Economy catches up with Central Florida attractions
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Universal Orlando laid off about 70 employees in January and senior staff at Walt Disney World have been offered buyouts to leave, as these and other resorts confront an increasingly dire economic outlook.
The positions eliminated at Universal are mostly management-level jobs, with some in administrative and support areas. Although the cuts amount to less than 1% of Universal’s 13,000 local employees, they illustrate the company’s growing concern about how theme-park attendance will fare this year as the sinking economy forces more cash-strapped consumers to cut back on travel.
The layoffs at Universal came less than 24 hours after the Walt Disney Company offered buyouts to 619 executives throughout its domestic theme-park division, including 313 people in Orlando. Disney warned that it will make staff redundant if too few executives accept the buyouts.
SeaWorld Orlando had no layoffs planned at the time writing.
