According to the report of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), published at the end of 2019, the world market for such facilities is in good health, and its outlook for the next five Years are positive.
But let’s look at the details that the data reveals: public attendance at amusement and entertainment parks grew globally by 3.4% in 2018 compared to the previous year, to 1,121 million visitors. Even so, this growth was 0.8% lower than that experienced in the sector in 2017, and this is mainly due to a lower influx of public to the parks of the Asia-Pacific region.
On the other hand, per capita spending by the users of amusement and entertainment parks, in global terms, grew by 3.2% in 2018 compared to 2017, well above the increase in spending that occurred last year, when It only grew 1.5%. These figures indicate that although in 2018 there was a slight setback in influx growth to the parks, in global figures the sales (in which the IAAPA includes sales ticket and merchandising consumed inside the park) increased 6.8% in 2018, up to 48.67 million dollars, the highest growth since 2015, when they grew 5.5% up to 40.820 million dollars.
Regarding the IAAPA predictions for the next five years, these are of an average annual increase in park assistance of 3.6%. However, the average increase in global expenditure predicted between the years 2019 and 2023 is of 6.3%. It is again predicted that spending in the parks grows more than the assistance to them.
By regions, in 2018, the Middle East and Africa were the regions of the world where both the assistance to the amusement and entertainment parks grew and its general expenditure. from 40,4% in 2017 to 46,2%. This is due to the opening in July 2018 of World Abu Dhabi Yas Island of Warner Bros, and the continued growth of the Dubai Parks and Resorts that opened its doors in 2016. However, the IAAPA predictions for 2019 were of an increase of 8,2 % in assistance and 13,5% in expenditure.
The region that grew the least in terms of assistance in 2018 was Canada, with only a 1.2% compared to 2017. However, the predictions for 2019 were worse for Europe, a region in which IAAPA predicted that the increase in assistance to the parks would stay at 1.8%, compared to the 3.7% of Canada. On the other hand, the expenditure in these type of installations grew in Canada 4.9% in 2018, and in 2019 it was predicted it would reach a growth of 6.8%. In Europe however, spending will be higher in this last year, if the predictions of the entertainment industry entity are accurate, up to 6.4%, or 7.618 million dollars, while in 2018 it was 7.163 million dollars, an increase compared to 2017 of 5.7%.
In general, in the other regions of the world, that of Asia and the Pacific, North America and Latin America, global visitor spending in amusement and entertainment parks also grew an average of 6.7 % more in 2018, and the average growth of assistance being 3.6 %.
Of the three regions, the one that grew the most in terms of assistance was Latin America with 4.3%, while the one that grew the most terms of revenue was North America, with an 8% increase in global spending in parks during 2018. Finally, the predictions for the year that we have just said goodbye to are of an average increase in expenditure of 6.4%, and 3.2% of assistance compared to 2018. Finally, the best predictions of growth in relation to occupancy during the year 2019 are also for North America, specifically the 3.8% increase compared to 2018.
Source: IAAPA
