I just saw this in the Orlando Sentinel. I've highlighted some of the more important news in the article.
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Crowds of college students and families with vacationing elementary schoolers are on the rise at Orlando theme parks -- spring breakers beating a path here before President Bush decides to cut a swath to Baghdad.
A new study by the region's visitors bureau shows the March-to-May tourist season has been closing in on the summer months in importance to the local economy.
But this year's spring faces several challenges.
The looming war with Iraq could cause the fun at the parks to fizzle early this year. And with the economy still stuck in limbo, there's little investment in any major new attractions to sell to the crowds.
"The parks aren't turning anyone away this spring, but they're not encouraging the spring-break customers much," said Abe Pizam, professor of tourism management at the University of Central Florida.
A study by the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau shows just how key spring is to Central Florida's No. 1 industry. During the past five years, 28 percent of leisure trips to Orlando begin in March, April and May, compared with 25 percent from June through August.
Hotel bookings by vacationers for the three spring months has accounted for 28 percent of the annual demand since 1997, versus 27 percent in the summer quarter.
Surprisingly, the study shows that bookings in the Lake Buena Vista area near Walt Disney World have been higher in March than in April since 1999, largely because Easter sometimes falls in the third month. Danielle Courtenay, bureau spokeswoman, suggested that's probably because of "family spring breakers" bringing children on vacation from school.
. In 2001, for example, 11 percent of Orlando's overnight leisure travel originated in March, compared with 9 percent in April.
That may be even more true this year, said UCF's Pizam. "I think people are saying, 'Let's go to Orlando now,' out of concern they may not be able to do it after war breaks out. It's the opposite of pent-up demand."
Spending on hold
If that bears out, the families coming this month will miss the only new attraction aimed at them, the Jimmy Neutron ride at Universal Studios. Even the theme park says the ride isn't aimed at college students who will be here in April, when it opens. "It's a family ride," said Susan Lomax, Universal spokeswoman.
Amid the uncertainty that has cast a pall over the economy for more than two years, theme parks are in the re-invent and polish mode. Among all seven major theme parks, Universal's Jimmy Neutron is the only new attraction opening by Easter. And that's the first one in Orlando this year.
Gone are the major promotions such as Walt Disney World's "100 Years of Magic," which ran from October 2001 through last Feb. 28, and included several new parades and attractions such as the One Man's Dream museum of Walt Disney memorabilia at MGM Studios. The new marketing campaign, "Where Magic Lives," is accompanied by no major entertainment.
"New product drives this business but the parks are afraid to spend right now, especially when we could go on red alert and they might have to close for security reasons," said James Cammisa, publisher of Travel Indicators, an industry newsletter based in Miami. "The parks can't do anything about the war or the economy. All they can control is the cost side," he said.
Hoteliers lament the lack of new product coming on line of late. "Any time there's something new at the parks, our business goes up," said Laura Sherman, general manager of the Double Tree Club Hotel near Disney World. The impact of a new attraction is evident at her hotel for "months," she said.
Spring is often the season for debuts of smaller rides, shows, exhibits and parades. "It's the traditional time when you have soft openings to get things ready for summer," said Steve Baker, a theme-park consultant who helped design Disney World's Epcot.
Fall is the usual season to unveil major attractions "in time for Christmas," Baker said. "And I don't blame them for holding back in spending right now. There's too much uncertainty."
Theme parks looking ahead
Some tourists have noticed the lack of new things to do and see at some parks, and are planning accordingly.
"That's why we aren't going to Disney at all this year," said Steve Kadar, an insurance broker from Ontario, Canada, who has been visiting Florida for a week with his four children, all age 12 or younger.
The only theme park the Kadars are visiting on this trip is Universal's Islands of Adventure. "We haven't seen this park. So it will all be new to us."
It's also why the Kadar family spent much of last week on St. Petersburg Beach instead of Orlando.
Laine Cannon, a student on spring break from Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Mich., said she picked MGM Studios and Islands of Adventure as the two parks she visited this week because she hasn't been to them before.
"It really doesn't matter to me if they don't have new attractions at those parks because I haven't seen them," she said.
Some tourists enjoy seeing the same attractions over and over, like a popular movie that keeps drawing them back to the theater. "I'm going to MGM Studios again because I really like that park," said Yukiko Tachibana, who recently graduated from a college nursing program in Tokyo.
Orlando's attractions seem to largely be looking ahead to summer and beyond -- in hopes that the Iraqi conflict and its economic impact may be over by then. For example, Disney World isn't being specific about when it will open the new Mission: Space thrill ride at Epcot. And SeaWorld is pinning its next major marketing push on the Waterfront restaurant and entertainment area to open on Memorial Day at the end of May -- which traditionally kicks off the summer season.
