The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. - As a sluggish economy and war fears continue to take a toll on the tourism industry, Walt Disney World is cutting back the hours of some of its part-time employees and said Friday that there may be layoffs.

The announcement came days after Disney imposed an indefinite hiring freeze at its central Florida attractions and resorts, which employ about 54,000 workers.

The cutbacks affect the resort's "casual-regular" employees, who work less than 25 hours a week. There are 4,000 to 5,000 such employees at Disney, spokeswoman Marilyn Waters said, but she did not know how many workers would be affected.

Tourism remains soft, according to an industry analyst.

"Even on a conference call a couple weeks ago, (Disney) talked about advance bookings being down modestly," said Spencer Wang of J.P. Morgan. "So, really, this is not that much of a surprise."