Survey Reveals Tourists Avoiding Walt Disney World Due To The Zika Virus

There have been some major issues effecting potential tourists from coming Florida this year, the economy, Brexit, the Pulse shooting and the Alligator incident.   But according to a recent survey from two CivicScience polls, Ziki is now becoming a major reason for guests deciding to cancel or not planning one, with almost half the respondents giving Zika as the reason.

The first survey asked 2,592 people, with the second poll being almost double that, with both of those surveys just asking domestic travelers.  However 85 percent of those questioned, said they had not been planning a Disney trip.  But what is a worry was that roughly about half of 800 people in the survey, who had been planning trips to the area said they have canceled or decided not to visit Walt Disney World due to the threat of the virus.

Visit Orlando also added “our independently conducted consumer research indicates there are currently only minimal concerns on intent to visit Orlando. Likewise, we are not seeing any softening of advance bookings in Orlando through the end of the year due to potential Zika concerns.”

Disney spokeswoman Rena Langley told the Orlando Sentinel that the resort has seen no impact from Zika on cancellations for future bookings. She also didn’t have details on whether people who cancel give reasons for doing so.

While Zika cases have been found in Miami and the Tampa Bay Area, none have yet been reported in Orlando, Disney, Universal and Sea World have all been offering guests free mosquito repellent.

Our Take:

Orlando has had a number of different incidents recently that have gained mainstream media attention for the wrong reasons.  And all of these will have an impact on guests, I suspect terrorism, price increases and issues with the economy in Brazil, Brexit and currency rates are all having an impact on future bookings.   Which is why Disney have already begun offering discounts, which usually is an indication that visitor numbers aren’t where they would have been before.

Zika is a worry for tourists, who often don’t need much of an excuse to look elsewhere if there is a issue.  If Disney wasn’t worried, they wouldn’t be offering repellent to guests, it’s only a small measure but it can help ease guests at the resort, but it’s getting those guests to the parks that is the difficult part.  This survey doesn’t surprise me, it’s a natural reaction for people planning a family in the future.  But I can’t help feel there are many different reasons for guests to be cancelling or not planning a trip, Zika is just another reason on a long list.

Have you changed your plans due to worries about Zika?