme park groups
worldwide attendance 2018

Top 10 theme park groups
worldwide attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

9% CHANGEATTENDANCE
2017

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

ATTENDANCE2018% CHANGE

ATTENDANCE
2017

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

ATTENDANCE2018

TOP 25
AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKSWORLDWIDE

1 MAGIC KINGDOM THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.

2.0% 20,859,000 20,450,000

13 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE-LA-VALLEE, FRANCE

1.9% 9,843,000 9,660,000

2 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND RESORT, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S.

2.0% 18,666,000 18,300,000

14 UNIVERSAL’S ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE THEME PARK AT UNIVERSALORLANDO RESORT, FL, U.S.

2.5% 9,788,000 9,549,000

3 TOKYO DISNEYLAND AT TOKYO DISNEY RESORT, TOKYO, JAPAN

7.9% 17,907,000 16,600,000

15 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, U.S.

1.0% 9,147,000 9,056,000

4 TOKYO DISNEYSEA AT TOKYO DISNEY RESORT, TOKYO, JAPAN

8.5% 14,651,000 13,500,000

16 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, HONG KONG SAR

8.1% 6,700,000 6,200,000

5 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN, OSAKA, JAPAN-4.3% 14,300,000 14,935,000

17 LOTTE WORLD, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA-11.2% 5,960,000 6,714,000

6 DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.

10.0% 13,750,000 12,500,000

18 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND, KUWANA, JAPAN-0.2% 5,920,000 5,930,000

7 EPCOT THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.

2.0% 12,444,000 12,200,000

19 EVERLAND, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREA-7.3% 5,850,000 6,310,000

20 OCEAN PARK, HONG KONG SAR

0.0% 5,800,000 5,800,000

8 SHANGHAI DISNEYLAND, SHANGHAI, CHINA

7.3% 11,800,000 11,000,000

21 EUROPA PARK, RUST, GERMANY

0.4% 5,720,000 5,700,000

9 DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.

5.0% 11,258,000 10,722,000

22 DE EFTELING, KAATSHEUVEL, NETHERLANDS

4.2% 5,400,000 5,180,000

10 CHIMELONG OCEAN KINGDOM, HENGQIN, CHINA

10.6% 10,830,000 9,788,000

23 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE-LA-VALLEE, FRANCE

1.9% 5,298,000 5,200,000

11 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA THEME PARK AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT, FL, U.S. 5.0% 10,708,000 10,198,000

24 TIVOLI GARDENS, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

4.5% 4,850,000 4,640,000

12 DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE PARK AT DISNEYLAND RESORT, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S.

25 CHIMELONG PARADISE, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

11.9% 4,680,000 4,181,000

3.0% 9,861,000 9,574,000

TOP 25 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

251,490,000 243,887,000

TOP 25 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

3.3% 251,990,000 243,926,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM

10© 2019 TEA / AECOM

3.3%

252.0m243.9mTop 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance growth
2017–18

Top 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance 2018

Top 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

11

TOP 25
AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKSWORLDWIDE

DENMARKNETHERLANDS

5.4m
1 PARK

24

22

4.9m
1 PARK

SOUTH KOREA
18

17

GERMANYFRANCE

15.1m
2 PARKS15

CALIFORNIA, U.S.

37.7m
3 PARKS

2

23

21
13

5.7m
1 PARK

CHINA

27.2m
3 PARKS11.9m
2 PARKS

18

25

3

8

5

10

JAPAN

52.8m
4 PARKS

412

HONG KONG

20
14

1

16

12.5m
2 PARKS

11

FLORIDA, U.S.

78.8m
6 PARKS912

Top 25 theme/amusement parks worldwide
Top 20 water parks worldwide

10%+

GROWTH
5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%

MAP KEY

67

Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

3.8%

5.2%

4.3%

4.1%

5.4%

-1.1%

4.7%

3.3%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

3.3%

252.0m243.9mTop 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance growth
2017–18

Top 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance 2018

Top 25 amusement/theme parks
worldwide attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

13

RANK
PARK
LOCATION% CHANGE

ATTENDANCE2018

ATTENDANCE
2017

RANK
PARK
LOCATION% CHANGE

ATTENDANCE2018

ATTENDANCE2017

TOP 20
WATER PARKSWORLDWIDE

1 CHIMELONG WATER PARK, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

1.9%

2,740,000

2,690,000

10 AQUAVENTURE WATER PARK, DUBAI, U.A.E.

3.5%

1,397,000

1,350,000

2 TYPHOON LAGOON WATER PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, ORLANDO, FL, U.S. 5.0%

2,271,000

2,163,000

11 WUHU FANTAWILD WATER PARK, WUHU, CHINA

13.3%

1,360,000

1,200,000

3 DISNEY’S BLIZZARD BEACH WATER PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

3.0%

2,003,000

1,945,000

12 KAIFENG YINJI WATER PARK, KAIFENG, CHINA

3.8%

1,350,000

1,300,000

4 PARQUE AQUÁTICO THERMAS DOS LARANJAIS, OLIMPIA, BRAZIL-1.8%

1,971,000

2,007,000

13 SUNWAY LAGOON, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

0.0%1,300,000

1,300,000

5 AQUAVENTURE ATLANTIS BAHAMAS WATERPARK, PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS

0.0%

1,831,000

1,831,000

14 AQUAPALACE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

6.0%

1,288,000

1,215,000

6 VOLCANO BAY WATER THEME PARK AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT,ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

15.0%

1,725,000

1,500,000

15 OCEAN WORLD, GANGWON-DO, SOUTH KOREA-5.0%

1,264,000

1,330,000

16 SIAM PARK, SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, SPAIN

0.1%

1,210,000

1,209,000

7 AQUATICA ORLANDO, ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

8.5%

1,556,000 1,434,000*

17 CARIBBEAN BAY, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREA-13.0%

1,200,000

1,380,000

8 THERME ERDING, ERDING, GERMANY

13.6%

1,500,000

1,320,000

SHENYANG ROYAL OCEAN PARK — WATER WORLD, FUSHUN, CHINA

0.0%

1,200,000

1,200,000

9 HOT PARK RIO QUENTE, CALDAS NOVAS, BRAZIL-3.2%

1,433,000

1,481,000

TROPICAL ISLANDS, KRAUSNICK, GERMANY

2.7%

1,200,000

1,168,000

20 WET 'N' WILD GOLD COAST, GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA-5.1%

1,120,000

1,180,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

30,919,000 30,203,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

2.5% 30,919,000 30,155,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report14© 2019 TEA / AECOM

2.5%

30.9m

30.2m

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance 2018

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

15

TOP 20
WATER PARKSWORLDWIDE

17

GERMANY
7

6

U.S.

2

7.6m
4 PARKS

3

8

14

1.3m
1 PARK

17

CHINA

6.7m
4 PARKSCANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN

1.2m
1 PARK

BAHAMAS

1.8m
1 PARK

5

17

16

SOUTH KOREA

2.5m
2 PARKSCZECH REPUBLIC

2.7m
2 PARKS

15

1

12
11

10

U.A.E.

1.4m
1 PARK

MALAYSIA

1.3m
1 PARK

13

BRAZIL
94

3.4m
2 PARKS
AUSTRALIA
20

16

Top 20 water parks worldwide
Top 25 theme/amusement parks worldwide

10%+

GROWTH
5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%

MAP KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

1.1m
1 PARK

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

8.2%

5.4%

7.1%

2.8%

3.7%

3.6%

1.6%

2.5%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

2.5%

30.9m

30.2m

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance 2018

Top 20 water parks worldwide
attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

17

ATTENDANCE
2018

11 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.

-20.0%

4,800,000

6,000,000

2 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CHINA, BEIJING, CHINA

6.8%

8,610,000

8,063,000

12 NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.

-15.8%

4,404,000

5,232,000

3 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.

5.1%

7,360,000

7,000,000

13 CHINA SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM, BEIJING, CHINA

10.5%

4,400,000

3,983,000

4 VATICAN MUSEUMS, VATICAN, VATICAN CITY

5.1%

6,756,000

6,427,000

14 STATE HERMITAGE, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

1.8%

4,294,000

4,220,000

5 NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.

-11.4%

6,200,000

7,000,000

15 ZHEJIANG MUSEUM, HANGZHOU, CHINA

14.4%

4,200,000

3,670,000

6 BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

3.8%

5,869,000

5,656,000

16 VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

4.7%

3,968,000

3,790,000

7 TATE MODERN, LONDON, U.K.

-1.3%

5,829,000

5,907,000

17 REINA SOFÍA, MADRID, SPAIN

0.0%

3,898,000

3,897,000

8 NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, U.K.

9.7%

5,736,000

5,229,000

18 NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM (TAIWAN), TAIPEI, TAIWAN-13.0%

3,860,000

4,436,000

9 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

17.8%

5,226,000

4,435,000

19 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.

0.0%

3,800,000

3,800,000

10 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.

0.0%

5,000,000

5,000,000

20 NANJING MUSEUM, NANJING, CHINA

11.2%

3,670,000

3,300,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

ATTENDANCE
2017
FREE/PAID% CHANGE

8,100,000

RANK
MUSEUM
LOCATION

ATTENDANCE
2017
FREE/PAID

25.9% 10,200,000% CHANGE

1 LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCERANKMUSEUM
LOCATION

ATTENDANCE2018

TOP 20MUSEUMSWORLDWIDE

108,080,000 105,145,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

0.1% 108,080,000 107,967,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM

18© 2019 TEA / AECOM

0.1%

108.1m

108.0mTop 20 museums worldwide
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 museums worldwide
attendance 2018

Top 20 museums worldwide
attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

19

TOP 20MUSEUMSWORLDWIDE

26.6m
5 MUSEUMS

6

16

U.K.

9
7

8

RUSSIA

4.3m
1 MUSEUM

14FRANCE

12
11

3

19

10

10.2m
1 MUSEUM

U.S.

31.6m
6 MUSEUMS

5

1

VATICAN CITY
4
17

6.8m
1 MUSEUM

20

CHINA
2

15
13

SPAIN

TAIWAN

3.9m
1 MUSEUM

20

10%+Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked museum
indicated by number. Shading
indicates attendance growth at
the ranked museum versus allother ranked museums.

18

3.9m
1 MUSEUM

Top 20 museums worldwide

GROWTH
5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%

MAP KEY

20.9m
4 MUSEUMS

10
5
0
-5

2012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

7.2%

1.6%

-0.7%

1.2%

0.2%

0.1%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

0.1%

108.1m

108.0mTop 20 museums worldwide
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 museums worldwide
attendance 2018

Top 20 museums worldwide
attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

21

THE AMERICAS

Theme parks

4.0%

BIG GROWTH IS
IP-DRIVEN

Top 20 amusement/
theme parks North
America attendance
growth 2017–18

Attendance at the Top 20 North
American Theme Parks grew by
4% overall in 2018, a substantial
increase for this mature market,
representing growth of 6.1 million
visits. This was notably higher
than the previous two years’
increases (2.3% in 2017 and 1.2%
in 2016).
—157.5mTop 20 amusement/
theme parks North
America attendance
2018

151.4mTop 20 amusement/
theme parks North
America attendance2017

The increase of more than 6 million
visits at North American parks was led
by growth among top operators Disney,
Universal and SeaWorld, with particularly
good performance from Disney’s
Animal Kingdom, SeaWorld Orlando and
SeaWorld San Diego, Disney’s Hollywood
Studios, and Universal Studios in Florida.
The Six Flags chain also showed increases
for 2018, largely driven by the acquisitionof five new parks bringing about 2 million
in additional attendance.
The biggest growth is IP-driven. Innovative
experiences, rides and programming arealso important drivers. The big players arein a position to command the big IP. They
have full awareness to the power of thesefranchises and to what good, creativeuse of IP in a storytelling environment —made immersive with state-of-the-art
technology — enables them to do.

BRIAN SANDS
Vice President / Director –Economics, Americas—

KATHLEEN LACLAIR
Associate Principal –Economics, Americas
—
22

16.0%
SeaWorld Orlando, FL,
U.S., attendance growth
2017–18

SeaWorld Orlando, FL, U.S.
© SeaWorld Orlando
23

Disney and Universal

For the biggest operators, even a modest
year-over-year increase represents a lot ofvisitation, as evidenced by what our chartsshow for Disney and Universal parks in
Florida and California.
Speaking of big IPs, since first bringing theAvatar IP to life on the theme park platform
in May 2017 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom(Orlando), Pandora — The World of Avatar
continued to be a strong attendance driverin 2018. Toy Story Land, the latest iterationof which opened at Disney’s Hollywood
Studios in June 2018, was another driver.
The Toy Story franchise continues tocapture a new generation of children every
time a new movie comes out while older
fans stay fans.

Looking ahead, we can expect that next
year’s numbers will likely show massive
attendance impact for Disney in North
America, from the 2019 openings of Star
Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in
May and at Walt Disney World in August.
Attendance at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon
and Blizzard Beach water parks bounced
back in 2018 after a decline in 2017attributed to poor weather — these waterparks continue to be the most visited in
North America.
Universal Studios parks in North America
earned modest attendance increases
overall in 2018, with the biggest growth at
Volcano Bay, Universal’s new water themepark, open since May 2017 and recipient of
a TEA Thea Award in 2019.

