Despite a flurry of lawsuits and publicity alleging cruelty to animals, visitors are flocking back to SeaWorld thanks to the draw of cut-price tickets and a marketing drive asserting that the performing killer whales owned by the park are happy and healthy.
Attendance numbers at SeaWorld Entertainment’s US parks rose by 5.6% to 3.2m in the first quarter of the year. Revenue also rose, by 1% to $214.6m, but the company continues to make net losses. It shaved those losses to $43.6m in the first quarter, from $49.2m in the same period the previous year.
The company reported that the Easter holiday falling early in the calendar helped boost visitor numbers at its primary parks in Florida, Texas and California.
But new chief executive Joel Manby, who is just a month into the job, said numbers in early 2015 had been rising anyway.
The first-quarter financial results beat Wall Street’s expectations, two years after the Florida-based company went public only to be hit by a storm of bad publicity. The documentary Blackfish catalogued allegations of systematic cruelty to killer whales which are held in captivity and trained to perform for visitors’ amusement.
SeaWorld last month launched a new advertising campaign, directly addressing widespread and growing criticism of the way it keeps, breeds and trains killer whales. It has made a point of highlighting the government-approved credentials of its parks.
It had previously issued a steady stream of lower-key newspaper ads, trying to push back aggressively against the message presented by Blackfish and the pall that was cast over the company when, in late 2009 and early 2010, trainer Alexis Martineau was killed by a SeaWorld-owned orca on loan to a Spanish theme park, and another trainer, Dawn Brancheau, was killed by a giant male orca during a show at SeaWorld in Orlando.
“I believe that when we get the facts out to our guests, our partners, and other constituencies, we win,” Manby told financial analysts on Thursday. “We are just beginning that fight.”
The previous chief executive, Jim Atchison, stepped down in December 2014.
In recent weeks, SeaWorld has been hit with class action lawsuits filed on behalf of park visitors, alleging that the captive orcas live horrible lives under psychological and physical distress and that the company does not tell the truth about their health.
A new book, Beneath the Surface, by former trainer John Hargrove, was harshly critical of conditions for the animals at the parks – not just for orcas but also for other dolphins and sea lions.
Last month, toymaker Mattel announced that it would no longer produce a SeaWorld version of its Barbie doll, which came dressed as a SeaWorld orca trainer. SeaWorld expressed disappointment at the decision.
SeaWorld has also hit back against Blackfish, Hargrove and animal rights campaigners including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which wants SeaWorld to retire its orcas to marine sanctuaries and close its parks.
“SeaWorld continues to operate at a loss of millions of dollars, while parks such as Universal Studios have reported continuing financial success,” said a statement from Peta, calling the company a “sinking ship”.
Manby did not release details of international expansion plans for SeaWorld, as he was expected to do. The company has talked of making its first foray into opening parks outside the US, potentially in the Middle East.
Visitor numbers were boosted in the first quarter of the year partly by the use of promotional pricing, Manby said.