Even so, the spring crowds are swarming. Although no one is comparing this spring with the go-go late 1990s or 2000, it's an improvement over 2001. "Our attendance is actually tracking ahead of last year at this time," said Susan Lomax, a spokeswoman for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
Tea leaves of spring
Because Easter falls in late April on the 2003 calendar, the theme parks have a longer window during which to promote what they do have. For example, at Universal Studios, the park's annual Mardi Gras parades and concert entertainment will run through April 26, 20 days longer than last year.
"This year Mardi Gras is able to do double duty for us: Giving people a reason to visit us in the slow month of February and providing news into the peak period when there's already an influx," Lomax said.
SeaWorld is answering Mardi Gras with its third annual Bud & BBQ Fest during four days in late March. It features live performances by hot country-and-western artists, barbecue specialties from around the nation and plenty of park owner Anheuser-Busch's beers.
Not only is the life of some entertainment stretched into spring, the definition of "spring break" has been expanding in recent years. From the "Where The Boys Are" era in the 1960s until about five years ago, most of the Florida tourism industry considered spring break to be merely a two-week period on either side of Easter, when many college students are on vacation.
The unofficial spring-break season this year began for many Florida attractions and hotels on Presidents Day, Feb. 17, when some college students up North had the week off. Visitors to Bike Week in Daytona made their way to the theme parks, followed by the elementary and high school students on break now. And in April comes the Easter crowd.
"You could say that there are really several components of spring break now, and they're all important," Courtenay said.
In addition to spring break's immediate impact on the Orlando economy, Courtenay said, it is important as an economic clue. "Probably the biggest thing that spring usually gives us is an understanding of what summer will bring. It gives us an indication if it will be a gangbuster summer or a little slower, and the hotels and parks should adjust their marketing strategies," she said.
But with the current concerns about war and terrorism, the tea leaves of spring may not tell a reliable tale. "This year the economy and war concerns could throw everything off." Not that there's any season that is convenient for the tourism industry to have America go to war. The best-case scenario, said Cammisa at Travel Indicators: "After the spring. And after the summer. Maybe in September," when tourism slows down anyway until Thanksgiving.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...5,0,4632460.story?coll=orl-business-headlines
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Crowds of college students and families with vacationing elementary schoolers are on the rise at Orlando theme parks -- spring breakers beating a path here before President Bush decides to cut a swath to Baghdad.
A new study by the region's visitors bureau shows the March-to-May tourist season has been closing in on the summer months in importance to the local economy.
But this year's spring faces several challenges.
The looming war with Iraq could cause the fun at the parks to fizzle early this year. And with the economy still stuck in limbo, there's little investment in any major new attractions to sell to the crowds.
"The parks aren't turning anyone away this spring, but they're not encouraging the spring-break customers much," said Abe Pizam, professor of tourism management at the University of Central Florida.
A study by the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau shows just how key spring is to Central Florida's No. 1 industry. During the past five years, 28 percent of leisure trips to Orlando begin in March, April and May, compared with 25 percent from June through August.
Hotel bookings by vacationers for the three spring months has accounted for 28 percent of the annual demand since 1997, versus 27 percent in the summer quarter.
Surprisingly, the study shows that bookings in the Lake Buena Vista area near Walt Disney World have been higher in March than in April since 1999, largely because Easter sometimes falls in the third month. Danielle Courtenay, bureau spokeswoman, suggested that's probably because of "family spring breakers" bringing children on vacation from school.
. In 2001, for example, 11 percent of Orlando's overnight leisure travel originated in March, compared with 9 percent in April.
That may be even more true this year, said UCF's Pizam. "I think people are saying, 'Let's go to Orlando now,' out of concern they may not be able to do it after war breaks out. It's the opposite of pent-up demand."
Spending on hold
If that bears out, the families coming this month will miss the only new attraction aimed at them, the Jimmy Neutron ride at Universal Studios. Even the theme park says the ride isn't aimed at college students who will be here in April, when it opens. "It's a family ride," said Susan Lomax, Universal spokeswoman.
Amid the uncertainty that has cast a pall over the economy for more than two years, theme parks are in the re-invent and polish mode. Among all seven major theme parks, Universal's Jimmy Neutron is the only new attraction opening by Easter. And that's the first one in Orlando this year.
Gone are the major promotions such as Walt Disney World's "100 Years of Magic," which ran from October 2001 through last Feb. 28, and included several new parades and attractions such as the One Man's Dream museum of Walt Disney memorabilia at MGM Studios. The new marketing campaign, "Where Magic Lives," is accompanied by no major entertainment.
