SeaWorld Owner United Parks Says Extreme Weather Led to Drop in Visitors  

SeaWorld owner United Parks said unusual extreme weather in 2024 led to a drop in visitors compared to 2023.  

In a statement about its annual financial results announced last week, the company’s CEO Marc Swanson said that without "significantly worse weather and hurricanes,” particularly in Florida, attendance would have been 2% higher than in 2023.

“We've had a pretty bad run of unusually poor weather over the last couple of years,” he said.

“Hurricanes Debby in August, Helene in September and Milton in October.  We estimate that the combined impact of the meaningfully worse weather was approximately 167,000 guests in the fourth quarter and 432,000 guests for the fiscal year.”

Swanson told investors that the company expects record figures in 2025, assuming the weather is not worse than expected.

"We are pleased with our overall 2025 booking trends and are particularly happy to see our 2025 international sales growth up mid-single digits and our 2025 group bookings growth up double digits. Assuming no worse weather than we experienced in 2024, we expect meaningful growth and new records in revenue,” he said.

The New Universal Epic Universe Park Could also Affect Visitor Numbers

Skift reported last week that Walt Disney World was experiencing more frequent shutdowns caused by extreme weather. The Florida theme park has either closed partly or completely at least 12 times since 2016 due to hurricanes.

“Weather is going to continue to be more important in the future in how theme parks plan for it, calculate it, factor it in and operate,” said theme park analyst Dennis Spiegel. 

Spiegel added however that competition within the theme park market plays a bigger role in visitor numbers. “On a percentage basis, Disney is the highest, they draw the most people. Universal second and United Parks third. People go to Sea World when the other parks are full or because Sea World offers more value for money. It is cheaper to visit than the other parks.”

The last new theme park in the region was opened by Disney over 20 years ago. So the new Universal Epic Universe Park could affect Sea World visitor numbers once it opens, Spiegel said.

United Parks said that in 2023, weather-related issues reduced park attendance by over 370,000 visits for the full year.

Climate scientists are uncertain whether the number of hurricanes in Florida will rise. However, experts, including from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agree that hurricanes in the region will continue to grow stronger and more intense as a result of the global increase in greenhouse gasses.

United Parks did not respond to a request for comment from Skift. 

Skift’s in-depth reporting on climate issues is made possible through the financial support of Intrepid Travel. This backing allows Skift to bring you high-quality journalism on one of the most important topics facing our planet today. Intrepid is not involved in any decisions made by Skift’s editorial team.