USA: Hurricane Irma Affects Florida's Tourism Industry

Hurricane Irma's path of destruction up Florida's Gulf Coast on Sunday threatens to disrupt a thriving state tourism industry worth more than $100 billion annually just months ahead of the busy winter travel season.

Some of the state's biggest attractions have announced temporary closures, including amusement park giants Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Legoland, and Sea World, which all planned to close through Monday.

About 20 cruise lines have Miami as a home port or a port of call, according to the PortMiami website, and many have had to move ships out of the area and revise schedules.

Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean have canceled and revised several sailings as a result of the storm and have offered credits and waivers on trips where passengers are unable to travel.

A Carnival spokesman said the situation in Florida on Sunday was still not clear enough to fully assess how widespread the effects will be.

We will know more in the hours ahead since the hurricane is active in Florida right now, spokesman Roger Frizzell said.

Irma made a second Florida landfall on Sunday on southwestern Marco Island as a Category 3 storm bringing winds of 115 miles per hour (185 kph) and life-threatening sea surge.

Disney canceled the Monday sailing of one of its cruise ships and said it is assessing future sailings, which stop throughout the Caribbean and in the Bahamas.

Florida is one of the world's top tourism destinations.

Last year nearly 113 million people visited the state, a new record, and spent $109 billion, state officials said earlier this year.

The first half of 2017 was on track to beat that record pace, officials said.

The damage Irma's winds and storm surge do to Florida's 660 miles (1,060 km) of beaches and the structures built along them during more than 30 years of explosive population growth will be critical to how quickly the state's No. 1 industry recovers.

The Gulf beaches west of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, are squarely in the storm's path.

In 2016, more than 6.3 million people visited Pinellas County, which encompasses those cities, and generated more $9.7 billion in economic activity.

Up and down the wide, sandy beaches of Pinellas County are traditional "old Florida" water-front hotels such as the Don Cesar, a coral pink 1920s hotel on St. Pete Beach, which was closed by the storm. There are also modern high-rises and resorts that are part of the nation's biggest chains and brands including Hyatt Hotels, Marriott International, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, and Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

The low-lying barrier islands would be inundated if Irma's storm surge reaches forecast heights of as high as 15 feet (4.6 meters).

While some newer structures in the area are built on elevated pilings, many older homes and businesses are not.



Tourism Observer

CHINA: Wang Jianlin Chairman Dalian Wanda Group Promises To Invest $14.7 Billion In Tourism

Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group Co Ltd said on Friday it will increase its investment in the southern province of Hunan by 100 billion yuan ($14.69 billion) to build a mega cultural and tourism project and 15 shopping malls.

Wanda, owned by China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, said most of the investment will go to Changsha, Hunan's capital city. It will add five more "Wanda Plaza" shopping malls in the city, and spend 50 billion yuan to build a "Wanda City" - a development that usually includes theme parks, shopping malls, hotels and residential projects.

"The entry of Wanda Plazas will significantly raise the business standard in Hunan cities, stimulate consumption, increase stable tax income and create a lot of jobs in the service industry," Wanda said in a statement. They will "enhance the transformation and upgrade of Hunan's economic structure."

Wanda is building similar projects around the country, betting that China's rising incomes will drive more domestic tourism. Wang said that Wanda would look to build at least 20 such complexes in China.

The group last saw the opening of a tourism park in the eastern city of Hefei in September.

Wang has been open about his rivalry with Walt Disney Co which opened a $5.5 billion resort in Shanghai in June.

Wanda Cultural Tourism Planning & Research Institute and Xishuangbanna Water Park were recently awarded a Leading Edge Award from the World Waterpark Association (WWA).

WWA, headquartered in United States, is the only authoritative organization in the international waterpark industry.

On October 19, Wanda Hotels & Resorts held its 2016 exhibition in Wanda Sofitel Beijing. 100 hotels owned by Wanda comprehensively showed the elegant demeanor of the four owned luxury hotel brands – Wanda Reign, Wand Vista, Wanda Realm and Wanda Jin to the industry.

On November 11, Wanda Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Changsha Municipal Government of Hunan Province. Under the agreement, Wanda Group will invest another RMB100 billion in Hunan with the construction of Wanda Cities and Wanda Plazas across the province.

The Group will invest RMB60 billion in Changsha with RMB50 billion allocated to the construction of a Wanda City. In addition, Wanda will also look into organizing international sporting events in Hunan. Together with the group’s earlier investments, Wanda is set to invest a total of over RMB120 billion in Hunan. The agreement signing ceremony was attended by Xu Dazhe, acting governor of Hunan Province, and Wang Jianlin, Chairman of Wanda Group.

Changsha Wanda City will be the second Wanda City to be built in central China following Nanchang Wanda City. It will be designed and constructed in accordance with the highest international standards and, once completed, it will drastically strengthen the tourism sector in Changsha, making it a world-class vacation destination and adding a new super IP to Changsha, which is called China’s Entertainment Capital.

Wanda Group plans to invest RMB50 billion to build 15 Wanda Plazas in cities across the province including Changsha, Yueyang, Hengyang, Changde, Zhuzhou, Chenzhou and Yongzhou; 5 of which in Changsha. This also marks the group’s first investments in Yueyang, Zhuzhou, Chenzhou and Yongzhou. With the new Wanda Plazas, the Group will have complete coverage of Hunan. The Wanda Plazas will significantly improve Hunan’s commercialac sector and promote consumers’ spending in the area. This, in turn, will ensure stable tax sources, create jobs in the service sector and promote the economic transformation of Hunan.