18.7m
Disneyland Park,
Anaheim, CA, U.S.,
attendance 2018

XX.X%
Park Name, Location,
attendance growth
2017–18
Pixar Play Parade, Disneyland Park,
Disneyland Resort, Anaheim, CA, U.S.
©Name,
JoshuaSudock/Disneyland Resort
Park
Location

9.1m
Universal Studios
Hollywood, Universal
City, CA, U.S.,
attendance 2018

Kung Fu Panda, Universal Studios
Hollywood, Universal City, CA, U.S.
© Universal Studios Hollywood

In Orlando, Universal is continuing tobuild, having acquired new real estate
and with a new gate, new land, andNintendo theming among the coming
developments at Universal Studios Florida
as the area rebounds from tourism lost
due to hurricanes in 2017. In Universal
City, California, attendance growth atUniversal Studios Hollywood was about 1%,
attributable to overall growth of the market
supported by reinvestment such as thepark’s new Kung Fu Panda attraction.

© Copyright24

25

SeaWorld

SeaWorld parks had been moving
down our charts for several years but
2018 attendance numbers show a nicecomeback with room for more regrowth.
Globally — referencing our Top 25 Theme
Park Groups Worldwide chart — SeaWorld2018 attendance ranks below that ofNorth American regional chains Six Flags
and Cedar Fair, but more change is in thewind as SeaWorld starts to become aninternational brand.
The 2018 SeaWorld Parks attendance
figures recoup the previous year’s decline
and surpass it, helped by significant
increases at SeaWorld Orlando and
SeaWorld San Diego as well as a modest
increase at Busch Gardens Tampa.

20.1%
SeaWorld San Diego,
CA, U.S., attendance
growth 2017–18

26

SeaWorld’s good performance iscreditable to investments in new rides andprogramming and leveraging the Sesame
Street IP, in addition to working actively tochange the conversation about the parks— internally and externally — and making
other positive changes.

Staying competitive: IP, immersion
and expansion

The level of immersion that our industry
is now able to deliver is other-worldly,
thanks to digital technology. The past few
years have seen Universal and Disneyeach roll out unique, super-rich IP-based
environments, in the form of the Harry
Potter worlds (Universal) and Avatar realm(Disney), whose tremendous success has
reset the entire industry. Looking forward,
Disney’s soon-to-open Star Wars: Galaxy’s
Edge lands are expected to take things to awhole new level of immersion.

SeaWorld San Diego, CA, U.S.
© SeaWorld San Diego

This trend has enabled the high levels
of investment we’re now seeing and willcontinue to see as operators mine theriches of their IP and creatives explore thepossibilities of available technology. There
will be more, great and game-changing, new
out-of-home guest experiences coming ourway. The big parks have the resources tocreate and deliver experiences people can’t
get at home. And it’s important to note thatimmersive environments aren’t just about
what you do — they’re also elaborate photo
backdrops, providing guests with settings
that facilitate their online personae.
That said, everyone is paying attention to
the dramatic growth of the video games
industry along with the rise of competitive
video gaming/esports as an industry, andthe power of both. Fortnite is a compellingexample of a gaming platform that’s also asocial platform. But parks have the ability
to deliver shared, real-world immersive
experiences with broad appeal, and arecollaborating with IP owners to leverage
multi-channel marketing.

Regionality

For smaller parks to also serve up magically
immersive experiences is more within reachthan it was 20 years ago — or even five
years ago—because of the accessibilityof technology. The big question is, what
IPs will they have access to? However, we
do see operators other than Disney andUniversal working with the IP model: Cedar
Fair and Snoopy (Peanuts), SeaWorld andSesame Street, Six Flags and DC Comics.
The challenges to do so include making
licensing arrangements with the IP holder,which can be costly, and all the subsequent
steps of creating the built environment andexperience that are true to the IP.

THERE WILL BE MORE, GREATAND GAME-CHANGING, NEW OUTOF-HOME GUEST EXPERIENCES
COMING OUR WAY. THE BIG PARKSHAVE THE RESOURCES TO CREATE
AND DELIVER EXPERIENCESPEOPLE CAN’T GET AT HOME.
Or will regional parks note the Meow Wolfmodel and bring in the local art collective
instead? We’ve seen that happen recently
at Elitch Gardens and spark a lot of interest
on social media and mainstream media.
Emphasizing the flavor of one’s particularregion can be a powerful differentiator, andNorth American regional parks could dowell to take a page from European parks’success on that front.
Expansion, hospitality and season passes
are all methods of increasing attendance.
Adding a second gate and adding hotels
transform a park into a resort and a day
trip into a longer stay. The recent Six Flags
acquisitions have been part of a strategy to
add existing water parks located near the
chain’s existing theme parks. Giving guests
the option to buy a multi-park pass that lets
them enjoy two different experiences in thesame metro area encourages the overnight
stay and gives people more things to do.

27

LATIN AMERICA
AND MEXICO — A
LOCALIZED FOCUS
The top theme parks in Latin America
enjoyed aggregate attendance growth of
more than 4%, which is excellent. As with
North America, this growth is partly due torecovery from the prior year’s bad weather(the numbers were down by 2% in 2017),
and partly a testament to the benefitsof reinvesting and season extension. An
unfortunate exception is Hopi Hari, whichin the past held a high ranking but recently
spiraled into bankruptcy and slipped off thelist of top theme parks in Latin America.
Parks in these regions cater primarily toresidents and domestic tourists. Successcomes from understanding those markets
and serving them with unique, tailoredexperiences that play to the region’s
unique character.

Along the coast near Cancun, Mexico’s
Grupo Xcaret is one for all regional
operators to watch and learn from, as
it has continued to grow its signature
innovative offerings and attendance,
year over year. In terms of sophisticated,regional authenticity and consistency
this operator is outstanding, knowing
and serving local and residential tourist
markets, in naturalistic settings with waterfeatures and historical and geologicalelements. Each is within driving distance ofthe others,and offered on a standalone or
package basis. Each is a unique, picturesquepark or experience with its own identity
and mix of activities, including cultural
programs, historic components, underwater
cave swimming, luxurious dining on a lake,swimming with dolphins and more. Twohotels are now part of the Xcaret mix, locatedadjacent to Parque Xcaret, pushing its
attendance up by a remarkable 25%. This
exemplifies regionally tailored, multi-gate,
multi-day destination resort development at
its best.

Water parks

SUCCESS COMES FROMUNDERSTANDING THOSE
MARKETS AND SERVINGTHEM WITH UNIQUE,TAILORED EXPERIENCES
THAT PLAY TO THE REGION’SUNIQUE CHARACTER.
In the Mexico City area, Six Flags México and
La Feria de Chapultepec both prosper bymaking the most of serving residential andregional markets with earmarks of regional
culture that look and feel authentic.
In Bogota, Salitre Mágico extends its
calendar with the Festival of Terror, a scareexperience featuring sinister clowns.
Outside Bogota, Parque del Café is themedon coffee. Fantasilandia has extended its
operating season.

NORTH AMERICA:
BETTER WEATHER AND
BETTER NUMBERS
It’s heartening to see that the 2018 waterpark attendance numbers show recovery
and then some from the weather-related dipof the previous year. The top North American
water parks showed attendance growth ofnearly 6% for 2018. Some parks benefited
from substantial increases, reflecting new
attractions as well as recovery from theprevious year’s weather including Zoombezi
Bay (Powell, OH), Typhoon Texas, Adventure
Island in Tampa and Splish Splash (Calverton,
NY). Reinvestment helped in addition tobetter weather: Typhoon Texas added three
new pools and Splish Splash added two new
rides. Disney’s Orlando water parks Typhoon
Lagoon and Blizzard Beach retained theirpositions at the top.

7.9%
Typhoon Texas
Waterpark, Katy,
TX, U.S., attendance
growth 2017–18

6.4%
Parque del Café,
Quindio, Colombia,
attendance growth
2017–18

28

Parque del Café, Quindio, Colombia© Parque del Café

Typhoon Texas Waterpark, Katy, Texas, U.S.
© Typhoon Texas

29

Universal’s Volcano Bay, a unique
newcomer settling into its market, drew
excellent attendance, up 15% versus its
first year. As a separate-gate offering,
Volcano Bay is a valuable addition to
Universal’s continued expansion anddiversification of its Orlando property as adestination resort.
Under the SeaWorld umbrella, Aquatica
in Orlando bounced back with visitation
growth of about 125,000. Recently
repositioned as a second gate to SeaWorldSan Antonio, the Aquatica park in that cityalso did well in 2018.

LATIN AMERICA: NEW
TRENDS AND PLAYERS
The top water parks in Latin America hadessentially flat attendance in 2018, withup and down fluctuations and some parks
making their first appearance on the list.
In Olimpia, Brazil, Parque Aquático –Thermas dos Laranjais attendance
numbers were down by nearly 2% for 2018.
The park maintained its first-place positionon our list of the Top 10 Water Parks in
Latin America and is in fourth place on
our list of Top 20 Water Parks Worldwide;
however, it faces new competition fromnearby Hot Beach, which recently zoomed
onto the scene and has changed the local
landscape. Parque Aquático – Thermas dos
Laranjais — a massive, busy property —has enjoyed a large market share for many
years with its low- to mid-priced offerings
targeted to guests who primarily visit byautomobile from São Paulo. Hot Beachhas differentiated itself and shown there’s
a market among upper-middle-class air
travelers, who also avail themselves of thepark’s integrated hotels, also higher-end
than Thermas’ adjoining hotel towers.

SUCCESS COMES WHEN OPERATORSHAVE A CLEAR SENSE OF THEIR
MARKETS AND HOW TO SERVE THEM
WITH GOOD OPERATIONS AND, OF
COURSE, SMART REINVESTMENTIn São Pedro, Thermas Water Park has
shown significant attendance growth forthe past two years (more than 18% in 2017and more than 22% in 2018). The park
added nearly 500 rooms with its new hotel/
vacation club property that opened in late2017 and has further strengthened its
position through reinvestment and growing
its market via strategic alliances withnational tourism agencies.
Wet ‘n Wild São Paolo posted a modest
increase of about 5%. This water park, which
serves the same market as did Hopi Hari
before the latter collapsed, reinvested with a
new ride and new drop slide. Numbers wererelatively flat for Piscilago (Bogota), ParqueAcuático Xocomil (Guatemala) and El Rollo
Parque Acuatico (Mexico).

13.5%

Zoombezi Bay, Powell, OH, U.S.
© Grahm S. Jones, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

Zoombezi Bay,
Powell, OH, U.S.,
attendance growth
2017–18

Chongqing Happy Valley
© OCT

0.5m
Hot Beach, Olimpia,
Brazil, attendance2018

Ups and downs in the water park sector
generally can be traced to weather,economic and/or political situations,reinvestment or lack thereof, andchallenges from the competition. Successcomes when operators have a clear senseof their markets and how to serve themwith good operations and, of course,
smart reinvestment.
Hot Beach, Olimpia, Brazil© Hot Beach

30

31

3.8m
1 PARK

10.3m
3 PARKSCALIFORNIA, U.S.

49.1m
6 PARKS

20

13

15

NORTHEAST U.S.

17

19

18

6.8m
2 PARKS

14 16

12

2
9

10 11

8

1

FLORIDA, U.S.

87.5m
8 PARKS

7
6
3

5

ATTENDANCE2017

ATTENDANCE
2018

1 MAGIC KINGDOM THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S. 2.0% 20,859,000 20,450,000
2 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND RESORT, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S.
2.0% 18,666,000 18,300,000
ANIMAL KINGDOM THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,
10.0% 13,750,000 12,500,000
3 DISNEY’S
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.
4 EPCOT THEME PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.
2.0% 12,444,000 12,200,000
5 DISNEY’S HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,
5.0% 11,258,000 10,722,000
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, U.S.
6 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA THEME PARK AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT, FL, U.S. 5.0% 10,708,000 10,198,000
7 DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE PARK AT DISNEYLAND RESORT, ANAHEIM, CA, U.S. 3.0% 9,861,000 9,574,000
8 UNIVERSAL’S ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE THEME PARK AT UNIVERSAL
2.5% 9,788,000 9,549,000
ORLANDO RESORT, FL, U.S.
9 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, U.S.
1.0% 9,147,000 9,056,000
10 SEAWORLD ORLANDO, ORLANDO, FL, U.S.
16.0% 4,594,000 3,962,000
11 BUSCH GARDENS TAMPA BAY, TAMPA, FL, U.S.
4.5% 4,139,000 3,961,000
12 KNOTT'S BERRY FARM, BUENA PARK, CA, U.S.
2.0% 4,115,000 4,034,000
13 CANADA'S WONDERLAND, MAPLE, ONTARIO, CANADA
1.0% 3,798,000 3,760,000
14 SEAWORLD SAN DIEGO, SAN DIEGO, CA, U.S.
20.1% 3,723,000 3,100,000
15 CEDAR POINT, SANDUSKY, OH, U.S.
2.0% 3,676,000 3,604,000
16 SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN, VALENCIA, CA, U.S.
2.6% 3,592,000 3,500,000*
17 KINGS ISLAND, KINGS ISLAND, OH, U.S.
0.5% 3,486,000 3,469,000
18 SIX FLAGS GREAT ADVENTURE, JACKSON, NJ, U.S.
0.0% 3,400,000 3,400,000*
19 HERSHEYPARK, HERSHEY, PA, U.S.
2.0% 3,367,000 3,301,000
20 SIX FLAGS GREAT AMERICA, GURNEE, IL, U.S.
0.0% 3,107,000 3,107,000*
TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
157,478,000 151,747,000
TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18
4.0% 157,478,000 151,380,000

ONTARIO, CANADAMIDWEST U.S.

