Wednesday, 04 June 2014 12:43

Theme Park Visitor Boom

Boom in visitor numbers at some of the UK's biggest theme parks during 2013 revealed in figures from TEA/AECOM.

The annual TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index, the definitive annual attendance study for the themed entertainment and museum industries, has been published. Theme park numbers for calendar year 2013 show substantial growth internationally, with the top North American parks surpassing pre-recession days, water parks emerging in Latin America, Asia continuing to surge forward and the Middle East resuming development activity. Globally, the top theme park operators posted attendance growth of 5.4 percent overall, and the top 25 theme parks grew at a similar rate of 4.3 percent. The top museums also performed well, up over 7 percent internationally.

 

TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum IndexIn the UK, all of the Merlin Entertainments theme parks saw their visitor numbers increase last year, with the biggest gain at Chessington World of Adventures, but Alton Towersremains the UK's most popular theme park:

  • Alton Towers
    2.5 million in 2013, 2.4 million in 2012 (up 4.2%)
  • Legoland Windsor
    2.05 million in 2013, 2 million in 2012 (up 2.5%)
  • Thorpe Park
    2 million in 2013, 1.8 million in 2012 (up 11.1%)
  • Chessington World of Adventures
    1.5 million in 2013, 1.3 million in 2012 (up 15.4%)

Last year saw the addition of The Smiler at Alton Towers, Duplo Valley - Splash & Play atLegoland Windsor, The Swarm - Brave it Backwards at Thorpe Park and Zufari - Ride into Africa at Chessington World of Adventures.

Jodie Lock, Senior Analyst Economics (Europe), said:

Merlin Entertainments, operator of just over one-third of the top 20 European parks, performed extremely well in 2013. The operator’s U.K. parks performed particularly well. Key drivers behind this are the transformation of standalone theme parks into destination resorts, continued capital investment in new attractions and the exploitation of synergies between attractions. Chessington World of Adventures enjoyed a bumper year, with attendance increasing by more than 15 percent to 1.5 million visitors. The primary driver behind this was the addition of ‘Zufari - Ride into Africa'.

View the TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index here.

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