SeaWorld Attracts Fewer Visitors as Heat Waves Roil Theme Parks
Hot summer days weigh on second-quarter earnings SeaWorld estimates that it drew 6.1 million visitors in the second quarter, down from 6.3 million a year ago. Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Zuma Press By Will Feuer Updated Aug. 1, 2023 10:27 am ET SeaWorld Entertainment warned that attendance fell in the second quarter, as the scorching summer heat kept some visitors away from the company’s theme parks during a crucial period. Orlando-based SeaWorld runs three of its namesake parks in the U.S. as well as others under the Busch Gardens banner and other brands. For the three months through June 30, SeaWorld estimates that it drew 6.1 million visitors, down from 6.3 million a year ago. The company said the decline was driven by “adverse weather acr
SeaWorld estimates that it drew 6.1 million visitors in the second quarter, down from 6.3 million a year ago.
Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Zuma Press
SeaWorld Entertainment warned that attendance fell in the second quarter, as the scorching summer heat kept some visitors away from the company’s theme parks during a crucial period.
Orlando-based SeaWorld runs three of its namesake parks in the U.S. as well as others under the Busch Gardens banner and other brands.
For the three months through June 30, SeaWorld estimates that it drew 6.1 million visitors, down from 6.3 million a year ago. The company said the decline was driven by “adverse weather across a number of the company’s markets, including during peak visitation periods.”
The soft attendance drove a decline in profit and revenue, though SeaWorld hasn’t yet reported its full results for the second quarter. Final results will be released Aug. 8 ahead of the market open.
The company estimates that quarterly sales will be $494 million to $497 million, lower than the $504.8 million that the company recorded in the same period last year and below the $518.3 million that Wall Street analysts expected. Visitors who did show up, spent more on average than they did last year.
SeaWorld expects quarterly profit to fall from last year, too, weighed down by lower sales as well as higher interest costs.
Shares of SeaWorld fell about 4% in morning trading and the preliminary results dragged down the stock of Six Flags Entertainment about 3%. Shares of amusement park company Cedar Fair fell about 2%.
The warning from SeaWorld comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that traffic to Walt Disney’s U.S. theme parks slowed this year, and Chief Executive Robert Iger confirmed last month that a scorching July 4 weekend in Orlando weighed on attendance.
Hot summer days have long been a challenge for U.S. theme parks, but increasingly severe weather has emerged over the past decade or so as a growing focus for executives and investors. More extreme summer weather in particular is starting to reshape the industry, spurring more investment in water parks and indoor rides.
Heading into this year’s summer season, analysts and industry observers had hoped that attendance at parks run by SeaWorld, Six Flags and Cedar Fair would inch closer to prepandemic levels this summer. The unusually hot weather and plumes of smoke from the Canadian wildfires are weighing on demand.
“You just haven’t gotten any help from Mother Nature over the past month,” said Michael Swartz, an analyst at Truist. On top of the weather, he said: “Weakening consumer spending certainly cannot be ruled out.”
Ian Zaffino,
an analyst at Oppenheimer, said park operators are discussing the effect of weather on quarterly results more often than they used to. For years, he said, executives avoided discussing weather because it was a constant factor for the industry. But recently, some companies have treated irregular weather as a special event.“It’s getting to the point where weather is having an effect so often that they’re saying, ‘Maybe we just do call it out,’” Zaffino said.
Dennis Speigel, CEO of consulting firm International Theme Park Services, said the fall season will be key this year. He said some operators are already advertising Halloween-themed events, earlier in the summer than usual.
Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]
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