% CHANGERANKPARKLOCATION

TOP 20AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKSNORTH AMERICA

4© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report32

Top 20 parks North America
Top 25 parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

2.9%

3.6%

2.7%

2.2%

5.9%

1.2%

2.3%

4.0%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

4.0%

157.5m151.4mTop 20 amusement/themeparks North America
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 amusement/themeparks North America
attendance 2018

Top 20 amusement/themeparks North America
attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

33

MEXICO1 SIX FLAGS MÉXICO, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
2 BETO CARRERO WORLD, SANTA CATARINA, BRAZIL
3 PARQUE XCARET, CANCUN, MEXICO
4 LA FERIA DE CHAPULTEPEC, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
5 MUNDO PETAPA, GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA
6 PARQUE PLAZA SÉSAMO, MONTERREY, MEXICO
7 PARQUE MUNDO AVENTURA, BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA
8 FANTASIALANDIA, SANTIAGO, CHILE
9 PARQUE DEL CAFÉ, QUINDIO, COLOMBIA
10 SALITRE MÁGICO, BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIATOP 10 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
TOP 10 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

6

1
4
7.5m
3
4 PARKSGUATEMALA

51.2m
1 PARK

10 7
9COLOMBIA

3.1m
3 PARKSATTENDANCE2017

ATTENDANCE2018% CHANGERANKPARKLOCATION

TOP 10AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKSLATIN AMERICA

2.0%
3.7%
25.2%
0.1%
-1.0%
-1.0%
0.4%
4.8%
6.4%
18.4%

2,789,000 2,734,000*
2,200,000 2,122,000
1,885,000 1,505,000
1,593,000 1,591,000
1,226,000 1,239,000
1,185,000 1,197,000
1,158,000 1,153,000
1,100,000 1,050,000
1,028,000
966,000
900,000
760,000
15,064,000 14,317,000
4.2% 15,064,000 14,461,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM

BRAZIL

2.2m
1 PARK

2

CHILE

8
1.1m
1 PARK* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report34

Top 10 parks Latin America
Top 25 parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

0.7%

2.6%

3.8%

6.0%

1.0%

0.7%

-2.2%

4.2%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

4.2%

15.1m

14.5m

Top 10 amusement/themeparks Latin America attendance
growth 2017–18

Top 10 amusement/theme parks
Latin America attendance 2018

Top 10 amusement/theme parks
Latin America attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

35

NORTHEAST U.S.

16

MIDWEST U.S.

13

18 15
0.9m
2 PARKSCALIFORNIA, U.S.

3.2m
5 PARKS

16
14
11
9

SOUTHERN U.S.

20

19
0.4m
1 PARK

TEXAS, U.S.

1.5m
3 PARKS

10

6
12

2.1m
4 PARKS

5
8

7

4

3

1

FLORIDA, U.S.

8.2m
5 PARKS

2

RANK
PARK
LOCATION% CHANGE

ATTENDANCE2018

ATTENDANCE2017

TOP 20
WATER PARKSNORTH AMERICA

1 TYPHOON LAGOON WATER PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

5.0%

2,271,000

2,163,000

2 DISNEY’S BLIZZARD BEACH WATER PARK AT WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT,ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

3.0%

2,003,000

1,945,000

3 VOLCANO BAY WATER THEME PARK AT UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT, ORLANDO, FL, U.S. 15.0%

1,725,000

1,500,000

4 AQUATICA ORLANDO, ORLANDO, FL, U.S.

1,556,000 1,434,000*

8.5%

5 SCHLITTERBAHN WATER PARK AND RESORT NEW BRAUNFELS, NEW BRAUNFELS, TX, U.S. 1.0%

1,016,000

1,006,000

6 WATER COUNTRY USA, WILLIAMSBURG, VA, U.S.

2.5%

729,000

711,000

7 ADVENTURE ISLAND, TAMPA, FL, U.S.

6.0%

669,000

631,000

8 AQUATICA SAN ANTONIO, SAN ANTONIO, TX, U.S.

3.2%

645,000

625,000

9 SCHLITTERBAHN WATERPARK GALVESTON, GALVESTON, TX, U.S.

2.6%

559,000

545,000

10 SPLISH SPASH, CALVERTON, NY, U.S.

5.1%

539,000

513,000

11 SIX FLAGS HURRICANE HARBOR ARLINGTON, ARLINGTON, TX, U.S.

0.0%

533,000

533,000

12 SIX FLAGS WHITE WATER ATLANTA, MARIETTA, GA, U.S.

-5.0%

531,000

559,000

13 SIX FLAGS HURRICANE HARBOR NEW JERSEY, JACKSON, NJ, U.S.

0.0%

475,000

475,000*

14 TYPHOON TEXAS WATERPARK, KATY, TX, U.S.

7.9%

451,000

418,000

15 ZOOMBEZI BAY, POWELL, OH, U.S.

13.5%

438,000

386,000

16 CAMELBEACH MOUNTAIN WATERPARK, TANNERSVILLE, PA, U.S.

3.1%

437,000

424,000

DOLLYWOOD’S SPLASH COUNTRY WATER ADVENTURE PARK, PIGEON FORGE, TN, U.S. 3.1%

437,000

424,000

18 CEDAR POINT SHORES WATERPARK, SANDUSKY, OH, U.S.

1.9%

420,000

412,000

19 KNOTT’S SOAK CITY WATER PARK, BUENA PARK, CA, U.S.

1.5%

405,000

399,000

20 WET 'N WILD EMERALD POINTE, GREENSBORO, NC, U.S.

0.0%

398,000

398,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 201816,237,000 15,501,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

5.8% 16,237,000 15,346,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report36

Top 20 water parks North America
Top 20 water parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

0.1%

2.2%

-2.3%

1.6%

4.3%

-0.7%

-2.9%

5.8%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

5.8%

16.2m

15.3m

Top 20 water parks North
America attendance growth
2017–18

Top 20 water parks North
America attendance 2018

Top 20 water parks North
America attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

37

7

GUATEMALA

0.8m
1 PARK

6

COLOMBIA

1.0m
1 PARK

4

9 10

8
5

38

10%+

5%–9.9%Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

5.8m
6 PARKS3

1 PARQUE AQUÁTICO THERMAS DOS LARANJAIS, OLIMPIA, BRAZIL-1.8%

1,971,000

2,007,000

2 AQUAVENTURE ATLANTIS BAHAMAS WATERPARK, PARADISE ISLAND, BAHAMAS

0.0%

1,831,000

1,831,000

3 HOT PARK RIO QUENTE, CALDAS NOVAS, BRAZIL-3.2%

1,433,000

1,481,000

4 PISCILAGO, GIRARDOT (BOGOTÁ), COLOMBIA

0.1%

990,000

989,000

5 BEACH PARK, AQUIRAZ, BRAZIL-7.6%

950,000

1,028,000

6 PARQUE ACUÁTICO XOCOMIL, SAN MARTÍN ZAPOTITLÁN, RETALHULEU, GUATEMALA

1.6%

840,000

827,000

7 EL ROLLO PARQUE ACUÁTICO, MORELOS, MEXICO

0.0%

530,000

530,000

8 WET 'N WILD, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

5.0%

500,000

476,000

9 THERMAS WATER PARK, SÃO PEDRO, BRAZIL

22.7%

481,000

392,000

10 HOT BEACH, OLIMPIA, BRAZIL

90.1%

462,000

243,000

9,988,000

9,804,000

9,988,000

9,933,000

TOP 10 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
TOP 10 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

0.6%© 2019 TEA / AECOM

Top 10 water parks Latin America
Top 20 water parks worldwide

GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY

BRAZIL1

ATTENDANCE2017

MEXICO

0.5m
1 PARKATTENDANCE
2018

1.8m
1 PARK% CHANGE

BAHAMAS
2

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

TOP 10
WATER PARKSLATIN AMERICA

10
5
0
-5

2013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

5.7%

0.3%

3.4%

1.5%

0.6%
© 2019 TEA / AECOM

0.6%

10.0m

9.9m

Top 10 water parks Latin
America attendance growth
2017–18

Top 10 water parks Latin
America attendance 2018

Top 10 water parks Latin
America attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

39

ASIA-PACIFIC

3.6%

27.9%

Top 20amusement/themeparks Asia-Pacificattendance growth
2017–18

China Dinosaur Park,
Changzhou, China,
attendance growth
2017–18

139.1mTop 20amusement/themeparks Asia-Pacificattendance 2018134.2mTop 20amusement/themeparks Asia-Pacificattendance 2017

Theme parks

ASIA-PACIFIC GROWTH
STEADY AT 4%
Theme parks are big—
Overall attendance growth was 3.6% in 2018
for the Top 20 Asian theme parks. While
exhibiting the volatility of a young industry,
the sector is doing very well. The big parks
are getting bigger: The larger parks withhigher attendance continue to grow fairly
rapidly. To make it onto our Top 20 chart, apark needs a minimum of 3.1 million annual
attendance, which is substantial.

Negative results in 2018 were often
weather-related, or due to a decline intourism from China. Big increases were
attributable to special occasions, newattractions and good marketing strategies.
Regionally and internationally, Disney hasreadily maintained its position at the topof the list. Disney parks across Asia had avery strong year overall. Tokyo Disneyland
and Tokyo DisneySea enjoyed substantial
attendance increases in 2018 on top of theprevious year’s good numbers. The former,
in conjunction with its 35th anniversary,rolled out a grand new parade, “Happiest
Celebration”; the latter drew visitors withmajor festivals and seasonal activities suchas “Disney Pirates Summer.”CHRIS YOSHII

Vice President – Economics,
Asia-Pacific—

BETH CHANG

Executive Director –Economics, Asia-Pacific—40

Changzhou China Dinosaurs Park
© Changzhou China Dinosaurs Park
41

NEW OPENING

Ocean Kingdom also opened a new land,
reaped exposure from a Chinese New
Year TV special shot on-site, and fostered
more two-day visits and off-season visitsby bundling overnight stays with parkadmission (the Ocean Kingdom resort
has some 4,588 hotel rooms on site.) The
new bridge mentioned above was also asignificant new gateway to the park.

A SEASON PASS IS A RELATIVELYNEW THING TO THE MARKET IN
CHINA, BUT THERE ARE SIGNS THATOTHER PARKS WILL FOLLOW SUIT.

Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, which
was one of the earlier Chimelong parks to
be built and opened in 2006, has instituted
significant upgrades and introduced
Halloween events, and been rewarded with asignificant (12%) increase in attendance.

Fantawild Asian Legend, Nanning, China© Fantawild

Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai
Disneyland also enjoyed substantial growth.
The Shanghai park launched programs tohelp draw in more of the resident market,
including its first annual pass. A season
pass is a relatively new thing to the market
in China, but there are signs that other parks
will follow suit.

Behind the numbers: Disney
and Chimelong

In the two years since its opening, Shanghai
Disneyland has quickly become a standardbearer for Asia and particularly China. It has
set the example for and shown the benefitsof high-quality design and content, as wellas good operations, and wise managementthat includes investment in new attractions
and programmatic activities. Its influence
has led other parks to upgrade theirofferings and guest experience, though forthe most part, a significant gap remains.

42

Hong Kong Disneyland opened a new show
“Moana: A Homecoming Celebration,” but its
attendance increase of 8% for 2018 is also
due to a pair of infrastructure improvementsthat have greatly expanded public access.
One is a new high-speed rail line from China
to the Hong Kong city center, and the otheris the new Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge.
These new passages also helped stabilize
attendance numbers at Ocean Park HongKong. Visitors availed themselves of tourist
packages that bundled transportation withpark admission.
Chimelong Group was another operator
whose numbers tell the story of significant
growth. In Zhuhai, several factors may becredited for Chimelong Ocean Kingdom’s
2018 attendance increase of over 10%. The
park’s nighttime spectacle — the Journeyof Lights parade, which was honored with a
Thea Award in 2018 — is quite popular.

7.3%
Shanghai Disneyland,
Shanghai, China,
attendance growth
2017–18

Shanghai Disneyland,
Shanghai, China© Disney

43

OCT parks generally saw an attendance
increase, driven by a first-ever “Cultural
Tourism Festival” featuring special events
held at OCT attractions across 50 Chinese
cities. Looking at the three leading Chinesetheme park groups on our charts, OCT
shows a 15% attendance jump for 2018,
approaching Universal Studios numbers;
however, the OCT business model is uniqueand dependent on this government-owned
company’s continued acquisition ofsmall parks and attractions as well as
new construction.

10.6%
Chimelong Ocean
Kingdom attendance
growth 2017–18

New infrastructure and shifting
development models

The past 18 months or so have broughta sharp slowdown in new construction
projects and the development of newparks in China. This has to do with bankfinancing and liquidity problems connected
to changes in government policy and othereconomic factors.
In the past, much theme park development
in China has been tied to mixed-use realestate projects that involved other elements
such as hospitality, retail and residential. The
central government recently de-linked parkdevelopment from residential development,
mostly in connection with new projects. The
result is that new theme park projects need
to be financed on their own; fundamentallya sensible move, but one that has stalled orcanceled numerous projects that had beenin the pipeline.

Hero Island, Chimelong Ocean
Kingdom, Hengqin, China© Chimelong

While these shifts have slowed down new
projects for the time being, the promise
contained within the change is that new andbetter development models will emergethat will be good for the industry. Meanwhile,
existing parks are doing well.

Ups and downs

Lotte World and Samsung Everland bothsuffered significant attendance drops,
along with other parks in Korea. The
reason cited across the board was a
decline in tourism from China; for politicalreasons, Korea has fallen out of favor as adestination from this source market.

