Static Disney Profits Lead to Holiday Deals
Disney reported static company profits in the first fiscal quarter of this year with revenue increasing slightly to $9.74 billion (£6.16 billion).
The company reported profits for the quarter of $844 million (£534 million) which was roughly on par with the same quarter last year. A significant chunk of the revenue in the quarter came from Disney’s theme parks.
In total, the parks brought in $2.66 billion (£1.68 billion) despite the lateness of the season. Revenue was boosted mostly through the success of Disneyland California, with both Disneyland Paris and Disney World Florida recording lower attendance than expected.
Holidays to Disneyland Paris have dropped off recently because of a number of hitches with travel through Eurostar to the theme park. The park has started offering special spring holiday deals in order to encourage bookings for the early season.
Whilst holiday bookings have not been in scintillating form, Disney have been boosted by the finalising of an agreement with Chinese officials to begin work on Disneyland Shanghai. The Chinese park will rival Disney’s largest and most popular resort in Florida.
At over 1,700 acres, Disneyland Shanghai will be a massive project, costing the company $3.5 billion (£2.2 billion) to build. The significant costs involved make Disneyland Shanghai one of the largest foreign investments in Chinese history. On top of the costs required to build the theme park, Disney will have to spend additional resources for the resort hotels and peripheral infrastructure.
Disney hope to attract over 45 million customers a year to the new Shanghai park once it opens its doors in 2014.
City Break Destinations News posted by Alicia Cruise on 17 February 2010
