Recovering will be very difficult… Among the places having a hard time attracting people because of coronavirus are theme parks who are violently impacted by the health crisis, and especially the economic crisis. And amid them, Disneyland Paris, with an attendance plummeting since the two parks reopened on July 15, 2020. According to Le Parisien, the daily 25,000-visitor-a-day mark – implemented for the reopening to enable barrier gestures and social distancing – is still not reached.
“Disneyland Paris is an average of 40,000 visitors a day. There are 6,000 or maximum 20,000 a day on good days” president of the agglomeration, Serris mayor and EpaFrance president (public place entrusted with converting the territory) Philippe Descrouet explains to Le Point. A plummeting attendance because of the closure of borders depriving the resort of most its guests… All in all, over the half of visitors usually come from abroad.
A lower attendance also impacting the local economy. And a hard one at that… “seventy-five percent of our tax revenues are related to tourism” Serris mayor says explaining that because of coronavirus, “we think we are about to lose 25 million euros of receipts over 18 months”. A loss caused by – as reminded by Le Point – the “tourist tax is no longer available”, most Disney hotels being closed, like the “company value-added contribution (CVAE), calculated from the companies’ turnovers”.
“Economically-speaking, this is a catastrophe for the territory. When Disneyland is on hold, the entire economic network stops” Philippe Descrouet alerts. An economic loss leading an entire sector of local tourism, but not only since other companies in Val d’Europe are also suffering from the lack of visitors… The two most impacted places: Village Nature, as well as Val d’Europe Village Nature shopping mall. The mall lost 65% of its turnover since it reopened this past May.
But the future is not as glum as it seems… On a positive note, the housing demand skyrocketed: “With Covid, the real estate demand is extremely strong. Housings are sold before we even put a selling board!” the agglomeration president says. And on Disneyland side, the attendance is going to get better as both parks are full at weekends since the Halloween season started. As attested by the lengthening of queues for rides, even though distancing is still mandatory, but it reflects a part of the reality. As for the Walt Disney Studios extension signed in 2018 by Disney’s former CEO Bob Iger and French President Emmanuel Macron, it seems to come along nicely.
