The attractions industry has seen the loss of revenue and thousands of jobs
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) has released a lengthy guide on how to safely reopen attractions amid COVID-19.
Entitled “Reopening guidance: Considerations for the Global Attractions Industry,” the document outlines principles and guidelines for attractions to follow once local government officials have lifted stay-at-home orders.
The guide was initially released in October 2020, and then updated in May 2021 following a third wave of COVID-19 around the world – including Canada – to include additional guidance on attractions such as haunted houses, bowling, miniature golf and ziplines.
The reopening guide covers general guidelines as well as attraction-specific guidance.
General guidelines cover important topics such as COVID-19 training, hand washing and hand sanitizing, physical distancing, cleaning, first aid and temperature checks.
The full guide is available here.
A devastated industry
In February this year, the IAAPA released a study focusing on the devastating effects of the pandemic on the attractions industry.
The study strongly focuses on the U.S. where the IAAPA says tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the industry. The study reveals that employment loss is five times larger in the attractions industry than the average loss across all other industries.
In addition, the IAAPA says that the pandemic has cost the attractions industry billions of dollars.
“Just as amusement parks and arcades, historical sites, zoos and other attractions were ramping up seasonal hiring last year, the economy shut down. That meant a sudden and immediate drop in employment.
It’s imperative to the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Americans that state and local governments continue to push for the safe reopening of attractions facilities as soon as possible,” said John Hallenbeck, vice president – North America, IAAPA.
The report was compiled by Jim Futrell, an IAAPA historian and marker research professional, and is available here.
The IAAPA was founded in 1918 and represents a broad array of attractions such as amusement parks, theme parks, water parks, zoos, aquariums, museums, cruise lines and resorts.
