Effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19) On Entertainment & Tourism Industry

[Teebin]

Article today in the Washington Post on this, the first weekend Bourbon Street, New Orleans, was open. Just a few people on the street and in the restaurants. Like a ghost town said a few of the visitors.

This stuff takes a while to sink in doesn’t it. 8 weeks ago we’re worried about a virus, and while we still are that, we are watching multiple economies teetering on collapse. Next will come home break-ins and theft, beggars everywhere, and worst, crushed hope and suspicion. I hate the despair that is happening.

 

[Mad Dog]

This stuff takes a while to sink in doesn’t it. 8 weeks ago we’re worried about a virus, and while we still are that, we are watching multiple economies teetering on collapse. Next will come home break-ins and theft, beggars everywhere, and worst, crushed hope and suspicion. I hate the despair that is happening.

Meanwhile, this weekend, there was a town in central Florida that had over 3,000 people, according to police, in rolling street parties, with little social distancing and many unmasked. Crazy......Seems this is going to be toughest on 'destination' tourist areas. They're going to probably have to depend on locals for a bit, until the hysteria passes, through vaccines/treatments or just time.

 

[shiekra38]

Meanwhile, this weekend, there was a town in central Florida that had over 3,000 people, according to police, in rolling street parties, with little social distancing and many unmasked. Crazy......Seems this is going to be toughest on 'destination' tourist areas. They're going to probably have to depend on locals for a bit, until the hysteria passes, through vaccines/treatments or just time.

Do you have an article about this?

 

[Mad Dog]

Do you have an article about this?

Washington Post tonight....city of DeLand, in Volusia County, Florida

 

[Legacy]

Washington Post tonight....city of DeLand, in Volusia County, Florida

Of course it was DeLand.

One of the most “Florida Man” places in Florida.

 

[Mad Dog]

Of course it was DeLand.

One of the most “Florida Man” places in Florida.

Sorry, but not being a local I'm unfamiliar with the phrase, though I have some guesses.

 

[SeventyOne]

Meanwhile, this weekend, there was a town in central Florida that had over 3,000 people, according to police, in rolling street parties, with little social distancing and many unmasked. Crazy......Seems this is going to be toughest on 'destination' tourist areas. They're going to probably have to depend on locals for a bit, until the hysteria passes, through vaccines/treatments or just time.

I used to live in DeLand. It's as close to a sleepy southern town as remains in Florida, with all the good and bad that connotes. It doesn't get a lot of tourists and the part of town where this all went down sees zero tourists. This isn't the thread to get into other details about the event and police response, but suffice it to say this story has nothing to do with the effect of the virus on the entertainment and tourism industry.

 

[tielo]

Here in the Netherlands we are "slowly" going back to normal. The past months my city center wasn't that crowded but this happened this weekend:

A lot of Germans jump over the border into the Netherlands for their entertainment and to eat fries (for whatever reason they are better here than in Germany I guess). Shopping has the 1.5meter rule implemented and only "to go" food can be bought as restaurants are still closed. I'm waiting for the second wave of Covid-19 in 3, 2, 1...

 

[Nick]

Two things of note (and on topic):

 

[Scott W.]

Two things of note (and on topic):

Will he go to Disney Springs and will he wear a mask?

 

[Teebin]

I think they should make him ride Mission:Space orange for a few hours in honor of the freakish new Space Force.

 

[Magic Feather]

Since Springs is using tents, I’m assuming this means they will use the thermal camera temp check like Shanghai instead of the individual ones like Universal.

 

[HHN Yeti Lover]

Don’t know if anyone saw this, but someone is eager. I know there are many variables but this is exciting

 

[Nick]

Since Springs is using tents, I’m assuming this means they will use the thermal camera temp check like Shanghai instead of the individual ones like Universal.

Maybe. Springs doesn’t have any security checkpoints, so whatever they put there was going to have to go up quick and be “temporary” anyway.

 

[Andysol]

Don’t know if anyone saw this, but someone is eager. I know there are many variables but this is exciting

I saw this- They're going to be 2 miles long. Or they'll need to do reserved times to enter.

