ONE KEY INSIGHT into why we should be on our guard about this consultancy proposal that we build at least two more cruise liner berths comes from consultant Scott Lagueux himself.
'After the Hong Kong Disney opens, Disney may want to link its park in Tokyo with the one in Hong Kong with cruise tours,' he said last week.
You can just picture it. Let us say that Disney also gets what would no doubt be its dream location for such a terminal - right beside the Lantau Disney park. You would then have Disney patrons who would not even need a Hong Kong dollar in their pockets to spend a few days here.
Straight from the ship to the park and back to the ship they would go, eating imported foods, amusing themselves with foreign-themed entertainments and being served by migrant labour.
It would be a Disney tour, not a Hong Kong tour, and you would not need more than the fingers of one hand to count what they would leave in the Hong Kong economy itself, probably in cents even then.
In fact, even if the cruise terminal were located in the harbour they would not leave much here. A cruise operator is not stupid. If his passengers have money to spend he would prefer they spend it on the ship. That is why the meal pass comes with the ticket and all new cruise ships have extensive shopping malls.
It is the standard complaint of the impoverished Caribbean islands that these ships so heavily patronise. The big money boat comes and goes, keeping all of its money on board and the islanders remain poor.