If Disney’s parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai are closed for two months, the company’s operating profit could drop by about $280 million, CFO Christine McCarthy said on a first-quarter earnings call Tuesday. mentioned in.
Shanghai Disney and Hong Kong Disneyland have been closed since late January due to the coronavirus. This closure will impact second quarter and full year results. Historically, the park closes during periods of strong attendance and hotel occupancy due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
McCarthy said the exact scale of the impact will depend on how long parks remain closed and how quickly normal operations can resume. If Shanghai Park were to be closed for two months, the impact could be a $135 million loss in operating profit.
Disney could lose $145 million in operating profit if Hong Kong Disneyland, which was already struggling with declining attendance due to the city’s civil unrest, is closed for two months.
The analyst asked if there were any concerns about international visitors to Disney’s U.S. parks from Asia.
Mr McCarthy said international visitors typically account for 18 to 22 per cent of domestic park attendance. Generally, these parks do not receive many visitors from Asia. For the Orlando park, no Asian country can beat Disney World’s top five international markets (UK, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Argentina).
Disneyland’s largest international markets for California are Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Japan is in the top five for international visitors to Disneyland, but McCarthy said the number is in the “low single digits.”
To date, Disney has not seen any impact from the coronavirus on visitation intentions at its domestic parks, she said.
CEO Bob Iger spoke about the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’s second major attraction, Rise of the Resistance. It opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in December and at Disneyland in January. He said he was “thrilled” by the success of the attraction, which he said had quickly become a fan favorite.