"New product drives this business but the parks are afraid to spend right now, especially when we could go on red alert and they might have to close for security reasons," said James Cammisa, publisher of Travel Indicators, an industry newsletter based in Miami. "The parks can't do anything about the war or the economy. All they can control is the cost side," he said.
Hoteliers lament the lack of new product coming on line of late. "Any time there's something new at the parks, our business goes up," said Laura Sherman, general manager of the Double Tree Club Hotel near Disney World. The impact of a new attraction is evident at her hotel for "months," she said.
Spring is often the season for debuts of smaller rides, shows, exhibits and parades. "It's the traditional time when you have soft openings to get things ready for summer," said Steve Baker, a theme-park consultant who helped design Disney World's Epcot.
Fall is the usual season to unveil major attractions "in time for Christmas," Baker said. "And I don't blame them for holding back in spending right now. There's too much uncertainty."
Theme parks looking ahead
Some tourists have noticed the lack of new things to do and see at some parks, and are planning accordingly.
"That's why we aren't going to Disney at all this year," said Steve Kadar, an insurance broker from Ontario, Canada, who has been visiting Florida for a week with his four children, all age 12 or younger.
The only theme park the Kadars are visiting on this trip is Universal's Islands of Adventure. "We haven't seen this park. So it will all be new to us."
It's also why the Kadar family spent much of last week on St. Petersburg Beach instead of Orlando.
Laine Cannon, a student on spring break from Ferris State College in Big Rapids, Mich., said she picked MGM Studios and Islands of Adventure as the two parks she visited this week because she hasn't been to them before.
"It really doesn't matter to me if they don't have new attractions at those parks because I haven't seen them," she said.
Some tourists enjoy seeing the same attractions over and over, like a popular movie that keeps drawing them back to the theater. "I'm going to MGM Studios again because I really like that park," said Yukiko Tachibana, who recently graduated from a college nursing program in Tokyo.
Orlando's attractions seem to largely be looking ahead to summer and beyond -- in hopes that the Iraqi conflict and its economic impact may be over by then. For example, Disney World isn't being specific about when it will open the new Mission: Space thrill ride at Epcot. And SeaWorld is pinning its next major marketing push on the Waterfront restaurant and entertainment area to open on Memorial Day at the end of May -- which traditionally kicks off the summer season.
Even so, the spring crowds are swarming. Although no one is comparing this spring with the go-go late 1990s or 2000, it's an improvement over 2001. "Our attendance is actually tracking ahead of last year at this time," said Susan Lomax, a spokeswoman for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.
Tea leaves of spring
Because Easter falls in late April on the 2003 calendar, the theme parks have a longer window during which to promote what they do have. For example, at Universal Studios, the park's annual Mardi Gras parades and concert entertainment will run through April 26, 20 days longer than last year.
"This year Mardi Gras is able to do double duty for us: Giving people a reason to visit us in the slow month of February and providing news into the peak period when there's already an influx," Lomax said.
SeaWorld is answering Mardi Gras with its third annual Bud & BBQ Fest during four days in late March. It features live performances by hot country-and-western artists, barbecue specialties from around the nation and plenty of park owner Anheuser-Busch's beers.
Not only is the life of some entertainment stretched into spring, the definition of "spring break" has been expanding in recent years. From the "Where The Boys Are" era in the 1960s until about five years ago, most of the Florida tourism industry considered spring break to be merely a two-week period on either side of Easter, when many college students are on vacation.
The unofficial spring-break season this year began for many Florida attractions and hotels on Presidents Day, Feb. 17, when some college students up North had the week off. Visitors to Bike Week in Daytona made their way to the theme parks, followed by the elementary and high school students on break now. And in April comes the Easter crowd.
"You could say that there are really several components of spring break now, and they're all important," Courtenay said.
In addition to spring break's immediate impact on the Orlando economy, Courtenay said, it is important as an economic clue. "Probably the biggest thing that spring usually gives us is an understanding of what summer will bring. It gives us an indication if it will be a gangbuster summer or a little slower, and the hotels and parks should adjust their marketing strategies," she said.
But with the current concerns about war and terrorism, the tea leaves of spring may not tell a reliable tale. "This year the economy and war concerns could throw everything off." Not that there's any season that is convenient for the tourism industry to have America go to war. The best-case scenario, said Cammisa at Travel Indicators: "After the spring. And after the summer. Maybe in September," when tourism slows down anyway until Thanksgiving.
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...5,0,4632460.story?coll=orl-business-headlines
