The company SeaWorld dismissed an undetermined number of employees in the United States in pursuit of greater efficiency, as reported on Saturday by a media outlet in Orlando, a city in central Florida and where the firm has its corporate headquarters.
The company, which in addition to SeaWorld Orlando has 11 other theme parks in the United States, made the personnel cuts last Friday, according to SeaWorld Entertainment spokeswoman Suzanne Pelisson-Beasley, to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper, without specifying the number of layoffs nor the money that the firm expects to save.
“Like most companies, we evaluate operations regularly to make sure we are properly organized for performance and efficiency.” As part of those ongoing efforts, SeaWorld has eliminated a limited number of positions, “said Pelisson-Beasley.
The spokeswoman declined to say what areas and departments have been downsized, although the media reports that they have affected animal trainers, staff working with birds, and employees of the marketing and operations departments.
SeaWorld, which has 4,700 full-time workers and about 12,000 part-time workers, is trying to recover from the effects of the documentary “Blackfish” (2013), which denounced the situation of killer whales and their trainers.
As a result of the bad publicity that the film provoked, the company suffered losses in its balance sheets, especially in 2016 and 2017, as a result of the decline of the public attending its theme parks, which base their offer on interaction with animals in captivity.
In an attempt to renew the image of its parks and counteract the criticism of environmental groups, SeaWorld has recently incorporated educational exhibits and new attractions.
The firm has already had to undertake other cuts of personnel, such as the 350 dismissed in 2017 and 125 in 2018, and undertake a reorganization of its board of directors, product of which in February he added to his ranks as executive director to Gus Torch, from of the cruise sector.
