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Disney opens its first theme park in China
(AFP/AP)
Updated: 2005-09-12 14:51
Disney hopes the park -- the 11th in its global empire -- will be a magnet for increasingly wealthy Chinese tourists, who have a reputation for being big-spenders.
"This is a first big step," Walt Disney Co. President Robert Iger said about the park's role in expanding the company's reach into China, where generations have grown up with little or no familiarity with Mickey Mouse.
Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse pose with visitors at the Hong Kong Disneyland September 12, 2005. [Reuters] |
Iger said the park would create a media buzz and word-of-mouth excitement that would ignite interest in Disney films, TV shows and other products. He said that state-owned China Central Television was doing a special about the park.
"It's going to be seen by, I'm told, as many as a billion people, which is tremendous," Iger told The Associated Press.
Michael Eisner, Disney's chief executive officer, said China and Disneyland will be a perfect match because they both value families.
"You go to the park and you see mothers, daughters and kids and grandparents. The family unit in China is unbelievably strong. It's not just Hong Kong, it's the Chinese mainland," Eisner said.
Hong Kong and Disney struck a deal to build the park in 1999 -- just two years after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule. The city had been battered by the Asian financial crisis, and desperately needed a new project to boost its spirits and troubled economy.
Disneyland says it employs 5,000 people and will draw 5.6 million visitors in its first year.
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