SeaWorld announced its third quarter earnings on Monday (Nov. 5) and one thing was clear: The memory of Blackfish isn’t enough to stop an increasing number of people visiting the theme park.
The “Blackfish effect” refers to the public outcry and financial struggles that SeaWorld faced after the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which investigated the park’s treatment of orcas. While the park’s market value, attendance, and reputation have suffered since then, things have begun turning around.
The makings of a comeback were evident earlier in the year: Attendance in the quarter ending June 2018 was up 300,000, 4.8% more compared to the same period last year, and it reported an income of $22.7 million for the second quarter of 2018 compared to a net loss of $175.9 mzillion in the second quarter of 2017. And despite no more breeding, the park will still have orcas in captivity for years, and SeaWorld is actively marketing them.
These attractions, combined with other promotions, are working. The third quarter coincided with summer season, and the park had 9.7% more guests than the same time in 2017, bringing the total number of visitors up to 8.3 million this quarter. In the first nine months of 2018, there have been 1.4 million more attendees compared to the same period in 2017.
During the earnings call, SeaWorld CEO John Reilly said a “calendar of popular events,” including several free beer promotions, have been attracting visitors. SeaWorld’s annual attendance hasn’t fully recovered to pre-Blackfish levels, but it has reversed a more than four year decline.
The San Diego Union Tribune points out that lower admissions prices are also partly responsible for attendance growth—admissions per capita dropped 3.7% compared to the year earlier. But visitors are spending more on merchandise and food once inside.
In regard to the “Blackfish effect,” James Hardiman, an analyst from Wedbush Securities, told the Tribune: “The thinking is that’s behind us although I’m never comfortable saying never, but it certainly seems like they’ve turned the corner.” Hardiman said it’s possible for the scandal to “reemerge as a major issue,” but that doesn’t seem likely in the near future.