Attendance growth follows a more organic
pattern at top operators Chimelong andFantawild. The latter’s attendance numbers
jumped by about 9%, supported by openingof two new Fantawild parks in 2017 that havenow been operating for a full year. Chimelong
has some new parks in the pipeline that
we’ll be watching in the near future. Both
Chimelong and Fantawild were TEA Thea
Awards recipients in 2019.

NEW OPENING

Water parks
Overall, water park attendance was flat for2018 in Asia. In this sector, weather is a big
factor influencing attendance and there
were some big jumps as well as some fairly
large drops. Water parks in Korea suffereddeclines from the slowdown in tourism from
China mentioned above.
For those water parks that did especiallywell, discounts and passes played anotable part. OCT offered a popular,cross-visitation, multiple-admission pass
— a one-price ticket that admitted thecustomer to any and all of the OCT waterparks and theme parks. This led to a risein attendance.

OCT Tianjin Playa Maya,
Tianjin, China© OCT

China Dinosaur Park (China) raised interest
with a recorded 28% jump in attendance.
The park is establishing itself as a resort
destination with newly developed hotel, RDE
commercial and a hot spring spa attraction.

The move grew out of concern that theme
park projects were being proposed or
built simply in order to get approval forresidential development.

44

45

SOUTH KOREANORTHERN CHINA

9

4m

11.8m
2 PARKS7

1 PARK

JAPAN

52.3m
4 PARKS15

WESTERN CHINA

3.1m
1 PARK

81
3

19

SOUTHERN CHINA

16

27.1m
5 PARKS

5

14

2

11
18

HONG KONG

12.6m
2 PARKS1017

6EASTERN CHINA
4

13

23.4m
4 PARKSSINGAPORE

124.4m
1 PARKATTENDANCE
2017% CHANGE

ATTENDANCE
2018

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

TOP 20AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKS
ASIA-PACIFIC

1 TOKYO DISNEYLAND AT TOKYO DISNEY RESORT, TOKYO, JAPAN

7.9% 17,907,000 16,600,000

2 TOKYO DISNEYSEA AT TOKYO DISNEY RESORT, TOKYO, JAPAN

8.5% 14,651,000 13,500,000

3 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN, OSAKA, JAPAN-4.3% 14,300,000 14,395,000

4 SHANGHAI DISNEYLAND, SHANGHAI, CHINA

7.3% 11,800,000 11,000,000

5 CHIMELONG OCEAN KINGDOM, HENGQIN, CHINA

10.6% 10,830,000

9,788,000

6 HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, HONG KONG SAR

8.1%

6,700,000

6,200,000

7 LOTTE WORLD, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA-11.2%

5,960,000

6,714,000

8 NAGASHIMA SPA LAND, KUWANA, JAPAN-0.2%

5,920,000

5,930,000

9 EVERLAND, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREA-7.3%

5,850,000

6,310,000

10 OCEAN PARK, HONG KONG SAR

0.0%

5,800,000

5,800,000

11 CHIMELONG PARADISE, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

11.9%

4,680,000

4,181,000

12 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

4.3%

4,400,000

4,220,000

13 CHINA DINOSAUR PARK, CHANGZHOU, CHINA

27.9%

4,106,000 3,210,000*

14 OCT WINDOW OF THE WORLD, SHENZHEN, CHINA

0.3%

3,990,000

3,980,000

15 OCT HAPPY VALLEY, BEIJING, CHINA

0.8%

3,980,000

3,950,000

16 OCT HAPPY VALLEY, SHENZHEN, CHINA

0.3%

3,910,000

3,900,000

17 ZHENGZHOU FANTAWILD ADVENTURE, ZHENGZHOU, CHINA-0.5%

3,800,000

3,819,000

18 NINGBO FANTAWILD ORIENTAL HERITAGE, NINGBO, CHINA-2.3%

3,740,000

3,827,000

19 OCT EAST, SHENZHEN, CHINA-7.1%

3,680,000

3,960,000

20 OCT HAPPY VALLEY, CHENGDU, CHINA

4.4%

3,100,000

2,970,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

139,104,000 134,794,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

3.6% 139,104,000 134,224,000*© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report46

Top 20 parks Asia-Pacific
Top 25 parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

7.5%

5.8%

7.5%

4.9%

6.8%

-2.8%

5.5%

3.6%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

3.6%

139.1m134.2mTop 20 amusement/theme parks
attendance growth Asia-Pacific2017–18

Top 20 amusement/theme parks
Asia-Pacific attendance 2018

Top 20 amusement/theme parks
Asia-Pacific attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

47

6

CHINA

10.4m
8 PARKS

11

12 17

1

9

6

0.8m
1 PARK

2

3

SINGAPORE

0.7m
1 PARK19

MALAYSIA

10
2.3m
2 PARKS

4

INDONESIA

20

13

15

2.4m
3 PARKS

AUSTRALIA

8

1 CHIMELONG WATER PARK, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

1.9%

2,740,000

2,690,000

2 WUHU FANTAWILD WATER PARK, WUHU, CHINA

13.3%

1,360,000 1,200,000*

3 KAIFENG YINJI WATER PARK, KAIFENG, CHINA

3.8%

1,350,000

1,300,000

4 SUNWAY LAGOON, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

0.0%1,300,000

1,300,000

5 OCEAN WORLD, GANGWON-DO, SOUTH KOREA-5.0%

1,264,000

1,330,000

6 CARIBBEAN BAY, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREA-13.0%

1,200,000

1,380,000

0.0%

1,200,000

1,200,000

8 WET 'N' WILD GOLD COAST, GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA-5.1%

1,120,000

1,180,000

9 PLAYA MAYA WATER PARK, WUHAN, CHINA

54.3%

1,080,000

700,000

10 SUNWAY LOST WORLD OF TAMBUN, PERAK, MALAYSIA

0.0%

1,000,000

1,000,000

11 PLAYA MAYA WATER PARK, SHANGHAI, CHINA

11.2%

990,000

890,000

12 ZHENGZHOU FANTAWILD WATER PARK, ZHENGZHOU, CHINA

1.3%

910,000

898,000

13 ATLANTIS WATER ADVENTURE, JAKARTA, INDONESIA

2.5%

907,000

885,000

14 SUMMERLAND, TOKYO, JAPAN

1.0%

820,000

812,000

15 THE JUNGLE WATER ADVENTURE, BOGOR, WEST JAVA, INDONESIA-14.0%

783,000

910,000

16 LOTTE WATER PARK, GIMHAE, SOUTH KOREA-6.8%

744,000

798,000

17 WOONGJIN PLAYDOCI WATERDOCI, GYEONGGI-DO, SOUTH KOREASHENYANG ROYAL OCEAN PARK — WATER WORLD, FUSHUN, CHINA

JAPAN

14

ATTENDANCE
2017

3.9m
4 PARKS

16

ATTENDANCE
2018

SOUTH KOREA

5% CHANGE

17

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

TOP 20
WATER PARKS
ASIA-PACIFIC

1.1m
1 PARK-18.3%

720,000

881,000

PLAYA MAYA WATER PARK, TIANJIN, CHINA

NEW

720,000-

19 ADVENTURE COVE WATER PARK, SINGAPORE

2.9%

700,000

680,000

20 OCEAN PARK WATER ADVENTURE, JAKARTA, INDONESIA-3.3%

698,000

722,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

21,606,000 20,756,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

0.7% 21,606,000 21,460,000*© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report48

Top 20 water parks Asia-Pacific
Top 20 water parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

10.3%

7.4%

6.0%

1.2%

1.0%

5.4%

2.7%

0.7%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

0.7%

21.6m

21.5m

Top 20 water parks Asia-Pacificattendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 water parks
Asia-Pacific attendance 2018

Top 20 water parks
Asia-Pacific attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

49

EMEA

4.4%

11.5%

Top 20 amusement/
theme parks EMEA
attendance growth
2017–18

Gardaland, Castelnuovo
Del Garda, Italy, attendance
growth 2017–18

Theme parks

POWER OF THE
DESTINATION
Destination development rules
when it comes to staying at the top
and moving up the ranks of the Top
20 theme parks in Europe.

65.4m
Top 20 amusement/
theme parks EMEA
attendance 2018

—

62.6m

While our study encompasses the EMEA
region, the parks on our Top 20 list are all
mature parks in Europe. For the most partthese parks have remained consistentand stable over the past eight years, withmoderate ups and downs in attendance
depending on reinvestment and otherfactors. No Middle East parks have yet
made it into the Top 20.

Top 20 amusement/
theme parks EMEA
attendance 2017

JODIE LOCK

Associate – Economics,
Asia-Pacific and EMEA—
50

Peppa Pig Land, Gardaland,
Castelnuovo del Garda, Italy© Merlin Entertainments Group
51

5.3m
Walt Disney Studios
Park at Disneyland Paris,
Marne-La-Vallee, France,
attendance 2018

Europe — packaging appeals

Disney is the top worldwide operator andthe top European operator, and the Disneyparks in Paris showed moderate attendance
growth and stability in 2018, following a 25th
anniversary bump in 2017.
Meanwhile, other top European parks aremaking their way up the charts, showing
off the positive effects of building up theirdestinations. Europa-Park (Germany),
Efteling (Netherlands), Tivoli (Denmark),
Gardaland (Italy) and Alton Towers (UK) areamong those that did well.
Parque Warner in Madrid displays the biggest
attendance increase for a European theme
park on our 2018 charts (approaching 19%).
This growth is attributed to expansion of the
Aquopolis water park, a strong marketing
campaign, and a range of packages and“Bono Parques” passes from operator
Parques Reunidos that extend a park visit
into a multifaceted resort experience.
52

Marvel Summer of Super Heroes, Walt
Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris,
Marne-La-Vallee, France© Disney

A park ticket can be bundled withtransportation, hotels and other proximate
leisure properties operated by Parques
Reunidos, including Warner Beach,Parque de Atracciones de Madrid and Zoo
Aquarium Madrid.
Merlin Entertainments Group has also
benefited from bundling its parks andattractions, and from aggressively
reinvesting in its parks. This strategy, alongwith good weather, proved advantageous
in 2018 for Merlin’s UK parks, such as Alton
Towers, Chessington World of Adventures,and LEGOLAND Windsor. The popular, newWicker Man ride and seasonal Scarefest at
Alton Towers propelled attention and helped
the park recover from the attendance
decline of a few years back, which also
affected other Merlin-operated theme parks
across the UK.

10.5%

Wicker Man, Alton Towers,
Staffordshire, U.K.
© Merlin Entertainments Group

Alton Towers,
Staffordshire, U.K.,
attendance growth
2017–18

EUROPEAN PARKS ARE MAKING
THEIR WAY UP THE CHARTS, SHOWINGOFF THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF
BUILDING UP THEIR DESTINATIONS.

In the Netherlands, Efteling continues to dowell, with attendance growth of more than
4% in 2018 following a dramatic increase ofnearly 9% in 2017, showing how a park cancontinue to drive attendance in times ofstability. Efteling has benefited from season
pass sales, overnight stays and the draw of
unique new attractions such as Symbolica,a dark ride that opened in 2017 and washonored with a TEA Thea Award.
Outside of Paris, Parc Astérix attendance
grew by 8.7% in 2018, reaping the benefits ofa 100 million Euro investment plan that rolled
out in 2017 and continues through to 2020.
This has enabled the park to thrive despite
factors negatively impacting other parks
in continental Europe. The improvements
include a new, 150-room hotel that doubled
the park’s accommodation capacity in 2018.
The park recently marked a key operations
milestone — 50 million visits since opening
in 1989 — and is gearing up for 30th
anniversary celebrations.
53

Keys to growth and success

As shown above, when it comes toattendance growth at theme parks in
Europe, a broad trend is the increase inovernight stays and the expansion into
destinations. Another, familiar trend isacquisition — building up one’s portfolioby acquiring and overhauling smaller,
underperforming parks. It’s all about
expanding the guest’s options andpromoting a longer stay: adding a second(or third) gate, hotel, FEC, adventure park,
seasonal event or other variety.

2.3mLegoland Billund,Billund, Denmark,attendance 2018

Gardaland (Italy) added Peppa Pig Land,
based on the popular cartoon pig fromthe namesake children’s television show.
The new land was largely responsible forincreasing attendance at the park to 2.9
million. The Peppa Pig IP has proved hugely
popular in global markets, achieving nearcult status in some and beloved by adults aswell as children.
Futuroscope (France) and Gröna Lund andLiseberg (Sweden), struggled to maintainattendance in 2018, attributed, ironicallyenough, to the kind of very good weather
that makes people head for the great
outdoors. The World Cup was also cited asa factor motivating people to seek the greatindoors during what is traditionally theparks’ peak season. Futuroscope will likely
show a healthy increase in the near futurewhen its new kids’ land opens, with some
21 attractions.

Legoland Billund, Denmark© Merlin Entertainments Group

EXPANSION INTO NEWREGIONS WHILE CONTINUINGTO BUILD ONE’S CORE OFFERING
IS ANOTHER STRATEGY.

Whether mature theme park markets in
Europe need another big theme park is
open to question. Compared to Asia andthe Middle East, leisure sector investment
in Europe is smaller-scale. British parks
have done well and attracted many visitorsfrom abroad, with lower relative prices
being an advantage.

