United Parks & Resorts' headcount in the U.S. 2020-2023

In 2023, U.S. amusement park and attraction company United Parks & Resorts employed around 16,500 staff members in the United States, which was an increase over the previous year. Out of all the company's staff, the majority were employed part-time. 

Attendance at SeaWorld

In 2022, SeaWorld parks received approximately 21.9 million visitors. Although this constituted an increase from the previous year’s figure of approximately 20.2 million people, attendance in 2022 remained below the pre-pandemic level. Nevertheless, SeaWorld Orlando – the organisations most popular theme park – retained its position as one of the most visited theme parks in North America having received approximately 3.05 million visitors during the course of 2022.

Has SeaWorld recovered from "Blackfish"?

The documentary “Blackfish", critical of keeping killer whales in captivity, raised questions about how well SeaWorld’s orcas were being treated. The aftermath of its release in 2013 resulted in a consistent decline in the revenue of SeaWorld Entertainment from 1.46 billion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 1.26 billion dollars in 2017. In 2018 this revenue saw its first increase since 2013 signalling the beginning of a trend which, with the notable exception of a coronavirus influences figure in 2020, has continued; resulting in the greatest reported revenue of SeaWorld Entertainment to date in 2022 with over 1.7 billion U.S. dollars.