Attractions business stories

There are visitor attraction businesses of all kinds around the world, from big-name theme parks and amusement parks, renowned museums and cultural institutions, and leading zoos and aquariums to mom-and-pop style fairgrounds, local family entertainment centres, niche museums and more.

The global attractions business has grown and evolved a lot since the early days of amusement parks and travelling carnivals. It’s now a multi-billion dollar industry. In fact, according to globaldata.com, the market size of the travel and tourism sector globally reached a value of $631 billion in 2021. And that doesn’t count the local community, the people who visit their local amusement park, zoo, FEC or museum on a regular basis.

There are different regional variations across the global attractions business. For instance, the attractions industry in the US and Europe is very mature, with many household names. Meanwhile, the attractions business in Asia is younger and has seen a recent period of huge growth, from the addition of Universal and Disney properties in Japan and China to new theme parks, water parks, FECs and brand experiences in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The industry is also thriving in the Middle East. For example, Dubai has many popular FECs, theme parks and retailtainment offerings. There are also currently several big projects underway in Saudi Arabia. The attractions business is less mature in both Africa and India. However, there has been a rise in the number of new museum, FEC, theme park and zoo projects in recent years.

Many different factors contribute to a successful attraction business, from visitor behaviour and guest spending to operating costs and profitability.