Walt Disney World has pulled its colorful brochures from thousands of hotels, motels, restaurants and businesses throughout the state, maintaining they do little to attract visitors staying at other Florida tourist destinations.
Disney officials call it a business decision, but the move has angered some hoteliers and tourism executives. They say their guests have been inconvenienced by the absence of information about Florida's most popular attraction.
"Shock; that was my initial reaction," said Bob Davis, president and chief executive officer of the Hotel Motel Association of Volusia County, which represents more than 100 hotels. "I am questioning why they would not want 8 million visitors who come to Daytona Beach and Volusia County every year. I think they made a poor decision."
"We made a business decision," said Bill Warren, Disney's vice president of public affairs. "Our research indicated that the brochures that were in the hotels were not the reason for people to come to Disney. We are always evaluating the effectiveness of our marketing, and if something is not effective, it doesn't necessarily make sense to keep investing in it."
Steve Baker, an Orlando theme-park consultant and former Disney executive, said the move is in line with the company's increased emphasis on getting visitors to stay at Disney-owned hotels and spend several days visiting all of the company's theme parks.
"A hotel guest is a much more lucrative guest than a day guest," Baker said.
Disney ordered distributors to remove the brochures by Sept. 30, 2006, and destroy all of the remaining ones to ensure they would not become outdated.
Brochures remain in the Orlando and Kissimmee areas and at a few tourist information centers throughout the state.
Warren would not say how much the company spent on the brochures.
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