Seaworld Flailing To Reverse Falling Attendance; Southwest Airlines Drops Sponsorship
Suffering negative publicity and poor attendance in the wake of the critical 2013 documentary Blackfish, the SeaWorld park in San Diego announced today that it intends to upgrade and expand its orca habitat to double its current size. The new Blue World Project will cover a surface area of 1.5 acres with water 50 feet deep, a total of 10 million gallons for the California park’s 10 orcas. The plan features a “fast water current” for the whales to swim against as exercise.
Officials said the attraction, due to open in 2018, would offer the world’s largest vantage point to view the whales beneath the waterline. “The new environment will transform how visitors experience killer whales,” SeaWorld chief executive Jim Atchison said in a press release. “Our guests will be able to walk alongside the whales as if they were at the shore, watch them interact at the depths found in the ocean, or a birds-eye view from above.”
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SeaWorld’s disappointing second-quarter earnings led to a share drop of more than 30 per cent this week, with the company conceding that attendance had been dented by bad publicity from the documentary. Between April and June the 11 SeaWorld theme parks welcomed 6.6 million visitors: almost flat compared to the same period last year.
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Earlier this month, Southwest Airlines broke off its 26-year promotional partnership with SeaWorld, citing “shifting priorities”. Though both companies insisted the split was mutual, activists suggested the budget carrier was concerned by the backlash following Blackfish.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/seaworld-in-us-tries-to-reverse-falling-audiences-after-film-showing-effects-of-captivity-9672503.html
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