The first batch of tourists who went to the Hong Kong Disneyland on the day of its opening not only had a wonderful experience in playing but also had a shopping spree.

Income from ticket selling and souvenirs reached more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars on the first day and tourist boom is expected to continue on Tuesday.

The service hour started at one o'clock in the afternoon. Yet before that, many tourists had already made up a good plan as what to buy. As soon as the door opened, hundreds tourists rushed to the shops in the American small town for all those lovable gifts.

People working at the shopping site said among all souvenirs, the magician Mickey Mouse wearing blue hat and red robe and sold at a price of between 85 to 450 Hong Kong dollars, was in high demand.

A set of commemorative badges that consisted of ten kinds and were sold with limited numbers, were also selling well.

A tourist working at the Disneyland in the United States, Mr. Chen said the souvenirs sold at Hong Kong were very "unique." For Mr. Huang, cost was not a piece of cake at all for his family of four, yet he said that the Disneyland in California and Orlando did not have souvenirs in similar kinds.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Disneyland aimed to do more publicizing in the mainland market.

Statistics from the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Hong Kong Disneyland Park showed that at present, Hong Kong travelers made up one-third of the tourists in the park, with foreign visitors and mainland visitors sharing the rest.

The theme park planned to spend 30 to 40 percent of its publicizing expenditure in future to raise the proportion of mainland visitors up to 40 percent and Guangzhou in south China became the first stop.   

(Chinanews.cn September 13, 2005)