We’re seeing our big European operatorssuch as Parques Reunidos and Merlin
diversifying into different concepts, such as
adventure parks and FECs.
FECs will be interesting to watch in the
future as a strategy to revitalize shopping
centers and retail stores. Retail centers tend
to be well located in large urban markets
served by transit. Some leisure operatorsand entertainment companies, including
Parques Reunidos and Nickelodeon, havealready begun to explore the sector andcollaborate on projects.
Expansion into new regions while continuing
to build one’s core offering is anotherstrategy. Puy du Fou is a good example,
rolling out new attractions in its original parkin France while bringing its brand to Spainand exploring options in China as well. The
Puy du Fou signature spectacular, grand,theatrical live show ought to adapt well in
those markets, if sensitively applied.

2.3m
Puy du Fou, Epesses,
France, attendance
2018

PortAventura (Spain) as a destination
recorded an impressive 5 million visits
for 2018, taking in all three of its separate
gates. This comprised 3.65 million visits tothe main gate theme park; 350,000 visits tothe park’s second gate, water park Caribe
Aquatic; and 1 million visits to the new thirdgate, Ferrari Land, which completed its firstfull year.

Mystère de La Pérouse, Puy du Fou, Epesses, France© Puy du Fou

54

55

3.7m

Ferrari Land, PortAventura, Salou, Spain© PortaAventura

PortAventura,
Salou, Spain,
attendance 2018

Middle East

In Dubai, entertainment and retail operators
are gearing up for 2020 in anticipation of theworld expo with numerous leisure attractions
launching in the run up to expo year. This isa unique market that depends very heavily
on tourism for its patronage. And as theUAE builds up its locations as destinations
and works on its family-friendly image, year
after year attendance is increasing. We
see strengthening results from the newer
properties such as IMG Worlds of Adventure
and the multi-gate Dubai Parks and Resorts
as well as the more established Ferrari World
Abu Dhabi, and various water parks.
The UAE is best known as a shopping
destination for Gulf residents and Europeans
who fly in and out, often in the course of abusiness trip. Yet this region is working toheighten appeal among the global tourist
market, with some positive results seen suchas the consistent growth in water parks.
It will be interesting to see what happens
with the Dubai 2020 expo. An expo triggers
infrastructure development and a real estate
ripple and can go a long way toward building
a city or a region’s tourism profile, but expos
can also prompt domestic tourists and locals
to avoid the city during expo year.

56

SAUDI ARABIA LOOKS SET FOR AN
ENTERTAINMENT REVOLUTION AND
TO MAKE A BIG ENTRANCE INTO THE
THEME PARK MARKET.
At present, the number of visitor attractionsin Dubai is large, relative to the size ofits market. It is comparable to emerging
markets in Asia, such as China, in that it has
grown its leisure sector at a very rapid pace,but without the equivalent of China’s vast,
resident population. This is a more high-riskprocess than the slower, organic growththat typified mature Western markets suchas Orlando.

Water parks
As mentioned above, good attendance
growth was seen at some water parks in the
Middle East in 2018. In Dubai, these include
Aquaventure, which is on our Top 20 Water
Parks Worldwide list (3.5% increase in 2018)
and Wild Wadi (3.3% increase in 2018), which
is tied for eighth place on our Top 10 EMEA
Water parks list, with Aqualand Moravia in
the Czech Republic.
Staying competitive in this space means
anticipating competition — such as
new water parks from IMG Worlds and
LEGOLAND — and keeping up accordinglywith reinvestment, special events andunique offerings. Aquaventure, for instance,
opened a new family area, and hosted afterdark events with entertainment appealing toan adult audience.
Hot weather is always a motivating factor forwater park guests in continental Europe, andthis was the case in 2018.

18.8%

Therme Erding in Germany and Tiki Pool in
the Netherlands both enjoyed double-digit
increases; Therme Erding moved into firstplace on the Top 10 list with 13.6% growthand Tiki Pool, with 14.3% growth, moved
up from #7 to #6 on the list. Germany’s
Nettebad differentiated itself and broadened
its market by cross selling sports and leisurefacilities, including an on-site sauna.
As we’ve seen, a key trend across themarket is achieving repeat visitation via
such drivers as seasonal events, evening
events and season passes, in addition to
packages and building destination appeal.
Weather can swing either way, either
boosting attendance or depressing it. Many
operators now compete on the destinationlevel in Europe, and in the Middle East, thedestination development model has beenin place from the first, with a new property
often launched with a hotel and two gates.
The hotel is a factor that enhances tracking
and a better understanding of guests’
needs, and the longer stay supports higher
per capita spending.

Parque Warner, Madrid, Spain© Parque Warner

Parque Warner,
Madrid, Spain
attendance growth
2017–18

Another market to watch in the future will
be Saudi Arabia. With a vast population,
strengthening demographic fundamentals,
enabling policy changes, and a significantly
under-developed leisure market, it will beinteresting to see what transpires fromambitious Government-supported plans
to boost tourism and develop theme parkmega-projects across the country. Saudi
Arabia looks set for an entertainment
revolution and to make a big entrance into
the theme park market.
57

9

8.0m
17 15
4 PARKSDENMARK

11

5

7.1m
2 PARKSNETHERLANDSFRANCE

21.5m
5 PARKS

14 18
10

5.4m
1 PARK

3
1

4

GERMANY

16
2

11

10.0m
3 PARKS

8
13

6

ITALY

SPAIN

5.8m
2 PARKS2.9m
1 PARKATTENDANCE
2017

4.7m
2 PARKSATTENDANCE
2018

20

7

% CHANGE

19

U.K.

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

TOP 20AMUSEMENT/THEME PARKS
EMEA
SWEDEN

1 DISNEYLAND PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE-LA-VALLEE, FRANCE

1.9%

9,843,000

9,660,000

2 EUROPA PARK, RUST, GERMANY

0.4%

5,720,000

5,700,000

3 DE EFTELING, KAATSHEUVEL, NETHERLANDS

4.2%

5,400,000

5,180,000

4 WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARK AT DISNEYLAND PARIS, MARNE-LA-VALLEE, FRANCE

1.9%

5,298,000

5,200,000

5 TIVOLI GARDENS, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

4.5%

4,850,000

4,640,000

6 PORT AVENTURA, SALOU, SPAIN

0.0%3,650,000

3,650,000

7 LISEBERG, GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN-0.2%

3,055,000

3,061,000

8 GARDALAND, CASTELNUOVO DEL GARDA, ITALY

11.5%

2,900,000

2,600,000

9 LEGOLAND WINDSOR, WINDSOR, U.K.

2.9%

2,315,000 2,250,000*

10 PUY DU FOU, LES EPESSES, FRANCE

2.0%

2,305,000

11 LEGOLAND BILLUND, BILLUND, DENMARK

2.3%

2,250,000 2,200,000*

LEGOLAND DEUTSCHLAND, GERMANY

4.7%

2,250,000 2,150,000*

13 PARQUE WARNER, MADRID, SPAIN

18.8%

2,185,000

1,840,000

14 PARC ASTERIX, PLAILLY, FRANCE

8.7%

2,174,000

2,000,000

15 ALTON TOWERS, STAFFORDSHIRE, U.K.

10.5%

2,100,000 1,900,000*

16 PHANTASIALAND, BRUHL, GERMANY

0.3%

2,000,000

17 THORPE PARK, CHERTSEY, U.K.

7.4%

1,880,000 1,750,000*

18 FUTUROSCOPE, JAUNAY-CLAN, FRANCE-7.5%

1,850,000

2,000,000

19 GRÖNA LUND, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN-0.8%

1,676,000

1,690,000

20 CHESSINGTON WORLD OF ADVENTURES, CHESSINGTON, U.K.

9.9%

1,670,000

1,520,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

2,260,000

1,995,000

65,371,000 63,246,000

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

4.4% 65,371,000 62,596,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report

10%+5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%
58

Top 20 parks EMEATop 25 parks worldwide

GROWTHKEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2010–11

2011–122012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

2.8%

-0.3%

-0.1%

3.0%

2.8%

-1.1%

3.4%

4.4%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

4.4%

65.4m

62.6m

Top 20 amusement/themeparks EMEA attendance growth
2017–18

Top 20 amusement/themeparks EMEA attendance 2018

Top 20 amusement/themeparks EMEA attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

59

ATTENDANCE2018

ATTENDANCE
2017

10

NETHERLANDS

60.7m
1 PARK

7

GERMANY
1

5

8

3

CANARY ISLANDS, SPAIN

1.2m
1 PARK

4% CHANGE

DENMARK

0.8m
1 PARK

1

THERME ERDING, ERDING, GERMANY

13.6%

1,500,000

1,320,000

2AQUAVENTURE WATER PARK, DUBAI, U.A.E.

3.5%

1,397,000

1,350,000

3AQUAPALACE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

6.0%

1,288,000

1,215,000

4SIAM PARK, SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, SPAIN

0.1%

1,210,000

1,209,000

5

TROPICAL ISLANDS, KRAUSNICK, GERMANY

2.7%

1,200,000

1,168,000

6

TIKI POOL, DUINRELL, THE NETHERLANDS

14.3%

800,000

700,000

7

NETTEBAD, OSNABRÜCK, GERMANY

1.9%

758,000

744,000

8

AQUALAND MORAVIA, CZECH REPUBLIC

1.1%

720,000

712,400*

WILD WADI, DUBAI, U.A.E

3.3%

720,000

697,000

10 LALANDIA, BILLUND, DENMARK

0.3%

RANK
PARK
LOCATION

TOP 10
WATER PARKS
EMEA

3.5m
3 PARKSCZECH REPUBLIC

2.0m
2 PARKS

82

U.A.E.

2.1m
2 PARKSTOP 10 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
TOP 10 ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

682,000

680,000

10,275,000

9,795,400

6.7% 10,275,000 9,633,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report60

Top 10 water parks EMEATop 20 water parks worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked park indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at the ranked
park versus all other ranked parks.

10
5
0
-5

2014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

5.5%

3.7%

3.2%

6.7%
© 2019 TEA / AECOM

6.7%

10.3m

9.6m

Top 10 water parks EMEA
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 10 water parks
EMEA attendance 2018

Top 10 water parks
EMEA attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

61

MUSEUMS

0.1%

10.2m

Top 20museums
attendance
growthworldwide
2017–18

Louvre, Paris, France,
attendance 2018

WORLDWIDE
Around the world, the museum
experience is being redefined.

—
Attendance at the top 20 worldwide
museums was relatively stable overall,
growing slightly from 108 million in2017 to 108.1 million in 2018. European
museums continue to represent the largest
percentage on our Museum Index Top 20
worldwide list, with 9 out of 20 museums
and 48% of attendance. Of the others on
the list, six museums are in North America
and five in Asia.

108.1mTop 20museums
worldwide
attendance
2018

108.0mTop 20museums
worldwide
attendance
2017

The Louvre in Paris, France was once again
the leader in attendance, with 10.2 million
visitors in 2018, a significant increase overlast year’s 8.1 million. Museums in China also
exhibited strong growth, with attendance of
those on the Top 20 list growing between
5% and 15%. There was a great deal ofvolatility among the largest museums in
North America, with some experiencing
double-digit declines and others seeing
significant increases in attendance.
Internationally renowned architect I.M.
Pei, who died May 16 at age 102, was best
known for designing the 1989 glass Louvre
pyramid addition shown here.

LINDA CHEU

Vice President – Economics,
Americas—With contributions from Sarah
Linford, Senior Associate –Economics, Americas, Beth Chang,
Executive Director – Economics,
Asia Pacific and Jodie Lock,
Associate – Economics, Asia-Pacificand EMEA.
62

Louvre, Paris, France
63Generally, museum attendance continues tobe driven by temporary exhibitions, facility
improvements or expansions, externalmarket factors, and improvements tocompetitive museums in the same market.
But there are other drivers, too, as museums
across geographic sectors are innovatingin areas including visitor experiences,
exhibitions, and operations.

EUROPE — FINDING
NEW AUDIENCES
Temporary exhibitions and geopoliticalchanges continue to serve as key
attendance drivers for museums in Europe,
the global market leader. But there are also
some new factors including social media
and special events.
New drivers include the successful
engagement and expanded use ofmultiple marketing channels, particularlysocial media platforms. In addition, major
museums are modernizing their systems.
For example, new online ticketing systems
were launched in 2018 at The Louvre in Parisand the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
The path to continued success and growthfor Europe’s museums also includes
special events and new collaborations withwell-recognized celebrities, designers,
and relevant IP. Museums are also actively
extending their brands and their reach, aswell as ancillary revenues, through new
locations and traveling exhibitions.

64

THE PATH TO CONTINUED SUCCESSAND GROWTH FOR EUROPE’S
MUSEUMS ALSO INCLUDES SPECIAL
EVENTS AND NEW COLLABORATIONSWITH WELL-RECOGNIZED CELEBRITIES,DESIGNERS, AND RELEVANT IP.
The Natural History Museum in London’scollaboration with Dippy the Dinosaur(children’s character) to deliver touring
exhibits is another example of leveraging
IP. Known as “Dippy On Tour: A Natural
History Adventure,” this package of
special temporary events and themed
exhibitions will be touring multiple
locations for a limited time only. The
objective is to reach 1.5 million visitors
over a three-year period, which preliminary
indicators suggest is achievable.

Numerous factors contributed to the
Louvre’s 2018 attendance surge. A social
media flurry surrounding Beyoncé and Jay
Z’s music video being filmed at the museum
sparked interest among new markets. Thiswas in line with the museum’s goal to reachaudiences with limited prior access or
exposure to museum culture. During 2018,
the Louvre also hosted the most popular
temporary exhibition in its history featuring
the work of Eugène Delacroix and drawing
540,000 visits.
In a collaboration between the City of Abu
Dhabi and the government of France, theLouvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Pritzker
Prize honored “starchitect” Jean Nouvel,
launched in 2017 and received 1 million
visits in its first year. Funds drawn from thisagreement supported a €60m investment
at the Louvre Paris. This helped boost
capacity, online ticketing, and services
targeted to the international tourists whocomprise 75% of the museum’s visitors.

