Business as usual for theme parks

By Wang Wen (China Daily) Updated: 2014-06-17 07:03

However, the theme parks in Hong Kong face longer-term challenges, including the expansion of the park sector in the mainland and the decline in mainland visitors to Hong Kong.

"I am waiting for the opening of Disneyland in Shanghai," said Zhang Man, 29, who lives in Shanghai and plans to take her 2-year-old daughter to the local Disneyland in the next year.

Zhang said her daughter is too little to fly to Hong Kong and the park in Shanghai is her best choice.

Meanwhile, the number of mainland travelers to Hong Kong dropped in May for the first time since 2003, when the special administrative region opened independent tours to mainland residents.

During the three-day holiday in May, 388,070 mainland travelers visited Hong Kong, down from 394,476 the previous year, according to the Immigration Department of Hong Kong.

The retail industry has been heavily affected by the visitor decline in recent months.

The Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong said retail sales in April fell 9.8 percent year-on-year to about HK$38.8 billion ($5 billion), the largest decline in the past five years.

The decline was mainly due to a plunge in the sales of jewelry, watches and clocks and valuable gifts, the department said in its statement.

The impact of a decline in mainland visitors will be even more obvious if the local government cuts the quota for solo travelers by 20 percent, some experts said, though this move is still under discussion in the government.

"It is necessary for the local government to adjust the tourism situation, since the fast-growing tourism sector has already caused social conflicts in Hong Kong, but it should be on a structural level, rather than quantity," said Jiang Yiyi, director of the China Tourism Academy's international tourism development division.

Jiang said Hong Kong still has the capacity for more travelers, because its arrivals are much fewer than many other big cities in the world, even Beijing.