The global theme park industry has surpassed half a billion visitors for the first time.
The TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index report for 2018 says there were 501.2 million visits at the world’s major theme park operators last year, representing 5% growth on 2017.
The report points to new investments in rides and programming, and story-based or intellectual property attractions that already have high global awareness.
According to the data Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando was the world’s most visited theme park with 20.86 million visitors in 2018, ahead of Disneyland in Anaheim.
Eight Disney parks were among the 10 most popular, including three in Asia.
These are the Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea parks and Shanghai Disneyland.
More than 157 million people visited a Disney park somewhere around the world last year.
Little known outside of China, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Hengqin came in as the 10th most visited park, while Chimelong Water Park in Guangzhou was the world’s busiest aqua park with 2.74 million visitors.
