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Uncertain times for Mickey in Hong Kong

By Joseph Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-20 08:08

The number of visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland last year increased 2 percent to 4.6 million, while per capita expenditure dropped 1 percent at the struggling venue from the previous year.

During the same period the theme park reported a whopping HK$1.32 billion loss after interest and taxes.

The poor showing was met with dissatisfaction from the theme park's biggest shareholder, the Hong Kong special administrative region government.

This was the first financial disclosure since Disney's opening in September 2005. The theme park previously refused to disclose attendance figures and financial results. It conceded last year after the Hong Kong government made future expansion plans by Disney contingent upon the regular release of financial figures.

Since its opening to December 2009, Hong Kong Disneyland received 19 million visitors, said Bill Ernest, Walt Disney's Asia-Pacific president and managing director. Despite the global financial crisis and the H1N1 scare, the number of visitors increased from 4.5 million to 4.6 million year-on-year in 2009.

Local visitors accounted for 41 percent of attendance, while 36 percent came from the mainland and the remainder were international visitors. From October 2008 to May 2009, Disney recorded double-digit visitor growth - until the H1N1 flu broke out, Ernest said.

The park is currently expanding its offerings, with the total area to increase 23 percent upon completion in 2014.

Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Andrew Kam said the global economic downturn reduced visitor numbers from Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

While summer months are normally the peak season for Disney, park tourism was hit hard from May to December last year by the H1N1 flu.

Disney officials have vowed to attract more visitors but declined to disclose their visitor growth forecast for the next few years. Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Rita Lau said the financial results are not as good as expected, and that Disney would be urged to improve cost controls.

Raymond So, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's faculty of business administration, said attendance figure are acceptable given the impact of the financial crisis and the H1N1 outbreak, adding that Hong Kong Disneyland needs to enhance its competitiveness in the face of competition from Singapore and Shanghai.