Mickey's tale of two
cities By Janus Lam and Sam Ng
HONG KONG - In 1999, as Hong Kong was
struggling to recover from the 1997 Asian
financial crisis, the Hong Kong government, in
search of stimulatory measures, envisioned the
Hong Kong Disneyland project as a miraculous
remedy. However, about six years elapsed before
the theme park finally opened on September 12. For
the moment, the park has not contributed to the
economic recovery as much as expected.
One
key question hanging over the project is whether
another park will be constructed in Shanghai,
since it is feared that a Shanghai Disneyland will
draw customers away from the Hong Kong park. While
the Hong Kong facility is certainly offering
Disney useful experience for further projects in
China, it is unclear how the Shanghai plans will
affect the economic benefits originally envisioned
by the Hong Kong authorities. Reports in recent
days that Disney is considering yet another Asian
project, this time in
Seoul, have only added
another question mark; on September 27, news
services quoted a Seoul city government official
as confirming that the company is conducting a
feasibility study for a new Disneyland in Seoul
Grand Park, an existing theme park south of Seoul
which has been overshadowed in recent years by
newer parks nearby.
Beijing was plainly an
enthusiastic supporter of the Hong Kong Disneyland
project, as it showed by sending Vice President
Zeng Qinghong to participate in the opening
ceremony. However, with the smallest area and the
fewest amusement facilities of any extant Disney
park, the Hong Kong park is considered by many
observers to be just a test drive for tapping the
potential Chinese market. It is believed that
Disney, stung by its experience with the
much-larger Disneyland Resort Paris, which was
unprofitable when first opened in 1992, decided to
build Hong Kong Disneyland on a much smaller scale
with the possibility of later expansion. Sources
say the Shanghai Disneyland project now on the
table would occupy 500 hectares, twice the size of
its Hong Kong peer which covers a mere 126
hectares in the initial stage, with another 54
hectares planned for phase II construction.
Disney itself has reaffirmed that there
will not be a second Disneyland in China until at
least 2010, giving the Hong Kong project a Chinese
monopoly for at least five years. But reports have
said that the Shanghai government has already
demarcated the 500 hectares for the Shanghai
facility, and Disney planners and other staff for
preliminary work have already relocated from Hong
Kong to Shanghai. Since a Disney park typically
takes around six years from preparation to
inauguration, there is speculation that the
Shanghai park project may be officially announced
by the end of the year in order to open as soon as
possible after 2010.
The Shanghai
authorities might learn some valuable lessons from
Hong Kong's experience when it comes to bargaining
with US corporations. To close the deal with
Disney, the Hong Kong government agreed to spend
HK$22.4 billion (US$2.89 billion) on landfill
reclamation, drainage and transport
infrastructure, and even set up a joint venture
partnership with Disney and lent money to the
venture. Disney itself only had to pony up HK$2.45
billion. On the other hand, as of 2005, Hong
Kong's foreign exchange reserves had accrued to
some US$122.3 billion, ranking seventh in the
world, so the concession was not unaffordable.
Statistics show that the theme park has
created 16,000 jobs in Hong Kong, but if the
entire HK$22.4 billion investment is divided by
the number of jobs, the creation of every single
job cost more than HK$1.56 million. Therefore,
Shanghai should make a more realistic assessment
of its own project's effects on employment.
It is clear that the Shanghai authorities
are determined to win a Disneyland contract. In
March 1999, then-Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi planned
to delimit an area of 10 square kilometers and
offer US$1 billion of capital (construction costs
and land rents excluded) for the park. Last year,
Shanghai generated US$87.6 billion in GDP, while
Hong Kong still outperformed it with US$163
billion. But Hong Kong Disneyland has not been
open long enough to answer the crucial question of
whether the colossal investments make economic
sense.
Some critics have said Disney is
"taking advantage" of the competition between Hong
Kong and Shanghai, and recommend the Chinese
central government intervene and play a mediator
role between the two cities to make sure the
national interest is served. However, others note
that even within the mainland government itself,
there is a tendency for officials to favor
particular regions, meaning that any such step
would simply transfer the existing rivalry to
another venue.
The question of how, and
how much, Disneyland will benefit the whole
economy is certainly worthy of study. Experts
conclude that the Hong Kong Disneyland for the
moment has failed to push the economy as
anticipated because most visitor spending is
inside the park, not outside. While economists
generally agree that the theme park will boost
tourism, the tourism sector has only accounted for
6-7% of Hong Kong's GDP in the past five years.
