The owner of the Tokyo Disney Resort today reported its first-ever annual loss, due to the pandemic.
The Oriental Land Co., which owns and operates Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea under license from The Walt Disney Company, reported an operating loss of nearly ¥46 billion (US$422.5 million) in its fiscal year ending March 31, 2021. OLC reported an operating profit of ¥96.8 billion in its 2019 fiscal year.
Attendance dropped to 7.56 million guests, down from 29 million the year before, due to the months-long closure of the parks, followed by having to operate with sharply reduced capacity. However, net sales per guest increased by 17.5% this year - to ¥13,642 (US$125.54) - due to higher spending on admission, merchandise and food & beverage.
The Tokyo Disney theme parks closed on February 29, 2020 and remained closed through June 30, 2020, so part of the closure fell during the end of the 2019 fiscal year. The parks are still open now since Tokyo Disney's Chiba Prefecture does not fall under the recent state of emergency that closed Universal Studios Japan in Osaka as well as other attractions and businesses in Japan.
Tokyo Disneyland recently opened the largest expansion in its history, anchored by the new Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast dark ride and Fantasyland Forest Theatre. Meanwhile, construction continues on Tokyo DisneySea's largest expansion, the new Fantasy Springs port.
OLC also reported today that Kenji Yoshida, 60, will be promoted to president and chief operating officer on June 29, replacing Kyoichiro Uenishi, 63, who will become a special adviser to the company.
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Tokyo's entire economy took a hit as they had been going all-in prepping for the Olympics and that delay hitting the already affected country badly. It's a blow and with cases in Japan still bad, it could be a while to balance out.