Disney Among Theme Parks Hit Hard By Covid Pandemic: Report

A new report outlines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on theme park attendance last year in the U.S. and around the world.

What Happened: The report issued by the Themed Entertainment Association showed that the top 25 theme parks worldwide had about 83.1 million visitors in 2020. That number is significantly lower than 2019, when the top 25 theme parks had 253.7 million visitors.

Visitors to The Walt Disney Co DIS World in Florida dropped by 66.9% in 2020 compared to 2019. Disneyland in California, meanwhile, saw a drop of over 80% in the number of visitors as the park remained closed through the end of 2020.

Universal Studios, a unit of Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal CMCSA, which also has theme parks in Florida and California, saw a similar impact on attendance. Although its Florida theme parks had the best attendance worldwide, with about 26.4 million visitors throughout 2020.

Overall, theme parks across the world saw average attendance decline by about 67%. According to the data, over 250 million people visited theme parks in 2019, and that dropped to about 83 million in 2020.

Efteling, a fantasy-themed park in the Netherlands, had the smallest attendance drop of under 50%. While Shanghai Disney, which was closed for only a couple of months, saw an attendance drop of just over 50%.

What's Next: Many theme parks have now reopened with health and safety procedures in place, including mask mandates and attendance caps. Disney parks alone have seen a big jump in numbers at both Florida and Southern California locations in 2021.

The Florida theme parks have been open throughout all of 2021 so far, while California theme parks have only been reopened since the spring. Even though theme park attendance is not likely to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, the numbers are expected to be significantly higher than those of 2020.

Related Link: Why Jim Cramer Just Bought Disney Stock For His Charitable Trust

Photo: Courtesy of Unsplash