Cirque du Soleil to end shows at Tokyo Disneyland

Cirque du Soleil is to withdraw from the Tokyo Disney Resort at the end of the year.

Oriental Land, the theme park's operator, made the announcement yesterday (25th July) citing the impact of the 11th March earthquake-tsunami disaster.

Its statement read "it is with regret ... that due to the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the business environment for this theatre has greatly changed.

"Based on a review of the expected results and the long-term viability of the show, it was mutually agreed that the business environment would remain extremely difficult. Therefore it was decided to close the show."

Performances of the circus company's 'ZED' show will end on 31st December according to the statement, which also highlighted the strong business success since Cirque du Soleil opened a permanent theatre in October 2008 in the Disney Resort.

Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea closed for 20 days after the earthquake and tsunami hit eastern Japan, depressing the combined visitor figure for the 2010 fiscal year to 31st March by 1.8% on-year to 25.4 million people.