Revenue for Universal’s theme parks has declined by nearly 11 percent, parent company Comcast reported in its financial results for the second quarter of this year.
NBCUniversal’s theme parks division generated $1.98 billion in the second quarter ended 30 June, compared to $2.2bn in Q2 last year – a 10.6 percent drop.
Revenue for the segment decreased primarily due to lower revenue at Universal’s US parks, driven by lower attendance, as well as the negative impact of foreign currency at its international parks.
Adjusted EBITDA was down 24.1 percent for the second quarter, from $833 million to $632m.
Lower attendance at US parks
“In studios and theme parks, we faced difficult comparisons to last year, but our upcoming film and TV content and the debut of Epic Universe bode very well for the future,” said Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation.
In an earnings call, Comcast Corporation president Mike Cavanagh said attendance at Universal parks has normalised post-Covid.
“Going back to 2022 and 2023, parks were clearly the early beneficiaries of substantial rebounds in tourism and travel after the pandemic, resulting in a surge in demand that contributed to us reaching record results for both of those years,” he said.
“More recently, other travel options, including cruises and international tourism, given the strength of the dollar, have experienced their own surge in demand, which caused visitation rates at our parks to normalize.”
Cavanagh added, “The second factor affecting attendance at our domestic parks is the timing of our investments in new attractions, where we are light in Florida in advance of next year’s opening of Epic and our lapping of Super Nintendo World in Hollywood is creating some headwinds for us as well.
“While the parks results are below our original expectations for the year, we still view parks as a terrific long-term growth business for us.”
Epic Universe is due to open next year with a theme park, as well as three hotels, shops and F&B. According to Cavanagh, the destination is “looking truly unbelievable”.
Images courtesy of Universal
