Ticket sales at Toronto theatres are soft, and producers are worried that the summer tourist season will be a disappointment. “Although theatres everywhere are reporting a dramatic shift in the buying habits of consumers — instead of booking seats two or three months in advance, they now order weeks or even days ahead of time — the Toronto situation is exacerbated by several other factors. Local officials are loath to concede the point, but the reality is that the city is still suffering the aftershocks of the 2003 SARS outbreak, which drove a sharp spike into tourism revenues.”