The Natural History Museum, London also
enjoyed a record year (17.8% growth to
5.2 million). Attendance was driven by the
opening of its re-imagined main gallery
Hintze Hall, featuring “Hope,” a 25-meter
blue whale skeleton suspended from theceiling. Other attendance boosters camefrom collaboration on events and productswith leading IP, such as Dippy the Dinosaur(see above); Roald Dahl Story Company
and LEGO Group, and the addition of a new,
357-seat traditional performance theater.
Its peak attendance day in 2018 topped off
the year with 28,000 on December 30.
Also in London, the Victoria & AlbertMuseum broke its prior attendance record
with the number of visits up by 178,000 in
2018. Traffic was driven by three, hugely
popular temporary exhibitions: “Frida
Kahlo: Making Her Self Up,” “Winnie the
Pooh: Exploring a Classic” and “Balenciaga:
Shaping Fashion.”

The museum at Auschwitz Birkenau in
Poland grew attendance sufficiently toearn a place among the Top 20 museums in
Europe for the first time, not an easy feat inthis mature market. The museum preserveda Nazi concentration camp to document
Holocaust atrocities perpetrated during
World War II. Its inaugural appearance in the
TEA/AECOM Museum Index is attributed
to broad awareness created through social
media platforms.

Breaking attendance records

The Musée du Louvre in Paris, alreadythe world’s top-attended museum, had arecord-breaking year with 10.2 million visits
in 2018, smashing its previous record in2012 of 9.7 million visits. This represents
a recovery from the museum’s 30%
downturn in 2017, a drop largely attributed
to a plunge in tourism volumes to Paris
during a time of unrest.

17.8%
Natural History
Museum, London, U.K.,
growth 2017–18

Natural History Museum,London, U.K.

65

NORTH AMERICA —TRENDS IN THE NUMBERS
Overall attendance at the top 20 museums
in North America was relatively stable in2018, with a decrease from 59.1 million in2017 to 57.3 million 2018. In this mature
market, changes in attendance are due
primarily to the presence or absence ofblockbuster exhibits, facility changes, inaddition to some external factors.
Most of the volatility in the numbers wasseen in Washington, D.C. based institutions.
While attendance at most Smithsonian
museums was down or flat, there wasrecord attendance of 2.3 million (a major
increase of about 1 million) at the Donald
W. Reynolds Center for American Art andPortraiture (aka National Portrait Gallery)driven by the exhibition of the new portraitsof President Barack Obama and First Lady
Michelle Obama, painted by Kehinde Wileyand Amy Sherald.

76.9%
National Portrait
Gallery, Washington,
DC, U.S., attendance
growth 2017–18

The National Museum of African American
History and Culture (NMAAHC, a past TEA
Thea Award recipient) held steady with animpressive 2.4 million visits.

These and other cultural experiences arecompeting with traditional museums forleisure time and dollars. They are artistic,
theatrical, musical, often food-oriented andquirky. They tend to “pop-up” in multiple
locations, offer immersive environmentsrich in “Instagrammable” photo ops, attract
significant corporate sponsorship, andoperate on a for-profit basis. The admission
price can be high, with minimal discounting.
The visitors are primarily millennials andfamilies, plus a high proportion of social
media influencers.

A decrease in attendance of nearly 16%
at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. islikely a stabilization impact after a surge
in attendance the previous year due tothe recently re-opened East Building, inaddition to related special events andcelebrations. The month-long government
shutdown in the U.S. (December 22,
2018 to January 25, 2019) has also been
identified by the Smithsonian as a factor
related to declines in attendance.
In New York City, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashionand the Catholic Imagination,” which closedin October 2018, was the most-visited
exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum ofArt’s 148-year history. Organized by themuseum’s Costume Institute, it attracted
nearly 1.7 million visits over the courseof five months and brought total visits for2018 to 7.4 million, up from 7 million in 2017.
In Chicago, the attendance decline at theField Museum is likely attributable to themuseum having been under repair for muchof 2018. In Los Angeles, the California
Science Center rang in its 20th anniversary
in 2018 with attendance growth of nearly
20%, from 2.1 million in 2017 to 2.5 million
in 2018 and a hefty turnout for “King
Tut: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh.”
The nine-gallery exhibit presages thecentennial of the discovery of the famous
tomb and includes multimedia features
such as 3D scans of artifacts.

Meow Wolf House of Eternal Returnin Santa Fe, NM, U.S.

The Rise of Instagram, Pop-Up and
Immersive Experiences

The fantastical environments created by
the artist collective Meow Wolf in Santa
Fe (with new installations coming soon to
Denver and Las Vegas). Candytopia, a selfdescribed “outrageously interactive candy
wonderland” in Atlanta and Dallas (so far).
Wisdom in Los Angeles, with near-religious
meditation ceremonies. The Museum of
Pizza in New York, where you can see a
Totino’s sponsored Pizza Heaven diorama
featuring dead pizza rolls in the clouds. The
Rosé Mansion (NYC), a “labyrinth of science,
history and wine culture.” Human’s Best
Friend (NYC), “a pop-up experience for dogs
and the humans who love them” where you
can bring your dog to be immersed and haveover 20 photo opportunities.

Although repeat visitation tends to beminimal, they attract large numbers ofpeople in very short time frames — insome cases hundreds of thousands ofpeople — with sold-out tickets and longlines. They tend to be oriented toward theuse of smartphones and devices. Whilesome are organized by serious artists andare exploring the potential of digital media
and technology in art, others are morewhimsical and focus on food experiences.
They’re an international phenomenon —one of today’s most famous examples
is MORI Building teamLab in Tokyo, an
immersive digital art experience that washonored in 2019 with a TEA Thea Award,
and will soon have a new installation in
Brooklyn. There are other examples aroundthe world.
These new kinds of educational andentertaining experiences have become
a formidable new category – easy torecognize, but hard to fully define, partly
because their business models are
evolving. A leading example is the Museumof Ice Cream, which began as a pop-up but
has now established a permanent locationin San Francisco and sells its own brand of
ice cream at Target.

National Portrait Gallery© National Portrait Gallery, Paul Morigi

66

67

Another trend to watch is the customizationand personalization of experiences,through technology, digital media anddata collection. The new National Comedy
Center in Jamestown, New York, is an
example of this. The experience begins
with a touchscreen survey where visitors
indicate their favorite comedy televisionshows, movies, and comedians. This
information is used to customize thevisitor experience and even crowdsource preferences for shared audience
experiences. Another example is “David
Bowie Is,” an exhibit that uses technology
to deliver content individually to the visitor.
Museum Hack, a third-party operationthat provides unorthodox tours and teambuilding activities in museums across thecountry, is another example of customizing
experiences within museums. Theseexperiences cater to modern visitors andhelp out-of-home leisure differentiate itself
and remain competitive.

3.6m
Hunan Provincial
Museum, Hunan, China,
attendance 2018

ASIA PACIFIC
Chinese museums in 2018 generally
performed well with respect toattendance. The National Museumof China in Beijing held onto its firstplace position on our list of the Top 20
Museums, Asia Pacific — with 8.6 million
visits in 2018, representing a remarkableincrease of 550,000 visits over 2017.
Three new Chinese museums entered
the Top 20 this year, and double-digit
attendance increases were recorded at
multiple existing museums across thecountry, suggesting that governmental
initiatives to invest in and boost cultural
appreciation are paying off. The Hunan
Provincial Museum celebrated its first yearof operations after re-opening in a newbuilding and immediately entered our 2018
Top 20, in sixth place.

Hunan Provincial Museum,
Hunan, China© Hunan Provincial Museum

17%
Suzhou Museum,Suzhou, China,
attendance growth
2017–18

Similar to the Beyoncé effect at The Louvre
in Paris, Chinese museums are also looking
to celebrity influencers to help drive up
attendance. The popular “National Treasure”
TV show blends heritage with celebrity
sketches and was renewed for a second
year in 2018. Participating museums
included The Palace Museum, ShanghaiMuseum, Hunan Provincial Museum andNanjing Museum, among others.
A trend to watch is foreign museums
coming to China. Sea World Culture andArts Center, opened in Dec. 2017, is a multiuse culture and arts center in Shenzhen.
The project is a joint venture between thestate-owned China Merchants Group andLondon’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Laterin 2019, Center Pompidou is opening abranch in Shanghai.

68

Suzhou Museum, Suzhou, China

The “mediafication” of exhibits is anotherkey direction. Instagrammable media
moments are being incorporated atmuseums to crowd-please those active
on social media platforms. Art is being
blended into interactive exhibits, allowing
visitors to step into, touch, and movethrough the artwork — and, of course,
capture all of this on camera. Immersive
exhibits are popular and often incorporate
digital media environments, rain rooms,
smoke rooms, and mirror rooms.
In Australia, The National Gallery ofVictoria had a great year, recording an
11.5% increase for 2018. This was driven
by the huge success of the co-curated,
temporary exhibition “MoMA at NGV: 130
Years of Modern and Contemporary Art”
— the largest Melbourne Masterpieces
exhibition the Gallery has ever presented.

69

11.5%

Tokyo National Museum,
Tokyo, JapanTokyo National Museum,
Tokyo, Japan,
attendance growth
2017–18

Moreover, a strong emphasis on summer
and evening programming paid dividends,
as did a series of initiatives to boost anddiversify audience engagement, such as the“NGV Kids Summer Festival,” workshops,
and “Friday Nights” social events.
Overall, 11 of the 20 museums featured in
our Asia Pacific Top 20 are free-admission.
In total, these free museums recorded
an overall increase in attendance, while
attendance to paid museums slipped by
3.2%. However, we find that this disparity
is more due to the location of thosemuseums (as opposed to the existenceof an admission fee) and to the relative
popularity of 2018 temporary exhibitions ascompared to those that ran in 2017.
70

LATIN AMERICA
There are some instructive and inspiring
examples in Latin America’s museum
industry, although as of yet no museums
from this region appear on our publishedcharts. One is The Museum of Tomorrow(Museu do Amanhã), which opened in
Rio de Janeiro in December 2015. The
museum, which is approximately 161,000
square feet of exhibit area and nearly fiveacres of outdoor space, is a new feature on
the harbor and was designed by Santiago
de Calatrava. The museum has attracted
over three million visitors since its opening
in December 2015. Rio was home to the2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer
Olympics, which increased visitation to Rio
and its attractions in those years.

Taiwanese museums continued to be
negative impacted by a slump in tourism,
particularly from China. Most severely
affected was the National Palace Museum in
Taipei, which experienced a decrease of 13%.

A STRONG EMPHASIS ON
SUMMER AND EVENING
PROGRAMMING PAID DIVIDENDS.

Modern in concept, mission andpresentation, Museum of Tomorrow is
described as an experimental science
museum “where the content is presented
through a narrative that combines
the accuracy of science with theexpressiveness of art, using technology as
a support in interactive environments andaudiovisual and gaming facilities createdfrom scientific studies conducted byexperts and data released all over the world.”
The discussion of sustainability is a themein other new Latin American museums as
well. Biomuseo is a 44,000 square footmuseum that opened in 2014 with six
acres of gardens focused on the natural
history of Panama. The museum consistsof eight galleries which tell the origin of the
Panamanian isthmus and its impact on theplanet’s biodiversity. The indoor galleries
were designed by Canadian designer
Bruce Mau, founder of the Institute Without
Boundaries, and the outdoor exhibits were
designed by Edwina von Gal.

The Museum of Tomorrow(Museu do Amanhã),Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Biomuseo is a Smithsonian Affiliate,
which along with the University of Panama
helped develop its scientific content. The
Museum highlights scientific research
resulting from its partnership between
Panama and the Smithsonian TropicalResearch Institute.
While most museums in Latin America aregovernment owned and run, a handful of
cultural attractions have emerged that aremanaged by public-private partnerships
between government agencies,
corporations, and nonprofit organizations
or foundations.
We must also speak of the great tragedyof the Brazil National Museum, a 200-yearold natural history museum that was
an icon of Rio. The building and most ofits 2,000 artifacts were lost in a fire in
September 2018.

71

1.4m
1 MUSEUM

CHICAGO, IL

4.6m
3 MUSEUMSBOSTON, MA

1.4m
1 MUSEUM

16 13
14

19

18

NEW YORK, NY

7

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

1.3m 20
1 MUSEUM

LOS ANGELES, CA

4.0m
2 MUSEUMS

15

3

15.1m
3 MUSEUMS

8HOUSTON, TX
9

1

11
10

2.3m
1 MUSEUM

6

12 16

2

5

WASHINGTON, D.C.