What may deserve more attention are
certain political problems that the exotic theme
park may bring about. Some Hong Kong media have
criticized the new park on the grounds that it
duplicated certain practices from its American
counterparts, such as employing its own private
security and sanitation personnel, while keeping
real police and hygiene officers outside the
fantasy kingdom. To some people, this is redolent
of the "extraterritorial privileges" that foreign
colonists enjoyed within their Chinese enclaves
during the 19th century. Certainly, anything that
smacks of "extraterritoriality" is liable to be
highly sensitive and unpopular on the Chinese
mainland.
From Disney's standpoint,
locating the first Chinese park in Hong Kong was
considered a safe choice. After the setback of
Disneyland Resort Paris (originally dubbed Euro
Disney), it finally dawned on the company's
management that the intrinsically American theme
park culture had to be localized on foreign lands.
[Ed: contrary to this assertion, one of the
reasons for Euro Disney's problems was that it was
too localized - it offered extensive French
food offerings when it opened, for example, but it
turned out that European tourists had no interest
in eating European food at a Disney park,
preferring to eat American-style food there.] Hong
Kong's status as a former British colony made it a
melting pot of Chinese and Occidental cultures,
customs and operation modes, which made it a
perfect "ingress" into the huge Chinese market for
Disney.
Nevertheless, various problems
have emerged from cultural differences during the
testing phase, and Hong Kong Disneyland lost no
time in making an open apology after the
extraterritoriality accusations hit the headlines.
But it is worth noting that, had a similar
incident occurred in Shanghai, the outcome of such
sensitive charges would have been far more
sensational and damaging.
Owing to various
negative accounts prior to Disneyland's opening,
many mainland-based travel agencies have been
reluctant to participate in the "park rush" after
opening day. In Guangzhou, a mainland city near
Hong Kong, the media extensively covered the
inauguration of the park, estimating that visitors
from Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas
respectively accounted for one-third of the
first-day influx of 16,000 people. On the
September 12 opening day, package tourists from
Guangzhou to Hong Kong amounted to 1,600 in total,
setting a record high. A Shenzhen-based travel
agency, which has the dealership for Disneyland
admissions, said the tickets were not selling
particularly well except those for high-demand
periods, such as opening day and the National Day
vacation starting October 1. But the industry
still hopes for traffic to grow in the long run,
considering the undying Disney charm.
Yang
Jiaqi, Director of Hong Kong and Macau office of
Guandong Nanhu International Travel Service, told
Asia Times Online that the panoramic view was not
optimistic despite various advertising stunts.
While the allotted ticket quota is not clear, the
practice of bundling the sales of admission
tickets and with the built-in five-star hotel
rooms is risky. At present, Nanhu prices the
two-day Disneyland trip at 1,290 yuan (about
US$159) for one person and 2,190 yuan for two
people. "People inquire, but few of them sign up
for the trip," Yang said.
That is mainly
because people are concerned with the expense.
"The bundled sale of tickets and hotel rooms is
not acceptable to many customers, and most prefer
the less expensive hotels nearby," said Yang. At
the moment, accommodation turns out to be the
bottleneck in Disneyland promotion. Some tour
operators have complained at the conceited posture
of Disney, in not only demanding that tickets be
sold along with hotel rooms, but also asking
mainland travel agencies for substantial deposits.
In response, a group of travel service providers
in north China has already threatened to boycott
the park if negotiations fail.
"Hong Kong
Disneyland has been hyped up far beyond its worth.
It's too small. [The] facilities are few but [the]
queues are long. It's not on the same par with
Tokyo Disneyland. I prefer [Hong Kong's] Ocean
Park better," a tourist guide in Guangzhou
complained. In fact, Hong Kong Disneyland at its
current size is the smallest Disney park
worldwide, and is even outsized by two existing
theme parks in Guangdong province. The park
advertises 20 amusement facilities, but its roller
coaster and other attractions are still under
development. In addition, the broadcasts of many
popular games and plays are in English and
Cantonese, which reduces their attraction for
mainland and Taiwan visitors.
But the
inherent world-class reputation of Disneyland, and
the fascination of many Chinese with the Disney
culture, promise a bright future for the new park
nonetheless. An informal survey by Asia Times
Online showed that eight of 10 adults in Guangzhou
would enjoy a trip to the park - to say nothing of
the myriad cartoon-loving kids.
(Copyright
2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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