The Délégation Interministérielle au Projet Euro Disneyland à Paris in late December released an extensive study on the economic impact of the Disneyland Paris since its opening on the local economy covering the time up to and including 2008. While everyone following the development of the resort and the numbers of guests it attracts certainly will have expected that it had a long-term impact on the area and its economy the extent of the impact might be surprising to some. It has been repeated over and over that Disneyland Paris is “the number one tourist destination in Europe” with 15.6 million guests in 2008 – as also once again confirmed by Daniel Canepa, head of the Délégation Interministériell”, at the presentation of the study. Just for comparison its “best local competitors” regarding visitor numbers: Musée du Louvre – 8.4 millions, Tour Eiffel – 6.7 million, Versailles – 5.6 millions, Musée d’Orsay – 3 millions and Centre Pompidou – 2,7 million (all data from 2008) … so no risk that they may get ahead of DLp anytime soon.
But would you have guessed that the resort is the fifth most important hotel location in all of France after Paris, Lourdes, Nice and Lyon (based and occupancy) and is responsible for more than 10.11% of the total number of hotel nights booked in the Ile-de-France region and up to 71% of the hotel nights booked in the Seine-et-Marne area? Quite impressive, especially as the resort only makes up 4.,73% of the hotel capacity in Ile-de-France and 46.8% of the hotel capacity in Seine-et-Marne indicating much higher occupancy rates than the hotels outside the resort.
Or what about the fact that one third of the international guests of Disneyland Paris combine theit visit to the resort with a visit of Paris? And the other way round: of the 78.4 million foreign tourists that came to France in 2008 4.6% visited Disneyland Paris which thereby contributed 6.43% of the total of the foreign exchange revenues generated by tourism in France in 2008. The study also reveals that the 3.6 million international guests of the resort in 2008 contributed a revenue of approximately 2.43 billion Euro in 2008 if their spending outside the resort is also considered.
Or what about this one: In 2008 – the last year covered by the study – the resort’s total economic contribution was approximately 6.5 billion Euro, up almost 40 percent from the prior study in 2005. This increase apparently was mostly fueled by the economic impact that the increase in guest numbers at the resort (up 26.6% since the last study) and hotel stays at the resort had (up 16.6% since the last study) as well as the 10% increase in the resort’s total employment numbers (certainly fueled themselves by the prior two factors).
This revenue certainly has an impact on the fiscal household of France as well. According to the study the VAT generated for the state based on the activities and the economic consequences of Disneyland Paris in 2008 was a total 344.4 million Euro (up 49.2% since 2005) while other taxes rose to an additional 60.4 million Euro in 2008 compared to 47 million Euro in 2005 (includung amongst others real estate taxes, wage taxes etc.).
The resort is considered to provide employment for up to 56,000 person in France, considering direct employment (which means directly within the resort) as well as indirect and induced employment all over France, whereby for each person directly employed with the resort 2.78 person are employed indirectly or induced.
The data should not only be of interest to those following the French Disney resort but also those following the growth and performance of the still struggleing Hong Kong Disneyland and the future Disneyland Shanghai (construction for the latter could start as early as this summer, as current plans call for the resettlement of the locals living on the future site of the resort to be finished by June). For those interested in more detail a 6 page abstract of the study (as provided to the press) is available in French on the offical website including explanatory graphics.
