Disney Study Touts Resort’s Benefits
The Disneyland Resort contributes $3.6 billion annually to the Southern California economy and supports 65,700 jobs, according to a Disney-sponsored study released Friday in advance of its 50th anniversary celebration.
“This study shows the specific importance of the resort to this region, including San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties,” said Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle. “And that an anchor like Disneyland benefits everyone.”
Disneyland Resort includes Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure, Downtown Disney and three hotels.
The study found that overnight visitors generate $225 million in taxes to Southern California cities and counties. Outside the resort, Disneyland patrons spend $1.9 billion annually across six counties, according to the study. About 45% of that money is spent in Orange County, 40% in Los Angeles County, 10% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and 5% in San Diego County.
Theme park analyst John Robinett of Economics Research Associates said the numbers released Friday by the resort were impressive but not surprising.
“As Disney has expanded [with California Adventure] and opened the retail restaurants and hotels in Downtown Disney, they’ve created a multiday resort destination,” Robinett said. “When you flip from single day visits to overnight stays, you get a geometric increase in economic impact. When visitors are in town, people are simply going to buy more merchandise, more gasoline and more meals. And that’s why the numbers are so large.”
Of the 65,700 jobs supported by the resort, nearly a third -- 20,000 -- are Disneyland Resort employees and 41,900 are employed by Anaheim resort-area businesses or employed to support those businesses. An additional 3,800 are third-party employees, working in restaurants and shops in Downtown Disney.
Although the study did not disclose the amount of Disneyland’s payroll or the range of employee pay, economists said the resort should not apologize for the types of jobs it creates.
“Given Orange County’s [expensive] housing market, I’m sure many of Disneyland’s employees are in a tough spot,” said Anil Puri, dean of Cal State Fullerton’s College of Business.
“But it’s not Disneyland’s fault.” The question, he said, should be whether Disneyland is paying competitive wages. He believes so. And are they exploiting their workers? “I don’t think so,” he said. The report, prepared by CB Richard Ellis Consulting and Allan D. Kotin and Associates, a real estate and urban economics firm, examined data from 2003.
Puri, who has been forecasting Orange County’s economy for 14 years, said the multiplier effect used in compiling the report was fairly conservative.
“The Department of Commerce uses the same model,” Puri said. “I think Disneyland has made reasonable assumptions.”