27.1m
8 MUSEUMS

4

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.
NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.
CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE,
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
10 HOUSTON MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE, HOUSTON, TX, U.S.
11 DONALD W. REYNOLDS CENTER FOR AMERICAN ART AND PORTRAITURE,
WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
12 U.S. HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
13 THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, IL, U.S.
14 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, CHICAGO, IL, U.S.
15 THE J. PAUL GETTY CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA, U.S.
16 UDVAR-HAZY CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.
MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, CHICAGO, IL, U.S.
18 MUSEUM OF SCIENCE, BOSTON, MA, U.S.
19 DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE, DENVER, CO, U.S.
20 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, U.S.
TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

ATTENDANCE
2017
FREE/PAIDATTENDANCE2018

DENVER, CO

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

% CHANGERANKMUSEUM
LOCATION

TOP 20MUSEUMSNORTH AMERICA

5.1%-11.4%
0.0%-20.0%-15.8%
0.0%
0.9%
19.7%
0.0%

7,360,000
6,200,000
5,000,000
4,800,000
4,404,000
3,800,000
2,774,000
2,520,000
2,400,000

7,000,000
7,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
5,232,000
3,800,000
2,750,000
2,106,000
2,400,000

0.8%

2,313,000

2,295,000

76.9%

2,300,000

1,300,000

-2.9%
0.7%
-15.3%
3.9%
-6.3%
0.7%
4.1%
11.2%
-4.9%

1,650,000 1,700,000
1,622,000 1,610,000
1,525,000 1,800,000
1,509,000 1,452,000
1,500,000 1,600,000
1,500,000 1,490,000
1,458,000 1,400,000
1,415,000 1,273,000*
1,295,000 1,362,000
57,345,000 58,570,000-3.0% 57,345,000 59,097,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report72

Top 20 museums North America
Top 20 museums worldwide

10%+

5%–9.9%GROWTH
0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked museum indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at theranked museum versus all otherranked museums.

10
5
0
-5

2012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

1.6%

-2.6%

2.6%

1.8%

1.0%

-3.0%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

-3.0%

57.3m

59.1m

Top 20 museums North America
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 museums North
America attendance 2018

Top 20 museums North
America attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

73

13.0m2 MUSEUMS

WESTERN CHINA

8.5m

3 MUSEUMS

20

2

1

13

16

15

TOKYO, JAPAN

10.4m
4 MUSEUMS

9

8

18 19

14

7

12

3

EASTERN CHINA

19.7m
6 MUSEUMS

56

CENTRAL CHINA

2.8m

TAIWAN11

1 MUSEUM

46.8m
2 MUSEUMS

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

10

3.2m
1 MUSEUM

1 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CHINA, BEIJING, CHINA

6.8%

8,610,000

8,063,000

2 CHINA SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM, BEIJING, CHINA

10.5%

4,400,000

3,983,000

3 ZHEJIANG MUSEUM, HANGZHOU, CHINA

14.4%

4,200,000

3,670,000

4 NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM (TAIWAN), TAIPEI, TAIWAN-13.0%

3,860,000

4,436,000

5 NANJING MUSEUM, NANJING, CHINA

11.2%

3,670,000

3,300,000

6 HUNAN PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, HUNAN, CHINA

NEW

3,600,000-

7 SHANGHAI SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM, SHANGHAI, CHINA-11.1%

3,540,000

3,980,000

8 GANSU PROVINCIAL MUSEUM, LANZHOU, CHINA

4.5%

3,500,000

3,350,000

9 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA-5.1%

3,300,000

3,477,000

10 NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

11.5%

3,200,000

2,869,000

11 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE, TAICHUNG, TAIWAN-5.0%

2,960,000

3,115,000

12 SHANXI HISTORY MUSEUM, XIAN, CHINA

3.7%

2,800,000

2,700,000

13 TOKYO METROPOLITAN ART MUSEUM, TOKYO, JAPAN

2.4%

2,790,000

2,724,000

14 CHENGDU MUSEUM, CHENGDU, CHINA-7.3%

2,780,000

3,000,000

15 NATIONAL ART CENTER, TOKYO, JAPAN-8.9%

2,720,000

2,987,000

16 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCE, TOKYO, JAPAN-5.4%

2,460,000

2,600,000

17 TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM, TOKYO, JAPAN

11.5%

2,430,000

2,180,000

18 SUZHOU MUSEUM, SUZHOU, CHINA

17.0%

2,340,000

2,000,000

19 CHINA ART MUSEUM, PUDONG XINQU (SHANGHAI), CHINA-9.8%

2,300,000

2,550,000

20 CHINA THREE GORGES MUSEUM, CHONGQING, CHINA

6.1%

2,240,000

2,112,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018

ATTENDANCE
2017
FREE/PAIDATTENDANCE
2018

BEIJING, CHINA

3.3m
1 MUSEUM

17% CHANGESEOUL, SOUTH KOREARANKMUSEUM
LOCATION

TOP 20MUSEUMS
ASIA-PACIFIC

67,700,000 63,096,000

TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

0.6% 67,700,000 67,322,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM

10%+5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%
74

Top 20 museums Asia-Pacific
Top 20 museums worldwide

GROWTHKEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked museum indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at theranked museum versus all otherranked museums.

30
15
0
-15

2012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

27.6%

9.1%

-0.4%

3.1%

13.3%

0.6%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

0.6%

67.7m

67.3m

Top 20 museums Asia-Pacificattendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 museums
Asia-Pacific attendance 2018

Top 20 museums
Asia-Pacific attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

75

29.4m6 MUSEUMS
11

8

18 15

17

MOSCOW, RUSSIA

7

3OŚWIĘCIM, POLAND

4

6

5

12

2.1m
1 MUSEUM

20

19

2.2m
1 MUSEUM

FLORENCE, ITALY

16
2

10
13

PARIS, FRANCE

19.2m
4 MUSEUMS

2.3m
1 MUSEUM

14

1

9

MADRID, SPAIN

6.8m
2 MUSEUMS

VATICAN, VATICAN CITY

6.8m
1 MUSEUM

ATTENDANCE
2017
FREE/PAIDATTENDANCE
2018

4.3m
1 MUSEUM

2 MUSEUMS% CHANGE

2.2m
1 MUSEUMLONDON, U.K.

RANKMUSEUM
LOCATION

TOP 20MUSEUMSAMSTERDAM. NETHERLANDSEMEAEDINBURGH, U.K. 4.4m
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

1 LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE

25.9% 10,200,000

8,100,000

2 VATICAN MUSEUMS, VATICAN, VATICAN CITY

5.1%

6,756,000

6,427,000

3 BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

3.8%

5,869,000

5,656,000

4 TATE MODERN, LONDON, U.K.

-1.3%

5,829,000

5,907,000

5 NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON, U.K.

9.7%

5,736,000

5,229,000

6 NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

17.8%

5,226,000

4,435,000

7 STATE HERMITAGE, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

1.8%

4,294,000

4,220,000

8 VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON, U.K.

4.7%

3,968,000

3,790,000

9 REINA SOFÍA, MADRID, SPAIN

0.0%

3,898,000

3,897,000

10 CENTRE POMPIDOU, PARIS, FRANCE

5.4%

3,552,000

3,371,000

11 SCIENCE MUSEUM (SOUTH KENSINGTON), LONDON, U.K.

3.4%

3,286,000

3,178,000

12 MUSÉE D'ORSAY, PARIS, FRANCE-2.3%

3,175,000

3,251,000

13 MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN

2.4%

2,893,000

2,824,000

14 GALLERIA DEGLI UFFIZI, FLORENCE, ITALY

7.9%

2,330,000

2,160,000

15 RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

1.8%

2,300,000

2,260,000

16 CITE DES SCIENCES ET DE L'INDUSTRIE, PARIS, FRANCE-0.2%

2,231,000 2,235,000*

17 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND, EDINBURGH, U.K.

2.9%

2,228,000

2,166,000

18 VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS-9.6%

2,206,000

2,439,000

19 AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MUSEUM, OŚWIĘCIM, POLAND

2.5%

2,152,000

2,100,000

20 STATE TRETYAKOV GALLERY, MOSCOW, RUSSIA
TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE 2018
TOP 20 TOTAL ATTENDANCE GROWTH 2017–18

6.2%

2,149,000 2,024,000
80,278,000 75,669,000
6.1% 80,278,000 75,634,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM* Adjustment versus the figure we published in last year’s report

GROWTH76

10%+

5%–9.9%0%–4.9%< 0%

KEY
Circles represent size ofattendance at ranked parks at
the geography indicated. Slices
within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography
from the ranked museum indicatedby number. Shading indicatesattendance growth at theranked museum versus all otherranked museums.

Top 20 museums EMEATop 20 museums worldwide

10
5
0
-5

2012–132013–142014–15

2015–16

2016–172017–18

4.6%

0.8%

-1.7%

0.9%

1.1%

6.1%

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

6.1%

80.3m

75.6m

Top 20 museums EMEA
attendance growth 2017–18

Top 20 museums
EMEA attendance 2018

Top 20 museums
EMEA attendance 2017

© 2019 TEA / AECOM

77

SPECIAL FEATUREOBSERVATIONEXPERIENCES

Observation Experiences

ON TOP OF THE WORLD
Observation experiences are a type of
specialty attraction proliferating acrossthe globe. This growth is driven primarily by
a combination of increasing urbanization,technology improvements allowing forhigher building heights as well as fasterand more reliable mechanical systems,
and the realization by developers andoperators that they can provide significant
revenue. In the best cases, they have iconicarchitecture and become “must-do” visitor
experiences, helping to create a symbol fora city or region.
The diversity of design in the top 20
observation experiences worldwide isnotable. It includes observation decks
in purpose-built towers and in multi-use
buildings (which may include retail, office,and residential uses), wheels that hark backto the original Ferris wheel (designed andconstructed by George Washington Gale
Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World’s
Columbian Exposition in Chicago), as well asa religious monument and a cable car.

BRIAN SANDS
Vice President / Director –Economics, Americas—

KATHLEEN LACLAIR
Associate Principal –Economics, Americas
—
78

6.4m
Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo,
Japan, attendance 2018

Tokyo Skytree,
Tokyo, Japan79

SPECIAL FEATURE
Ever since people have had thechance to get above their immediatesurroundings, such as on a high building or
a mountaintop, they have enjoyed the view,
thinking about the meaning of what theysaw, and daydreaming about visiting all
they see. The Eiffel Tower, opened in Parisas the centerpiece of the 1889 Universal
Exposition, was perhaps the first notablegated observation experience in the world.
It remains a very popular icon, with recent
attendance ranging between 6 million and7 million annually.
With 6.4 million annual visits, the Tokyo
Tree is the most-attended observation
experience globally, which by comparison
would place it near the middle of the mostattended theme parks globally. The Empire
State Building and the London Eye, bothat around 4 million visitors annually, arealso very popular and iconic observation
experiences. Notably, the combined annual
attendance at the top 20 observation
experiences worldwide of nearly 53 million
surpasses by a wide margin the total for the
top 20 water parks worldwide, though it isapproximately one-half of the total for the
top 20 museums worldwide.

With the right combination of factors— such as location, adjacent or nearby
attractions and other uses, quality anduniqueness of the visitor experience,
pricing, market size and characteristics,
and competitive position — these specialty
attractions can also generate significant
revenue. For example, the Empire State
Building reported $131 million in revenue
from its observatory in 2018.

OPENING 2020

That said, as these attractions proliferate
across urban markets globally, andparticularly as multiple observation
experiences compete in the same market,
there is growing concern about the likely
performance of the new experiences aswell as existing ones.
Recently, the Economics practice at
AECOM has worked on a number of
proposed new observation experiences inmajor markets with multiple existing wellestablished observation attractions, suchas the soon-to-open Edge at Hudson Yards
in New York City, which will be competinghead-to-head with the Empire State
Building, Top of the Rock, and One World
Observatory (a TEA Thea Award recipientin 2016) as well as several others underconstruction or in-planning.

Edge at Hudson Yards, New York, U.S.
© Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group

Our analyses reveal that when attendanceat these attractions within a market iscombined (also known as aggregatedattendance), they are able to capture
one-fifth to one-quarter of the combined
resident and tourist markets. Given the large
size of these markets, and the relatively
small physical size of the attractions and thegenerally short length of stay for visitors,
this is a remarkable achievement.
As the competition increases in thesemarkets, it will be interesting to see whatkinds of innovations occur in the visitor
experience that helps to keep them freshand fun for new and returning visitors.

1.5m
Sky Garden, London,
attendance 201880

Sky Garden,
London1.2m
Sugarloaf Cable Car,
Rio de Janiero, Brazil,
attendance 2018

Sugarloaf Cable Car,
Rio de Janiero, Brazil

1.6m
Willis Tower
Skydeck, Chicago,
U.S., attendance
2018
Willis Tower Skydeck,
Chicago, IL, U.S.

81

SPECIAL FEATURE

TOP 20OBSERVATION EXPERIENCES
WORLDWIDELONDON, U.K.

5.4m
2 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCES
16

CHICAGO, U.S.

1.7m

SEATTLE, U.S.

1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

1.6m 14
1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

13
16

TORONTO, CANADATOKYO, JAPAN6

1.6m
1 OBSERVATIONBERLIN, GERMANY

19

EXPERIENCE

1.4m
1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

14

NEW YORK, U.S.

8.8m
3 OBSERVATION11LAS VEGAS, U.S.

1.5m

3

4
9

EXPERIENCES

1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCEPARIS, FRANCE

6.2m
1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

2.0m
1 OBSERVATION

2.8m

EXPERIENCE

12

5EXPERIENCES

1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

1.5m 16
1 OBSERVATIONDUBAI, U.A.E.

1

SHANGHAI, CHINA

GUANGZHOU, CHINA

2

12.2m
3 OBSERVATION

8TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN
72.9m
1 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCERIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

20

11

3.4m
2 OBSERVATIONEXPERIENCES

Circles represent size of attendance atranked parks at the geography indicated.
Slices within circles represent proportionof attendance at the geography from theranked museum indicated by number.

