The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented changes across various industries, with the movie theater industry facing significant disruptions. After prolonged closures, new safety regulations, and the rapid rise of streaming platforms, theaters had to adapt to survive. Now, as we navigate 2024, let’s explore how movie theater attendance in the United States is faring in comparison to pre-pandemic levels and assess year-over-year trends. Despite the gradual return of audiences, the numbers show that attendance is still below pre-pandemic levels.

The necessarily misnamed “Euro 2020”, one of the largest soccer competitions worldwide, had to be postponed until June 2021 due to pandemic restrictions. The winner of the European Championship was Italy after beating England 3-2 in the final on penalties. Webley Stadium in London hosted the semi-finals as well as the final on 7/6, 7/7 and 7/11 respectively. We employed our international data to see whether the European sporting events are heading back to normality.

Update: well, we did not party like 2019… There were only 22,500 spectators in the Last Row party on Friday. And, per Penske’s directions, attendance was 142,000 (tickets were limited to about 135,000, plus all the support staff for the race). Although we’re certain Helio isn’t exactly disappointed about the reduced purse size. Here is to a full-on 2022! Indianapolis 500 is here and this year with proper spectators allowed!

Indianapolis 500 is here and this year with proper spectators allowed! After last year’s hiatus in proper attendance at the Brickyard, the 105th edition of 2021 appears to be back in full force. This year’s qualifying was as exciting as ever, with only 0.03mph separating the pole sitter and 2008 winner Scott Dixon, who became the 5th driver in history to secure pole position 4 times, ahead of runner-up Colton Herta, who at 21 years old is 20 years younger than Scott and almost became the youngest Indy 500 pole sitter in history!

The oldest continuously held major sporting event in the United States, the Kentucky Derby had enjoyed steady growth from 2016 to 2019, but in 2020… well, we all know what happened last year. As the world opens up, it’s interesting – not just for Churchill Downs, but to understand the sentiment of all Americans – to see how the attendance at the Derby is shaping up this year. Here we are showing Advan’s measured attendance for each Thursday prior to Derby Day (traditionally the first Saturday in May) in order to compare with the last available data point: yesterday, Thursday April 29, 2021.

After a dismal April and May, when casinos across the country were closed to visitors, Nevada’s casinos have been slowly recovering. But although many casinos on the strip are now open, foot traffic remains depressed - down 40% year over year in October to date. Around the country, the pace of recovery for the sector has varied significantly by state. Missouri’s casinos were the first to jump back. As early as June, foot traffic was only down 50% compared to the previous year.

The RV market in the US looks like it may have found a new client base during the pandemic. As reported by the New York Times , companies like Cruise America, the largest RV rental company in the US, typically count on overseas visitors for about 40% of their bookings. The majority of these visitors usually come from Europe and with borders closing, rentals fell steeply. Foot traffic to rental locations was down over 40% in April compared to the previous year.

In this second post based on data from our summer webinar, we reviewed the sectors at the heart of the tourism industry - hotels, restaurants and casinos. We had previously analyzed hotel foot traffic in multiple states. You can read our full analysis in a previous blog post here . Just to recap, in the majority of states hotel foot traffic remains well below average, pre-pandemic levels. The exception is South Carolina, where hotel traffic has returned to levels 5% above the start of the year.

As one of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, hotels, resorts and leisure facilities are hoping that the summer may offer a recovery in the form of reduced case numbers and fewer cancelled vacations. A critical period for the industry, a bounce back in July and August could help mitigate some of the losses from the past few months. Our analysis of foot traffic, using our Hotel, Resort and Leisure Index, shows a very mixed picture across different states.

Markets have reacted very strongly to the potential effects from the coronavirus epidemic in China. MGM, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resort stocks have been hit particularly hard, dropping 20% since the news, mostly on fears that their Hong Kong and Macau locations will see materially reduced visitors during the annual Lunar Year celebrations. But are the actual effects on business and travel what the market expects or is this an over-reaction?