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Universal parent company Comcast revealed a nearly 50% increase in revenue driven by theme park attendance in its annual financial report
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 28 Jan 2023
Universal attributes the record earnings to increased park attendance and customer spend Credit: Canva
Comcast’s theme parks division continues to thrive, with the company reporting a 12% increase in revenue in the final quarter of 2022, and a nearly 50% increase from 2021 in its annual financial report.
The company revealed that Universal Parks & Resorts earned US$2.1bn (€1.93bn, £1.7bn) in Q4 2022, with an overall total earnings of US$7.5bn for the year.
Universal attributed the increases to high attendance levels and customer spending at its resorts in the US and Japan, with visitor numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels. A trend that company leaders expect to continue in 2023.
“We are seeing some exciting demand to start the year,” said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
The news comes following several exciting developments within the Universal portfolio, including the upcoming North American debut of Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood and the construction of both Epic Universe and the new south campus at the Universal Orlando Resort.
Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said: “NBCUniversal’s total capital spending increased US$1.4bn (€1.3bn, £1.13bn) in 2022, driven by Parks’ capex increasing US$1.1bn (€1bn, £890m), of which Epic Universe was around US$800m (€736m, £645m), and reflects our continued investment new attractions like Super Nintendo World at Hollywood and Donkey Kong in Japan.
“In 2023, we expect Parks capex to increase by around US$1.2bn (€1.1bn, £970m) over last year as we continue to build Epic, which we plan to open in 2025 and begin work on our recently announced park extensions. The required investment to develop these extensions is nowhere near the scale of Epic or Universal Beijing, but rather enables us to leverage our already large market opportunity and could serve as a model that contributes even higher growth at theme parks in the future.”
Theme park
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