THE ECONOMIC AND FISCAL IMPACTS OF WALT DISNEY WORLD ON ORANGE, OSCEOLA, AND BREVARD COUNTIES
- The opening of Walt Disney World (WDW) in 1971 transformed Central Florida’s economy and ushered in the modern era of tourism in the region. Today, Orlando is the number one tourist destination in the world.
- Tourism is Central Florida’s most important industry, and WDW is the region’s single largest employer. In 2003 WDW directly employed over 49,000 almost all of them at the Walt Disney World resort complex in Orange and Osceola Counties largest single-site workforce in the entire U.S.
- In addition to the WDW employees, there are an additional 14,000 on site workers employed by third party hoteliers, restaurants and other related activities. Also, some 1,200 more work at Celebration. WDW and its related activities supported a workforce of over 65,000 in 2003. Table I summarizes the economic and financial impacts of the WDW’s operations.
TableI. Summary of Economic and Fiscal Impacts of Walt Disney World on Orange, Osceola and Brevard Counties
Total Direct Indirect Total
Jobs 65,123 46,079 111,202
Payroll/earnings $1,902 $1,028 $2,931
Expenditures $2,550 $2,567 $5,117
Fiscal Impact County $186 $25 $211
School Board $133 $5 $138
- In addition to directly generating more than 65,000 total jobs, WDW and its employees support an additional 46,079 jobs in Central Florida. These downstream, or multiplier effects, result from the spending by WDW employees and the Company’s local purchases of goods and services. Thus, total employment generated by WDW exceeds 110,000. This represented 12.1% of total jobs in the Orlando MSA in 2003. ·
- WDW’s annual payroll exceeds $1.3 Billion. Other jobs directly supported by WDW generate over $600 million in annual payrolls. The indirectly supported workers earn an additional $1.0 Billion. In total WDW pumps almost $3 Billion per year into the earnings stream of Central Florida.