For the first time in the history of Disney, it has been forced to close a theme park. This is the one in Shanghai that tomorrow will close its doors until further notice to avoid new infections of the coronavirus, which has already killed 25 lives and infected about 900 people.
This unprecedented decision has been announced on its website with a broad text explaining that “in response to measures to prevent and control the outbreak of the disease, in order to guarantee the health and safety of our users and staff, Shanghai Disney Resort will temporarily close Shanghai Disneyland and Disneytown (…) from January 25 “.
The Shanghai theme park, which opened in mid-2016 with its largest investment abroad (5,500 million dollars) is located more than 800 kilometers from the Chinese city of Wuhan, with 11 million inhabitants, but the magnitude of the spread of the coronavirus in China is such that from this theme park owned by Walt Disney they add that every precautionary measure is low, so they assure that they will maintain a “careful monitoring of the situation” and “announce the reopening date once confirmed”.
The aim of this unprecedented measure is clear, to help stop the spread of this virus that has already claimed 25 lives and infected about 900. In fact, both Wuhan and her neighbor Huanggang, about 7 million, are under quarantine.
The economic contribution for the company means losing the succulent income that this high holiday season provides, since it coincides with the expenses of the lunar New Year, which last a week and cause an exodus in the country of citizens who return to their cities of origin. The occupation of the leisure park is so high that last year they had to stop selling tickets because it was at maximum capacity.
This time the closure entails the refund of the amount of tickets, hotel reservations made and other park services. Returns that added to the tickets that cannot be sold for these days will have a large financial impact.
Walt Disney titles that last night closed on Wall Street with declines of 1.26%, to $ 142, and today in the pre-opening cut an additional 0.4%.
