Are record theme park crowds a sign of recession’s end?
With most signs pointing to an economy that remains sluggish, how to account for the record number of visitors closing down Orlando area theme parks during the holidays?
“Visitors to Legoland, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and three Disney destinations found parking lots and entryways shut for short periods” at Christmastime, reported AFP.
The site said “free-spending US tourists shrugged off economic worries to overwhelm Disney World and other top Florida theme parks.”
One of the biggest surprises was Legoland, which is 30 miles from Disney and only opened three months ago.
“The flood of visitors to Central Florida is a real sign that many Americans are beginning to open their wallets and put the economic gloom of the past three years behind them,” concluded AFP.
“Signs are emerging that after the worst economic decline since the Great Depression, Americans are looking to kick back and relax,” says MSN News. But the site adds tourists are not willing to spend big bucks to do it until they see more evidence that the recovery is sustainable.
“The question is how long the crowds will last” after the holidays, suggests MSN.
The Orlando area has at least 10 major theme parks and scores of other holiday attractions, and all are full, according to industry officials.
None of the parks would give attendance numbers, but Brian Martin of Visit Orlando estimated occupancy for the region's 115,000 hotel rooms at 95 per cent — much better than a year ago.
Orlando will register some 53.5 million visitors for 2011, according to Martin. That is more than two million more than last year. Hotel rates are moving up, though still not to the pre-crash levels of 2008.
"With the economy improving, it has helped people decide to take a vacation," he said. "And we saw a jump in international travel, especially from Brazil… And Canada has also been big for us."
At Universal's multi-theme Islands park, rates are US$85 a day for adults and US$79 for children, but that has not appeared to temper enthusiasm.
Visit Orlando says total visitation (domestic and international arrivals) is expected to increase 1.8 percent to 54.3 million people in 2012.
But the cheap dollar is encouraging more international tourists. Visit Orlando forecasts that 4 million overseas visitors will come to the region next year, up 4.2 percent from 2011, according to MSN.
The outlook in other tourism meccas is similar.
Travel expenditures are expected to increase 3.2 percent this year compared to 2011, says the US Travel Association.
By David Wilkening
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