{"id":37714,"date":"2018-07-12T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T09:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=37714"},"modified":"2018-07-12T08:40:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T12:40:18","slug":"ken-ham-plays-fast-and-loose-with-ark-encounter-attendance-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/07\/ken-ham-plays-fast-and-loose-with-ark-encounter-attendance-numbers.html","title":{"rendered":"Ken Ham Plays Fast and Loose with Ark Encounter Attendance Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Ken Ham\u2019s Ark Encounter theme park just rounded out its second year of operation. In an article on the Answers in Genesis website, Ken Ham is upbeat<\/a>, announcing that one million visitors came to the Ark in its second year, an increase on the prior one. The moment I saw his piece, I was curious. Friendly Atheist has been tracking Ham\u2019s attendance projections and reports for years, and there has often been something somewhat funny going on.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, Friendly Atheist has an article on Ham\u2019s recent reports<\/a>. In his article, Hemant Mehta quotes from an article published by the Cincinnati Inquirer, which includes quotes from Ham:<\/p>\n

Northern Kentucky\u2019s Noah\u2019s Ark replica attracted one million visitors during its second year of operation<\/strong>, officials said.<\/p>\n

Answers in Genesis (AIG), which owns the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum, reported a 20 percent jump in attendance<\/strong> year over year for the ark.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Cincinnati Inquirer article goes on to note that:<\/p>\n

The structure, literally of Biblical proportions, opened to the public in July 2016 and drew about 800,000 visitors to Williamstown during its first year of operation<\/strong>. Answers in Genesis initially projected 1.2 million would attend<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But as Mehta notes, this is the first we\u2019ve heard of the 800,000 figure. At the close of the Ark\u2019s first year\u2014one year ago\u2014Ham announced that<\/a> the Ark had received one million visitors in its first year.<\/p>\n

For its part, AiG instead used America\u2019s Research Group (ARG) to conduct nationwide market research on the Ark Encounter, and ARG predicted attendance to be 1.4\u20132.2 million for a normal year of operation. Even though the Ark did not open until the middle of the tourist season in July of 2016, its non-normal first year has still seen 1 million visitors<\/strong> (with about 1.5 million visitors total for both attractions). AiG predicts that the second year\u2019s attendance will be closer to the high end of the ARG figure<\/strong>, based on several factors: hundreds of motor coaches are booked to come (organized by numerous tour companies), other group bookings are also increasing, people now having ample time to plan their vacations to the Ark, and other encouraging trends.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, Ham stated that while the Ark Encounter had been predicted to see 1.4-2.2 million visitors its first year, it actually saw a somewhat lower 1 million visitors. He also stated that he predicted that attendance during the Ark\u2019s second year would be close to 2.2. million.\u00a0Now he says that the ark had 1 million visitors its second year\u2014half of this prediction\u2014but that that\u2019s still good, because it\u2019s an increase on the first year, which saw 800,000 visitors\u2014despite his having claimed a year ago<\/em> that the Ark did<\/em> see 1 million visitors in its first year.<\/p>\n

Ken Ham, July 2017:<\/p>\n