Disney magic missing in Hong Kong

HONG KONG - Mickey Mouse operation or scapegoat?

After three months, Hong Kong Disneyland is struggling to meet the city's hopes for an economic shot in the arm, with some retailers and politicians complaining the US$1.8 billion ($2.7 billion) theme park is luring too few tourists.

Customers, on the other hand, have complained of long queues and too few attractions. Local media have seized on every misstep, airing the complaints of disgruntled employees and a local pop star's account of rude treatment by park staff.

"It's too small and too expensive," said Maurice Wong, 22, a Taiwanese violinist who visited Disneyland with his orchestra. Scrutiny is intensified by the fact that the local government paid US$2 billion to build infrastructure to support the park.

Hong Kong Disneyland marketing vice-president Roy Tan said expectations were too high when Hong Kong was recovering from an outbreak of the Sars respiratory disease in 2003.

"We were supposed to be the silver bullet for all the issues Hong Kong faced - unemployment, the economy, service culture," Tan said.

"But we have always said we are part of the destination of Hong Kong, not the destination."

Walt Disney has gone on the offensive on visitor numbers, announcing last month the resort had drawn one million guests in its first 100 days.

Last Tuesday, the 30,000 capacity park said for the first time that all available tickets were sold on a day when schools were closed while Hong Kong hosted a World Trade Organisation meeting. It did not say how many tickets had been sold.

But a visitor that day said he saw none of the hour-long queues for three-minute rides common when Hong Kong was abuzz with Disney fever in mid-September.

Before the park opened, 18,000 people turned up to ride on the first day of train services to its entrance, taking their photographs by the Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and hand grips.

Investment bank CLSA upgraded its forecast for Hong Kong's economic growth to 6.7 per cent from 6.4 per cent because Disney enthusiasm was expected to lift consumer and business confidence.

Disney refuses to release daily attendance numbers, but Tan said the park was on course to meet its target of 5.6 million visitors in its first year, an average of over 15,000 a day.

Disney's figures for its first 100 days, including free trials, imply above 10,000 visitors a day. A count by the South China Morning Post newspaper in November showed nearly 13,000 people visited on a Sunday and 11,399 on a Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Government, which has a 57 per cent stake in Disneyland, estimates the park will generate US$19 billion in revenue over 40 years, creating 18,000 jobs across the economy in its first year.

Some 5.3 per cent of the city's seven million people are unemployed, with 2.4 per cent classed as underemployed.

Some visitors note it doesn't cater as much to adults as the far larger Disney parks in the United States, France and Japan.

Disneyland, which sells adult tickets for nearly US$40, is focusing its marketing efforts on mainland China and Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

In China, the park promotes itself with Disney feature films on television to familiarise people with its characters, and also pushes the resort as a family-friendly convention venue.

Hong Kong received a monthly record of 2.14 million visitors in October, up 6 per cent from 2004, but retailers still complain.

"The Disneyland effect is lower than expected," the chairman of cosmetics retailer Sa Sa, Simon Kwok, lamented in November after reporting a fall in his company's profits.

Tan was not impressed. "If retail sales were good they would talk up their great marketing strategy, not Disneyland," he said.

- REUTERS