2017 TEA/AECOM Global Attractions Attendance Report Now Available

© TEA / AECOM

The 2017 Global Attractions Attendance Report, created each year by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and the Economics Practice at AECOM, is now available for download here.  The publication takes a look at the attendance trends at theme parks, water parks and museums around the globe.  While many companies do not release official attendance figures, the report provides an educated estimate at many results and reflects the overall temperature of the growth of the industry.

In 2017 the report finds that global attractions attendance surged 8.6%, a healthy gain led by Asian parks, which saw gains of 20%.  North America saw growth of 2.3% and total attendance of more than 150 million for the first time at the top 20 parks.

The busiest theme park on the plant continues to be the Magic Kingdom in Florida, which saw an estimated 20.45 million visitors last year.  The top water park on the planet was Chimelong water park in China, with 2.69 million visitors.

There are plentiful details to comb through in the report, and I urge you to check it out on your own.  However some other highlights:

• The biggest gain of the year in the U.S. was Disney's Animal Kingdom, up 15.3% to 12.5 million based on the success of Pandora.
• The biggest loss of the year in the U.S. was SeaWorld San Diego, which dropped 13.9% to 3.1 million visitors.
• Universal Studios Hollywood saw a 12% jump to 9.06 million, pushing higher on a full year of having the Wizarding World of Harry Potter open.
• Universal's Volcano Bay water park had an estimated 1.5 million guests in its first year, making it the third busiest in North America.  Disney and SeaWorld's water parks were all down between 5% and 10% as a result.
• Shanghai Disneyland had its first full year in 2017, and saw an estimated 11 million in attendance.