Either way, it's going to be a cluster.

 

[tielo]

Safety (and financially) wise it would only make sense to open the parks (and CityWalk) for hotel guests as you can let them enter in stages to make sure they enter in small groups. A one direction (not the boy band) route should prevent these groups meeting up at the end of the park. US could add some shortcuts.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Safety (and financially) wise it would only make sense to open the parks (and CityWalk) for hotel guests as you can let them enter in stages to make sure they enter in small groups. A one direction (not the boy band) route should prevent these groups meeting up at the end of the park. US could add some shortcuts.

I wouldn't necessarily implement a one-way around the entire park route, but rather the pathways divided like at Disney during Christmas.

 

[Andysol]

Or... and I know this is controversial... Or people just understand that there is an inherent risk of doing something completely elective and unnecessary like going to a theme park.
And to make more work and enforcement for the employees to regulate something that the majority of attendees likely aren't caring about. At least not nearly to the level that social media does; which we shouldn't forget are people who wouldn't be going during the current conditions anyway.

ETA (and not double post):

The running 7 day numbers were released for Orange County. Cases spiked a bit from Orange County going from 85 to 150 over the course of the week (slightly higher than April 25th's 143). First upward spike we've seen since it all started. Percent Positive was flat (1.14% to 1.21% week over week). So that number is still looking very good. Emergency room visits are dropping as well ~8%.
Florida numbers are a bit worse statewide with percent positive cases jumping slightly from 3.51% to 4.27%. Emergency visits w/ COVID-like illness still going down statewide; however.

So overall, Orange county is outperforming the state and the numbers are looking good w/ the reopenings thus far. Osceola doesn't look as good, but still ok. Percent positive and cases are relatively flat, but looks like emergency room visits for flu-like symptoms are increasing slightly over the last 2 weeks (though covid-like symptoms have remained flat)

Experience

experience.arcgis.com

 

[Imperius]

Or... and I know this is controversial... Or people just understand that there is an inherent risk of doing something completely elective and unnecessary like going to a theme park.
And to make more work and enforcement for the employees to regulate something that the majority of attendees likely aren't caring about. At least not nearly to the level that social media does; which we shouldn't forget are people who wouldn't be going during the current conditions anyway.

It doesn’t matter if people understand the risk. Universal is a business and to stay open they need to decrease the risk. If they open and new cases start exploding then guess what? Back closed. So they have a job to enforce their protocols that allow them to continue to stay open.

 

[Andysol]

It doesn’t matter if people understand the risk. Universal is a business and to stay open they need to decrease the risk. If they open and new cases start exploding then guess what? Back closed. So they have a job to enforce their protocols that allow them to continue to stay open.

Kind of? What if Universal's average attendance is merely 2 days? Someone could get exposed day one and it wouldn't impact the park's ability to be open or not.

Just looking at it from a business standpoint; an explosion of cases might end up not being their problem. Not that it isn't a problem, of course; but I'm looking at it from a "Universal Only" lens. And if that person is also eating at restaurants or going to other tourist locations, it would be impossible to peg it to a specific location.

A lot is going to also depend on what else that tourist is doing during their trip to Florida. Are they going to the beach and restaurants before or after Universal? Driving or flying? Locals or non-locals. Those would all significantly increase or decrease their risk of exposure as well. This is the data that Universal needs to make the best decisions, but they aren't going to have it or be able to track it until things open.

I still think @JungleSkip original idea of only on-site being able to go to parks is the best method. But it doesn't appear that's going to happen. But one way directions or pathways and making sure people are walking on the right side of the road? They're going to make it where the parks are so unenjoyable that no one wants to come. They need to remember who is actually going to be going to the parks. And it isn't the "Stay at home, save lives" Twitter crowd. It's the ones who are willing to travel and go to the parks. We can call that selfish or whatever our personal opinion of people who are traveling is... but that doesn't matter. Those are the people/mentality that Universal should marketing towards and the others will eventually come. If you are making concessions for those who never intend to come to the parks right now anyway, then that's a wasted effort.