Disney's chief financial officer says bookings at domestic theme parks owned by the Walt Disney Company are showing no signs of a broader economic downturn.
Thomas Staggs spoke today at the Merrill Lynch Media and Entertainment conference in Los Angeles. He reported bookings for travel in the current quarter are up over the same period last year.
As Staggs put it, "I'm not saying the parks are immune to the economy. But thus far, we're not seeing any impact in the numbers."
The Disney official said international visitation to the parks has still not recovered from the September 11th terrorist attacks. Stagg said international visits might be expected to increase because of the weak dollar, but difficulties in gaining travel visas to the United States are still having a negative impact.
Staggs said Disney will likely increase capital spending to beef up its lagging second gate in California. He added that Disney is unlikely to open any new parks in the United States in the foreseeable future.