82

53.0m
Top 20 observation experiences
worldwide 2018

© 2019 TEA / AECOM© 2019 TEA / AECOM

83

SPECIAL FEATURERANKATTRACTION
LOCATIONOBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE
TYPE

ESTIMATEDATTENDANCE
2018

RANK
ATTRACTION
LOCATIONOBSERVATIONEXPERIENCE
TYPE

ESTIMATEDATTENDANCE2018

TOP 20OBSERVATION EXPERIENCES
WORLDWIDE

1 TOKYO SKYTREE, TOKYO, JAPAN

TOWER

6,400,000

11 CHRIST THE REDEEMER, RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZILMONUMENT

2,200,000

2 EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS, FRANCE

TOWER

6,207,000

12 AT THE TOP – BURJ KHALIFA, DUBAI, U.A.E.

MULTI-USE

2,000,000

3 COCA-COLA LONDON EYE, LONDON, U.K.

WHEEL

3,900,000

13 WILLIS TOWER SKYDECK, CHICAGO, IL, U.S.

MULTI-USE

1,652,000

MULTI-USE

3,805,000

14 CN TOWER, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA

TOWER

1,600,000

5 TOKYO TOWER, TOKYO, JAPAN

TOWER

2,920,000

SPACE NEEDLE, SEATTLE, WA, U.S.

TOWER

1,600,000

6 TOKYO CITY VIEW, TOKYO, JAPANMULTI-USE

2,900,000

16 CANTON TOWER, GUANGZHOU, CHINA

MULTI-USE

1,500,000

7 TAIPEI 101, TAIPERI CITY, TAIWANMULTI-USE

2,880,000

HIGH ROLLER, LAS VEGAS, NV, U.S.

WHEEL

1,500,000

8 ORIENTAL PEARL, SHANGHAI, CHINA

TOWER

2,800,000

SKY GARDEN, LONDON, U.K.

MULTI-USE

1,500,000

9 TOP OF THE ROCK, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.

MULTI-USE

2,600,000

19 BERLINER FERNSEHTURM, BERLIN, GERMANY

TOWER

1,350,000

10 ONE WORLD OBSERVATORY, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.

MULTI-USE

2,400,000

20 SUGARLOAF CABLE CAR, RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZIL

RIDE

1,249,000

4 EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, NEW YORK, NY, U.S.

TOP 20 ATTENDANCE 2018

52,963,000© 2019 TEA / AECOM

53.0m
Top 20 observation experiences
worldwide 201884

© 2019 TEA / AECOM© 2019 TEA / AECOM

85

ABOUT THE STUDY
Methodology and evolution of the TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index
This is the thirteenth annual Theme Index
and Museum Index collaboration between
the Themed Entertainment Association(TEA) and AECOM, although the study itself
has been in existence for much longer. The
report has evolved over the years, starting as
just a report on major U.S. theme parks, withadditional regions (EMEA, Asia, Latin America)
and attraction types (water parks, museums)
added over time. The report represents asignificant body of international research
and annual tracking.
Inclusion in the annual Theme Index andMuseum Index is now seen as a benchmarkof success among operators, parks, andmuseums. Every year AECOM and TEA
hear from parks and museums desiring toshare their attendance increases and earna place on the list. Those who believe theirproperties should be included in the report
are encouraged to contact the AECOM officein their region, after studying the criteria
for consideration given below. The more
feedback and information we receive, themore accurate this report will become.
AECOM obtains the figures used to create
the TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum
Index through a variety of sources, including
statistics furnished directly by the operators,
historical numbers, financial reports, theinvestment banking community, local tourism
organizations, and professional estimates
where necessary.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
The global market is studied as a whole,and each of its main regions is also studied
separately: the Americas, EMEA, andAsia-Pacific.
For a theme park or water park to be includedin the report, at a minimum the property must
be gated (entry ticket required) and the park
generally must be focused on the visitor
experience. To be included in the top theme
park groups list, an operator must have themeparks in its portfolio in which it has controlling
ownership or that are branded by the operator(i.e., licensed).
Due to differences in reporting acrossoperators and regions, there is some variationin the time periods for which figures arereported. Unless otherwise noted, figures forNorth America and Europe are calendar year
figures, while most figures for Asia-Pacific are
fiscal year figures. In Asia-Pacific, for thoseparks/museums with a fiscal year ending
from June 30 th to December 31st, we use thecurrent fiscal year number in our tables, while
for those parks/museums with a fiscal year
ending early in the year, for example on March
31st, we use the following fiscal year number
in our tables. By way of example, Ocean Park
Hong Kong fiscal year ends June 30, 2018,
so we use fiscal year 2018 in our 2018 table,
while Tokyo Disneyland’s fiscal year ends on
March 31, so we use fiscal year 2019 in our
2018 table.

Why should parks share their numbers?
When operators share their information, it
is good for the industry. It ties directly into
re-investing wisely in ways that bring in more
attendance and more repeat visitation, driving
revenue and profits. Tracking differences andfluctuations in attendance helps the industry
recognize what drives changes in attendance.
Knowing what works, what doesn’t work — andwhere and why — allows operators to makewise investment decisions and to know what
results can be expected. That’s the heartof market and feasibility analysis.
Do some operators exaggerate in orderto look more successful? What can you
do about that?
Our role is to share what the industry operators
say officially or, if that information is notprovided, to share our best professional
estimate. It’s possible that some are overreporting their numbers. We can’t control that.
However, all of the major operators are publicly
owned and therefore obliged to report financial
performance information at the corporate level,
even if they don’t break it down to the park level.
Over-reporting may get an operator
temporarily higher on the list than its
competitors, but it will cause problems, somein the near term and others down the road. In
the near term, if attendance is up but revenues
or profitability are not, it raises questions. In thelonger term, eventually, they’ll hit a point where
the numbers are too far off to be believable.
Misrepresenting also complicates the picture
if the company eventually goes public, oris acquired or wants to sell off an individual
property. Operators know this.
Misreporting also raises false expectations.
If you’re trying to make an investment
decision and forecast future performance,
you need accurate information. If a property
is not investing in regular improvements,86

yet reports that numbers are stable or growing,
the numbers are suspect. Moreover, it’s not thekind of secret that can be kept for long. People
move from one operator to another and theytake that knowledge with them. Consultants arecalled upon to help interested parties evaluate
ongoing operations as well as potential new
investments and activities.
In other words, over-reporting will eventually
come to a point of correction. Our advice isto trust the process.
How do you estimate figures for individual
parks and museums that don’t report them?
Fortunately, with more than 60-years
experience working in the attractions industry,
AECOM’s Economics practice has a strong
understanding of what drives performance atthe park level and a robust process to estimate
attendance where necessary. The following
outlines our general process:– We start by reviewing publicly available
information about the performance of themulti-park/attraction operators and also
the individual parks/museums. We also
review information that we have collected
as part of the previous year’s report andthroughout the year.
– Where park/museum-level information
is missing, we then ask the multi-park
operators and the individual parks/
museums to provide us with theirattendance figures, and many ofthem do so directly.
– 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
87

new rides, areas, shows, exhibits, ticket
prices, intellectual property connections,etc.; general economy of the nation andthe specific metropolitan area; tourism
trends nationally and in the metropolitan
area; for parks, weather trends in thearea, particularly during peak periods; theperformance of nearby parks/museums andother attractions; media coverage about theoperator/park/museum; and select factors
as relevant.
– Park/museum operators are also given
the opportunity to review and comment
on AECOM’s estimate before the Theme
Index and Museum Index are finalized andpublished. Of those that don’t provide
official figures at the park/museum
level, we generally receive some form of
feedback regarding the individual parks/
museums. Leadership at TEA (the Themed
Entertainment Association, which publishes
and helps edit the report) plays an importantrole here, encouraging responses.
– As the leading provider of businessplanning studies worldwide for attractions,
our group also works frequently with all of
the major operators, parks, and museums,
providing us with the opportunity toperiodically compare our estimates withactual exact figures. We use this to refine
our methodology where necessary.
– As part of our active work in thesemarkets and our awareness of what drives
performance and the macroeconomics ofdifferent countries, we visit the parks andmuseums, watching for new development
and trends. We help to bring professional
processes to the industry so that a higher
level of quality can be transmitted from
more developed markets into emerging
markets. We frequently work for operators
who are looking to enter the attractions
business, or to grow or improve their
existing operations. We also team withattraction master planners and designers
88

to help correctly position and right-sizeparks and museums to match their market
potential and optimize their financial
performance. In addition, we regularly
speak at industry events, such as thoseorganized by TEA, IAAPA, WWA, AAM,
AZA, ULI, and many others, about industry
trends, and also contribute to articles toindustry publications and in more generalmedia publications.
What causes wide swings inperformance at parks and museums?
As can be seen from the process outlined
above, there are many factors affecting theperformance of a park or museum, including
past performance, new offerings, theeconomy, tourism, weather, media coverage,
management, and more. Typically, largechanges in attendance, up or down, are driven
by major changes in one or more of thesefactors, with the relationship between the two
frequently clear when examined in detail.
How is a water park defined for the
purposes of the Theme Index?
A water park must have a minimum of threewater slides / flumes, a wave pool, retail andfood areas, and at least two of the following
other elements: tube rides; free-form pool;lazy river; and kids water play area. In Asia
and America, the water parks are defined as
outdoor facilities. If a water park also has aseparate spa facility, only the entertainmentrelated attendance is factored into our study.
Why aren’t other attraction types
included, such as zoos and aquariums,
observation experiences, and sports
and performance venues?
The report has evolved over the years,
starting as just a report on major U.S. themeparks, with additional regions (EMEA, Asia, Latin
America) and attraction types (water parks,
museums) added over time. That said, we areindeed considering additional attraction types
and will include these as interest is shown andresources allow.

Why do you focus on the topattended parks and museums?
The top-attended parks and museums area clear indicator of the overall state of theindustry and associated trends. In addition,
trends and activities at the top-attended parks
and museums signal both what is currently
occurring in the industry more broadly, as
well as what is likely to occur in the future,
particularly in such areas as investment,
technology, IP, marketing, facility spending,visitor spending and behavior. This is also why
the top-attended parks and museums tend tobe the most-watched by the media as well as
the industry. The report currently lists morethan 200 parks and museums, the result of asignificant research, tracking and evaluation
effort on the part of our team.
Can we assume that the same dynamicof the top parks is playing out in thesmaller parks and museums?
Generally, the answer is yes, with attractionsof all types and scales facing many of thesame ongoing challenges, which include
meeting visitor expectations, hiring andretaining good management and staff,
efficient operations, understanding andapplying new technology, addressing theneed for continuous reinvestment, and thelike. That said, smaller and more regional
venues have their own unique place in themarket. They have distinct challenges whenit comes to marketing, investment andguest retention, making the most of smaller
budgets, and differentiating themselvesfrom other leisure options competing for
visitors’ time and money. How they respondto those challenges often sets an exampleof creativity, innovation, leadership and/or economic stimulus that influences therest of the sector — many such examples
have appeared in the annual slate of TEA
Thea Awards recipients over the years.

How do you account for the performance of
operators of numerous smaller attractions
that don’t make the lists, but that are stilllarge operators?
The two operators that most readily come tomind here are Merlin Entertainments Groupand Parques Reunidos, both of which do makethe Top 10 Theme Park Groups Worldwide
list. In the case of Merlin Entertainments
Group, they are the second most attended
operator globally with attendance of 67.0
million in 2018, around one-third of which
occurred at larger parks, with most of theselocated in the EMEA region (e.g., LEGLOLAND
Windsor, LEGOLAND Billund, Alton Towers,etc.). However, about two-thirds of Merlin’s
attendance occurs in mid- and smallsize attractions, particularly at “midway”
attractions, most of which are situated inhighly trafficked locations in well-known
locations, particularly top tourist destinations,with highly recognized individual brands (e.g.,
Madame Tussauds, SeaLife, the Dungeons,etc.). Similarly, with 20.9 million visitors in
2018, Parques Reunidos was the tenthmost attended operator globally, with astrategy of focusing largely on a wide variety
of attraction types, including amusement
parks, zoos, aquariums, and IECs, primarily
located in the EMEA region, but with a growing
portfolio in North America (via its subsidiary
Palace Entertainment). Clearly both MerlinEntertainments and Parques Reunidos havedeveloped effective strategies to attract large
numbers of visitors overall to their respective
attraction portfolios, but a combination offactors such as their location, focus, and scale,inhibits most of their properties from reachinglevels for inclusion in the Theme Index.

89

TEA and AECOM express thanks
to the numerous park and museum
operators who graciously andgenerously furnished attendance
information, enabling this report
to be as complete and accurate
as possible.
About AECOM
AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design,build, finance and operate critical infrastructure assets forgovernments, businesses and organizations. As a fully integrated
firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global
network of experts to help clients solve their most complex
challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure,
to resilient communities and environments, to stable andsecure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated andvital. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM had revenue of approximately$20.2 billion during fiscal year 2018. See how we deliver what
others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.
See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com
and @AECOM.
About the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA)
Through its activities in the global themed entertainment
community, TEA leads the conversation about how great guest
experiences are conceived and realized, and helps focus attention
on themed entertainment as a vital niche of popular culture, andits essential role in global economic development. As a nonprofit
membership association representing the creators of compellingplaces and experiences worldwide, TEA encompasses some 1,700
member companies and produces a full calendar of conferencesand events including the prestigious, annual TEA Thea Awards. TEA
was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in the Los Angeles area.
Visit www.teaconnect.org. On Twitter: @TEA_Connect.

This version of the Theme and Museum Index
and previous versions back to 2006 can be
downloaded at the following links:
aecom.com/theme-index
teaconnect.org/resources/theme-index

v1.4