by: WESH 2 News
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(AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) – Executives with Comcast, which owns Universal Orlando, said Thursday that its theme parks division suffered a big third-quarter blow.
“Where we continue to see the most pressure from COVID is in our theme parks, which were the single biggest drag in the quarter,” said Brian Roberts, the chairman and chief executive officer of Comcast.
Revenue at the parks tumbled 81%, down to $311 million. That compares with the same time last year when Halloween Horror Nights was in full swing and the parks brought in $1.6 billion.
Universals’ California park remains closed and its Orlando and Japan parks are operating at limited capacity.
On an optimistic note, executives did predict that the parks will likely break even again in 2021.
“When the world returns and people get sick of being in their house, I really believe the parks are gonna be a strong business,” said Comcast’s Jeff Snell.
Executives did not give attendance numbers or an update on plans to restart construction of Epic Universe, the third theme park Universal is building in Orlando.
Assistant professor of theme park management, Dr. Carissa Baker, says for the parks to get back on track out of state, international tourists need to return and that will likely require a vaccine.
“I think that before you have that vaccine and kind of a widespread distribution of that you’re simply not gonna have certain segments of the market being willing to come back,” Baker said.
Baker also believes the drop in earnings is not as dire as it sounds.
“I would say it’s not as discouraging as it sounds because it’s not as much of a plummet as the last quarter results,” Baker said.
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