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

[Alicia]

I remember working at Universal through 9/11 and it was mostly higher positions that were laid off then too. In addition to cutting positions that aren’t necessary right now, for positions that are the people below them can be promoted at a lower pay rate since they’re just starting in the position. Not saying that’s what’s happening now, but it’s definitely what happened around the resort after tourism dipped from 9/11.

 

[Nick]

MLB is returning in late July for a 60 game season:

MLB announces 60-game season for 2020; Opening Day will be July 23 or 24

 

[quinnmac000]

With the EU mulling an indefinite travel ban on American travelers...I can forsee them even pushing more regulations to limit travel since bans typically go both ways.

Right now, No Brazilian tour groups likely at all this year, UK travel is limited, and now potentially no EU travelers....attendance will take a big hit. Also doesn't Murdy live in Ireland falling under the EU so even his involvement with HHN may get neutered.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

With the EU mulling an indefinite travel ban on American travelers...I can forsee them even pushing more regulations to limit travel since bans typically go both ways.

Right now, No Brazilian tour groups likely at all this year, UK travel is limited, and now potentially no EU travelers....attendance will take a big hit. Also doesn't Murdy live in Ireland falling under the EU so even his involvement with HHN may get neutered.

He lives in Ireland and works primarily satellite when it comes to Universal. So yes, he'd be basically out of the window of being there in person.

That's not accounting though, if they just opt in gutting the Hollywood HHN creative team, partly in reasoning to the past of the event constantly, going over budget for Hollywood..

 

[shiekra38]

This is very sad

We debate about the parks, tell jokes at the expense of some things

But it's important to remember that there are humans running things at the parks

An army of folks that work tirelessly to make our dreams come true

This kind of thing saddens me, because I know people really enjoy what they do there.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yep, W.VA. governor specifically warned people about coming to my town.

Tourist show up, turn on vacation brain, turn off logic. Social distancing is non existent here, locals are somewhat but not at all in the tourist areas.

CNN just ran a story on the Ohio students......Unfortunately they're being painted as victims, when they should be responsible for not practicing safety distancing or masks in large crowds.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

This is very sad

We debate about the parks, tell jokes at the expense of some things

But it's important to remember that there are humans running things at the parks

An army of folks that work tirelessly to make our dreams come true

This kind of thing saddens me, because I know people really enjoy what they do there.

Can tourism seriously ever recover from this? Are we seriously at the mercy of the arrival of a vaccine?!

 

[Grabnar]

Can tourism seriously ever recover from this? Are we seriously at the mercy of the arrival of a vaccine?!

Barring competent leadership that actually gives a crap about people making under $500k/yr miraculously materializing; yes.

 

[Mad Dog]

Can tourism seriously ever recover from this? Are we seriously at the mercy of the arrival of a vaccine?!

For Orlando, probably, since much of it's tourism is guests flying in from various large distanced urban areas of the US and countries outside of the US...But.....Many beach resorts on the east coast have been pretty crowded. Their situation is a bit different since most are within decent driving distance of heavy population areas....

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

For Orlando, probably, since much of it's tourism is guests flying in from various large distanced urban of the US and countries outside of the US...But.....Many beaches on the east coast have been pretty crowded. Their situation is a bit different since most are within decent driving distance of heavy population areas....

My god. This could very well be the end of Orlando theme parks.

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

hyperbole
noun
hy·per·bo·le | \ hī-ˈpər-bə-(ˌ)lē \
Definition of hyperbole
: extravagant exaggeration

 

[Mad Dog]

My god. This could very well be the end of Orlando theme parks.

Big positive: Fauci today testified in front of a Congressional Committee, that he's fairly confident of a vaccine being ready by Fall 2020 or early 2021. If that happens, normality should return within a year, though it might take two years for a full attendance rebound....Of course, we're all just best guessing at this point in time.

 

[Nick]

If i'm Disney, there's no way i'd be reopening the parks in Orlando on July 11th. Although it's getting a little late to turn back that train now with some of the resorts open and thousands of cast members called back to work.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

If i'm Disney, there's no way i'd be reopening the parks in Orlando on July 11th. Although it's getting a little late to turn back that train now with some of the resorts open and thousands of cast members called back to work.

I pray that the effects of mandatory mask wearing start to show up in the next month.

Some insight as to why I'm so pessimistic about a vaccine being ready, and why I shudder to think about Orlando needing one to survive this:

COVID-19 vaccine studies give us hope, but a vaccine may not happen this year - Yellowhammer News

The purpose of vaccination is to stimulate the immune response to prevent a disease. A person who is rendered resistant to a disease by vaccination is termed “actively immunized.” Active immunity may also result from recovery from a natural outbreak of a disease. Immunity transferred from plasma...

yellowhammernews.com

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

If i'm Disney, there's no way i'd be reopening the parks in Orlando on July 11th. Although it's getting a little late to turn back that train now with some of the resorts open and thousands of cast members called back to work.

