Attractions News: Blooloop Facts Round Up January 2011 Blooloop

By Tracy Kahner

@Blooloop Facts, a Twitter feed that has run on the Blooloop News page for the last year, highlights key statistics and information relating to theme parks, amusement parks, waterparks, zoos, aquariums, museums, planetariums, waterparks, FECs and other visitor attractions as well as other data relevant to the Tourism and Visitor Attractions Industry.

Each Blooloop Fact is typically a key abstract taken from an article that appeared as Blooloop News or has been taken from an annual report or other such document. In the majority of cases a source has been listed, or a link to the article has been provided. We focus on the most current data, and this initial listing consists of a selection of key Blooloop Facts that have been presented over the course of several months.

Theme Parks / Amusement Parks

mine train roller coaster ocean park theme park hong kong

January 18th – Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Andrew Kam forecasts that attendance will increase by 10 percent for FY 2011.
January 18th – The share of Hong Kong Disneyland visitors coming from mainland China rose to 42 percent from 36 percent while Hong Kong’s contribution declined to 33 percent from 41 percent.
January 15th – Ocean Park Co. expects attendance to increase by some 15 percent in 2011 as it opens new attractions.
January 9th – Est for Disney World's attendance this year range from "flattish" to increases of about 3%. Source: Orlando Sentinel
January 3rd – Walt Disney Co owns 461 acres & has the rights under long-term lease for use of an additional 49 acres of land in Anaheim, California. Source: Walt Disney Co., 10K
January 2nd – Futuroscope recorded attendance of 1, 825, 000 visitors and turnover 87 million euros for 2010. Source: Futuroscope
January 1st – On 31 Dec 2010, Chengdu OCT entered into the New Design Contract with OCT Tourism for a term of 2 years from 1 Jan 2011 to 31 Dec. 2012 pursuant to which OCT Tourism will provide design & general planning services to Chengdu OCT for phase II of the Theme Park. Source: OCT
December 31st – Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall is schedule to open at Tokyo Disneyland on April 15, 2011. Investment amount: Approx.¥2.0 billion. Source: OLC
December 31st – Mickey's PhilharMagic is scheduled to open at Tokyo Disneyland on January 24, 2011. Investment amount: Approx. ¥6.0 billion. Source: OLC
December 23rd – Gulliver's World: 10% of visitors coming from more than one hour away.
December 23rd – Day visitors make up 78% Gulliver's World customers, 7% stay overnight & 15% stay with family and friends.
November 12th – Currently, Tokyo DisneySea has 22 corporate sponsors. Source: OLC
November 12th – Currently 25 corporations sponsor facilities in Tokyo Disneyland. Source: OLC
November 5th – HK Ocean Park Sales revenue for Halloween Bash-related souvenir items is 40% higher than last year while the figure for themed food & beverage items have recorded a rise of almost 25%. Source: HK Ocean Park
October 19th – Approx 1/4 of our visitors drive more than 200 miles to our theme parks & approx 1/2 of our visitors travel by air to our theme parks. Source: UCDP
October 19th – The theme park industry is highly consolidated — 17 of the 25 most visited parks in '09 were affiliated with 3 major brands. Source: UCDP
October 12th – Leisure-park business in the first half represents only about 15% of annual business. Source: Compagnie des Alpes
September 9th – Approximately 9% of Universal Orlando's annual theme park ticket sales are derived from timeshare operators. Source: UCDP
August 10th – Roller Coaster planned for Gröna Lund in 2011: Mfr, The Gravity Group; G-Force, 3 G; Height 14.25 m; Length 480 m. Source: Gröna Lund

