Guests are spending more in-park

Image: SeaWorld

Of course, the increases in attendance are certainly good, but what is even better for SeaWorld is that in-park spending by guests is also up 6.4% to $27.57 per person, a moderate increase over the $25.90 that was reported last year. Total revenue for the parks group was also up in the second quarter at $406 million, an increase of 3.6 percent from 2018. Adjusted earnings for the quarter also rose 33.6 percent to $166.1 million, which is all very good news for the formerly struggling theme park group. Here's what CEO Gus Antorcha had to say about the results in a prepared statement: 

"As you know, we featured a new ride, attraction and/or event at almost all of our parks this year and guest reception has been positive. Our exciting summer events are currently in full swing including our one-of-a-kind Sesame Parade in Orlando, San Diego and San Antonio, our award-winning Electric Ocean event at each of our SeaWorld parks and our Summer Nights event at each of our Busch Gardens parks, giving our guests even more reasons to visit."

Expect even more investments next year

Image: SeaWorld

SeaWorld plans to continue to invest in new rides, attractions, events and more are expected to continue into 2020 and beyond, with the company pledging to open at least one new attraction every year. This is of course, an expensive plan, which has led to the company’s capital expenditures for the first six months of this year growing 15.8% to $112.7 million, up from $97.3 million from the same period in 2018. However, with guests coming back to the parks in bigger numbers (and more importantly, spending more money) it seems like this strategy is a winning one, and will hopefully ensure that SeaWorld continues to grow. 

Though 2017 was a bad year for SeaWorld Orlando, which saw an attendance downturn of 10% of guests, year over year, SeaWorld Orlando came back in a big way in 2018, growing a massive 16.0% year over year and attracting 4.6 Million guests over the course of the year. And though 2019 isn't over yet, it's looking like SeaWorld is keeping this growth up this year, and will hopefully be continuing this positive trend into 2020 and beyond.