Six Flags CEO blames decline in park attendance on final 12 months’s crowds

AGAWAM, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – Stunning feedback by Six Flags President and CEO Selim Bassoul are making headlines. He referred to as the amusement park chain an affordable daycare heart for youngsters and referred to the issue with lengthy traces and crowds final 12 months. Now, he mentioned attendance is manner down

The feedback had been made through the Six Flags second quarter earnings convention name with buyers final week. The underside line is that excessive overcrowding on the parks final 12 months could also be impacting attendance this 12 months.

There have been no lengthy traces to get into the parking zone at Six Flags New England on Wednesday. It’s a noticeable distinction from final summer season when on sure days, there have been hours of ready, traces of vehicles, and large crowds.

Agawam Mayor Invoice Sapelli instructed Western Mass Information that he has seen a distinction in visitors across the park this summer season in comparison with final summer season. Nevertheless, that may very well be resulting from numerous elements.

“The state of the financial system proper now, the price of items and companies going up, I’m certain that persons are reducing again on leisure of that nature I’m certain,” Sapelli mentioned.

Nevertheless, Bassoul has totally different concept because it applies to the entire amusement park firm. A transcript from an earning call with investors last week revealed that attendance on the amusement parks throughout the USA is down 35 % in comparison with 2019. He pointed to experiences parkgoers had in 2021 and 2019 when he mentioned wait occasions simply to get into the park had been between 20 and half-hour, with one other 20-to-25-minute search on the entrance. Folks had a 15-to-25-minute wait to get right into a restaurant, then one to 2 hours to get their meals. That was on prime of two-hour wait occasions for rides.

Bassoul’s conclusion was “…we realized that actually we had discounted an excessive amount of…we grew to become…an affordable daycare heart for youngsters throughout breaks and the summers.”

Six Flags is hoping to deliver again households prepared to pay for a constructive expertise. In addition they determined to do away with their free meal program. Sapelli believes provide chain shortages could have performed a job too.

“The price of supplies and provides, it’s simply loopy whether or not for paper plates and the cups used or whether or not it’s the hamburgers and hotdogs. It’s going out of sight…That will have some to do with it as effectively, you realize. They’re attempting to look the place they’ll minimize prices,” Sapelli added.

Within the meantime, Six Flags is wanting ahead to this 12 months’s Fright Fest with preparations already underway in Agawam.

“Fright Fest, which is developing September 24 to October. They’re hiring over 200 individuals for that program and that’s a really profitable program,” Sapelli famous.

Western Mass Information reached out to Six Flags New England for remark, however we had been instructed that they had nothing so as to add presently to what they referred to as the commentary given on the earnings name.

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