Shanghai-Disney deal gets pricey
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In 1999, when Asia was struggling through a financial crisis, HK$32 billion were invested to bring Mickey to Hong Kong. The region hoped the project would boost the faltering economy.
Since the 2005 opening, the number of visitors to the theme park has totaled 23.9 million, 22.1 percent fewer than what the local government predicted in 1999. And more troubling is that the park raked in just 14.7 billion yuan for Hong Kong in the first four years, or 53 percent than the original estimate, People's Daily has reported.
Suspected reasons behind the Hong Kong Disneyland's uninspiring performance include its relatively small size, competition from other attractions in the city and the fact that Chinese people on the mainland have to fill out paperwork before traveling to Hong Kong.
In Shanghai, the local government will own only 57 percent of the park despite putting up a big share of the infrastructure investment. Walt Disney & Co will hold the rest of the share by providing management and intellectual property.
This is almost the same cooperation method for the Hong Kong park, ifeng.com reported.
"As Shanghai is seeing a jump in inflation and an increase in CPI, local residents are more concerned about their daily lives than a Disneyland," Qiang Yongchang, a professor with the Economic Institute at Fudan University, told the Global Times. "It is not a wise choice to start the project right after the 180-day-long World Expo."
"Over 50 percent of tourists visiting the Disneyland in Hong Kong come from the Chinese mainland. Now they have another option in Shanghai, which requires no paperwork to visit. The park in Hong Kong is likely to suffer even more," he added.
Wan Jun, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that if the Shanghai government can keep a cool head in the cooperation and wisely use the Disney brand, the new park will help the city a lot.
"The park in Hong Kong was hastily introduced to combat the financial crisis. Shanghai has no such concerns. However, they still need to bring some new elements to the project and manage it properly," he said.
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