Disney visitors from India up 80pc
The number of visitors from India to Hong Kong Disneyland rose 80 per cent in the year to September 30 compared with the previous 12 months.
Visitor numbers from Taiwan and the mainland were up 30 per cent and there was 'healthy' growth in visitors from Thailand and the Philippines.
The figures were revealed by Aliana Ho Chan Mei-hung, vice-president of sales and distribution marketing at the park - in which the government owns a majority stake and which is nearing its fifth anniversary. Since the park opened, about two-thirds of the visitors had come from outside Hong Kong, with the bulk of them from the mainland, Ho said.
Details of attendance and the theme park's 2009-10 financial results will be released next month. 'Following the economic crisis in 2008, business was down and the recovery started in 2009,' Ho said. 'In our first quarter [in the 2009-10 financial] year, from October to December, our corporate business picked up quite a lot.' The Lantau park has hosted more than 1,000 corporate events and more than 300 weddings this year. Ho said about 70 per cent of the slots available for weddings in 2011 were booked.
Corporate trade had picked up considerably in the current quarter, she said. Last month, more than 400 delegates from Australia's Jetset travel group spent two nights at the theme park for their annual congress.
Hong Kong Disneyland is keen to position itself as a destination for higher-spending family and business travellers. The MICE - or meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions - business helps fill hundreds of rooms at the Disneyland and Hollywood hotels during less busy periods, such as weekdays. Business travellers and conventioneers generally spend more than leisure visitors and account for a large proportion of profits.
