Analysts Predict Disney Won’t Recover From Economic Loss Until 2024

Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort shut their main gates back in March due to the global health crisis. Disney World reopened in July and Disneyland continues to face an extended closure. Analysts have been noting the economic impact of the closures in the past 6 months.

Despite Disney World remaining open, attendance has lowered significantly. According to Orlando Sentinel, Disney World has been operating with 80% fewer crowds than the previous year according. The economic impact of the initial closure and lowered capacity has been substantial.

Disney and state officials have been urging California Governor Newsom to release Disneyland’s reopening guidelines. While this process has been delayed, Disney recently made the decision to furlough 28,000 Cast Members to compensate for the closures. Bloomberg quoted Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, that the “The Disney layoffs signal the leisure industry won’t be the same, not anytime soon,” and that, “it’s going to take two to three years to fully catch up. This is not coming back fast.”

Just how much of an economic impact have the closures, layoffs, and furloughs made on Disney? Recently, Deutsche Bank predicted that  2021 will most likely be another “lost year” for Disney, according to Orange County Register. They believed the lost year indicates that revenue won’t go back to the pre-pandemic levels until 2023. Now, researcher MoffettNathanson LLC states that Disney “could swing from a $4.9 billion pretax profit last year to a $1.5 billion loss in 2020.” This loss of earnings might not return to 2019’s level until 2024. 

While these numbers are reflected from analysts, only time will tell the actual economic impact of the closures and how long it will take Disney to recover. Crowds have been slowly increasing since reopening and more resorts have opened to accommodate visitors. We’ll continue to update you on the news regarding Disney World and Disneyland Resort.

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