Agreed. As a passholder who was previously planning on attending sometime close to re-opening, I have serious doubts on whether I feel comfortable going to any park before August. I'll likely book days for July but won't be committed to them. If daily cases don't fall below 1.5-2k by the time re-opening begins, I won't go.

I pray that the mandatory mask wearing starts to show up in the next month.

It's already in place for Orange County, so I can't see them reversing course anytime soon.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Such sad news to wake up to. Universal TMs were all so nice when I made my visit. Very sad. Sorry for incoherency, I'm on lots of pain medication but this is just awful.

 

[Happytycho]

It seems like the layoffs are a right-sizing of Universal's workforce to better match with the reality of significantly reduced capacities being in place for the foreseeable future.

It's heartbreaking to hear both from the perspective of wanting to see theme parks grow and succeed, and for those who are now unemployed in an industry unlikely to be doing much hiring.

 

[lowbudget]

For Orlando, probably, since much of it's tourism is guests flying in from various large distanced urban areas of the US and countries outside of the US...But.....Many beach resorts on the east coast have been pretty crowded. Their situation is a bit different since most are within decent driving distance of heavy population areas....

Yep, our weekend numbers which are primarily made up of folks driving a few hours on Friday are very near 2019. Weekly numbers which are the folks typically from further out of town are down 5%-10% from 2019. People are still traveling and in significant numbers, they just aren't going as far or planning as far ahead due to all the uncertainty.

https://www.coastal.edu/media/2015ccuwebsite/contentassets/documents/wallcollege/tourismeconomystudies/Brittain_Center_release_061820.pdf

If you come to the beach as a family unit, cook at home and dine out responsibly, spend time on the beach or fishing, your fine. You're in no more risk than you would be living your normal life at home.

If your a 20 year old college student, getting together with 6 other college students from across a state that you haven't seen since classes were canceled in March (mixing social groups), sleeping 4 to a room, going to the bars, rubbing elbows in the tourist traps, and in general acting like CV doesn't exist, then your just about asking for it.

The only silver lining in this cloud is the young tourist will probably be ok, I just hate it for the people they are spreading it to.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Orlando is not "Dead", that is just not true and its way too early to say that. If we're in this exact same kind of stop next fall, 2021, then I am MUCH more worried about the parks operations for the foreseeable future but we aren't there yet. Really not trying to get political here and I know I do, but frankly, if we had a competent leader leading our country things simply wouldn't be this bad. Get him out in November and next January some REAL leadership can be made to progress this. Now, that may take another year so we are talking 2022. That is where my head is at now. If Trump is still our President then I do fear for the longevity of this country, as the President currently wants to slow down testing. Which is utterly insane. Vote him out people. There are ways to contain this and America just simply isn't doing it properly to large scales it seems.

Too early to spell doom for the whole industry however. I just think it will take another year or two to pick up. I wouldn't be shocked if EU is delayed further, I wouldn't be shocked if any VB expansions are scrapped for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't be surprised to not see any hotels added at WDW or UOR until EU opens. I think thats the ripple effect we see over the next decade. Lots of projects we thought we'd have by 2025/2026, won't happen until the end of/early next decade. Too early to tell exactly on a lot of this but personally this is where my thinking is. Its going to take time.

 

[JungleSkip]

Orlando is not "Dead", that is just not true and its way too early to say that. If we're in this exact same kind of stop next fall, 2021, then I am MUCH more worried about the parks operations for the foreseeable future but we aren't there yet. Really not trying to get political here and I know I do, but frankly, if we had a competent leader leading our country things simply wouldn't be this bad. Get him out in November and next January some REAL leadership can be made to progress this. Now, that may take another year so we are talking 2022. That is where my head is at now. If Trump is still our President then I do fear for the longevity of this country, as the President currently wants to slow down testing. Which is utterly insane. Vote him out people. There are ways to contain this and America just simply isn't doing it properly to large scales it seems.

Too early to spell doom for the whole industry however. I just think it will take another year or two to pick up. I wouldn't be shocked if EU is delayed further, I wouldn't be shocked if any VB expansions are scrapped for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't be surprised to not see any hotels added at WDW or UOR until EU opens. I think thats the ripple effect we see over the next decade. Lots of projects we thought we'd have by 2025/2026, won't happen until the end of/early next decade. Too early to tell exactly on a lot of this but personally this is where my thinking is. Its going to take time.

Universal and Disney, and probably SeaWorld, are far too big to fail completely. Governments, local and federal, will not *allow* them to fail completely. The sick joke about this country is once you're big enough people are gonna do anything they possibly can to make sure you survive.

That being said, the ripple effect between now and a vaccine can still be devastating for Orlando at large. If the US continues to falter in containing the spread, especially in Florida, and other countries continue to impose travel bans on the US, many places around the parks will almost certainly close, which will increase the unemployment issue.