Museums

honey bee educating children in science museum science centre

January 17th – In 2009 slightly more than 7.0 million people visited Tate's four galleries. Source: Tate Organization
January 17th – Tate Modern already receives far more visitors than it can comfortably accommodate. Source: Tate Organization
January 9th – The Smithsonian attracted a total of 30.2 million visitors in 2010 up from 30.0 million in 2009 & 25.2 million in 2008. Source: Smithsonian Institution
December 28 – In the past three years, The Tech Museum has averaged 530K visitors an increase of 30% over 2005. Source: Tech Museum
December 28th -Since 2005, The Tech Museum has lowered the operating cost per visitor from $45.06 to $32.09 – a decrease of 29%. Source: Tech Museum
August 29th – Approximately eight out of every 10 visitors to the Rock Hall are from outside Greater Cleveland.
August 20th – Britain`s museums and galleries generate £1 billion for the economy. Source: VisitBritain
August 17th – Attendance for Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art averaged some 6, 700 visitors per day and frequently reached 10, 000 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Zoos and Aquariums

jungala tiger at busch gardens theme park florida

Related: Lion City roars in 2010

January 9th – Moody's predicts that attendance across SeaWorld Parks will climb 3% in 2011, after falling approx 6% last year. Source: Orlando Sentinel
December 26th – Pandas have been a major drawcard for Adeline Zoo, pushing up the number of visitors by 70 per cent in the 1st year.
December 2nd – Jurong Bird Park expects to see a 10 to 15 % increase in visitorship due to S$1.9m Penguin Coast exhibit. Source: Channel NewsAsia.
November 30th – The frequentation of Pairi Daiza recorded a retreat of 25% compared to the record of the year 2009 (+31%). 2010 represents the second best of the 17 seasons in the history of the Park (700, 000 visitors). Source: Parc Paradisio SA
November 26th – In 2009, Jurong Bird Park served 900, 000 visitors, the Night Safari, more than 1.1 million visitors and Singapore Zoo welcomed more than 1.6 million visitors. Source: Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Year Book 2009/2010
November 22nd – Two out of three adults visits a zoo or aquarium with a child and average visit is 4 hours. Source: Associaiton of Zoos and Aquariums
October 18th – The Melbourne Aquarium visitation levels returned to more sustainable levels during FY10 following the higher visitation associated with the opening of the $28 million expansion of the Antarctica exhibit in Nov 2008. Source LLA's 2010 Annual Report
October 8th – Future exhibits at the Memphis Zoo include Zambezi River Hippo Camp & Chickasaw Bluffs. Source: Memphis Zoo
October 8th – With attendance of 636, 867 last year, Edinburgh Zoo ranked second in the Top 20 Paid Admissions Attractions. Source: Scottish Visitor Attraction Monitor
September 1st – Aquarium of the Bay: 16, 552 Bay Area students, teachers & chaperones benefited from its free education programs during '09/'10 school year. This number marks a 21% increase from the previous year and a 44% increase since 2005. Source: Aquarium of the Bay
August 27th – The $13 million Amazon rain forest exhibit that opened in 2008, helped boost attendance by 30 %. Source: Mesker Park Zoo
August 20th – Britain`s museums and galleries generate £1 billion for the economy. Source: VisitBritain
August 17th – Attendance for Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art averaged some 6, 700 visitors per day and frequently reached 10, 000 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Visitor Attractions, Waterparks and Miscellaneous

great wolf lodge waterpark facade

January 5th – Britain will attract 300, 000 more visitors in 2011 as confidence among overseas tourists continues to rise, VisitBritain predicts.
December 19th – China will be the world's top tourist destination by 2020, according to the chairman of the International Tourism Association China.
December 13th – Tourism accounts for four out of every ten visits to Mall of America®; more than 16 million visitors. Source: MOA® 2010 Press Kit
October 20th – Our revenue mix was 50.5% for food & beverage and 49.5% for amusements & other for the second quarter of 2010. Source: Dave & Busters Inc.
October 4th – Madame Tussauds Bangkok is the first step for Merlin Entertainments Group to assess its presence in Southeast Asia.
September 17th – Our business model generally targets customers within a three-hour driving radius of our resorts. Source: Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.
October 8th – Visitor attractions in Scotland experienced an increase of 3.5% in visits when comparing 2009 with 2008. Source: VisitScotland