focused Parque Arvorar in Aquiraz. The former is currently under construction, and scheduled to open in 2027, with an anticipated annual attendance of 3.0 million visitors. Parque Arvorar opened in June 2025, adding to Beach Park’s popular destination waterpark and resorts. Beyond Brazil, theme and waterparks in Colombia, Argentina, and Chile also contribute to the region’s attraction economy. These parks primarily serve resident populations in key urban markets such as Bogotá, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, focusing on domestic leisure demand. At present, there is a notable lack of global IPs (intellectual properties) within South America’s theme park sector. This gap presents a significant opportunity, particularly given the concentration of younger age cohorts throughout the region. The market has seen success with homegrown IPs centred around local cultural icons and history, providing strong theming at existing attractions. Industry conversations indicate growing interest in balancing local and international IPs in future projects, potentially through the development of new themed lands, specific ride additions, and attraction expansions.
South America Brazil stands as the primary driver of industry impacts within South America, recording 13.2 million visits across 19 major theme and waterparks. Despite these impressive figures, the market is relatively underdeveloped when compared to the country’s population. With only 62 visits per 1,000 residents, there is considerable scope for growth via increased visitation and new attraction development. Existing parks in Brazil tend to perform well, attracting high volumes of multi-generational family visits. Destination parks, in particular, achieve longer lengths of stay and higher guest spend, predominantly among domestic tourists. Nevertheless, the region faces substantial challenges that hinder development, including lower household income levels, political instability, unreliable economies and tariffs, all of which present significant obstacles for developers seeking to launch new projects. Two notable new entrants to Brazil’s attractions landscape is Parque de Cacau (“chocolate park”) in the municipality of Itu, São Paulo and well- established Beach Park’s new animal and adventure
Cococay, Bahamas
Caribbean The Bahamas is the economic impact driver for attractions among the Caribbean islands, with Aquaventure at Atlantis Paradise Island and Baha Bay Waterpark totalling 70 percent of theme and waterpark visits in the region, and the highest spends per capita in the Americas. The Dominican Republic also contributes to the region’s experience economy, with numerous themed adventure and waterparks, focused on both residents and tourists. Access to the islands and low resident populations and incomes create challenges for attraction development in this region. In addition, attractions also compete directly with resort amenities; it’s difficult to pull guests away from the all-inclusive offering onsite at many of the properties. Despite these obstacles, we do see ongoing developer interest in the region and expect that to continue. In May 2025, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico announced a $2.0 million tourism alliance, “The Caribbean is Us,” to create multi-destination travel packages and target markets in the U.S. and Europe. Pedernales-Cabo Rojo project, in the Dominican Republic, is a luxury and eco- tourism project featuring new resorts, an international airport and a cruise port aimed at transforming the largely untouched southern region of the country. In addition, cruise ship companies in the region continue to expand their attraction offering onboard and beyond, enhancing guests experience. Norwegian cruise lines is building Great Tides Waterpark on its private island Great Stirrup Cay, with plans to open in 2026. This builds upon Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day in CoCoCay waterpark (Little Stirrup Cay, 2019).
Theme & waterpark visits per 1,000 residents, selected markets
Comparing GDP per capita across the region
$80,000
$70,000
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0
Source: LDP Database
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook
12 THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMIST: AMERICAS EDITION 2025 | © LDP
THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMIST: AMERICAS EDITION 2025 | © LDP 13
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