bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Raymond Ma

Flash back. The date is September 12, 2005. It is a beautiful public relations moment for Hong Kong.

The set dominated by the colour red, Vice-President Zeng Qinghong   and former Walt Disney chief executive officer Michael Eisner take centre stage, flanked by our city's leader Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and the entertainment giant's current boss Robert Iger.

Everywhere there are cuddly life-sized cartoon figures and the world seems to stand still - if just for a brief moment - as Hong Kong Disneyland opens its doors to the world.

It is the fruit of six years of hard work, controversial negotiations, and planning and building that cost HK$27 billion plus change.

At the time, the theory was that since Hong Kong was becoming less of a shopping mecca, it needed more interesting attractions so people would have a reason to come here and stay longer. Hence the need to build new and expensive attractions to maintain the flow of tourist dollars.

Fast forward 12 months, and a further three major multi-million-dollar attractions - and in some cases multi-billion-dollar - later, there is debate on whether it was money well spent.

There was the new HK$2.35 billion AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition centre, with its 70,000 sq m of floor space conveniently located near Chek Lap Kok, opened before the end of 2005.

Six months later, the government took the wraps off the HK$520 million Hong Kong Wetland Park, with hopes that the 60 hectares of 'world-class ecotourism' - which will cost HK$30 million to run - draws as many as 500,000 visitors in its first year.

Finally, the long-awaited Ngong Ping 360 cable car project, which cost HK$1 billion, was launched three weeks ago. But its start has been troubled by problems and complaints, most over the cabins stopping intermittently and reduced speeds due to high winds.

So it was a harsh dose of reality for some when the tourism industry trotted out last week to announce that the National Day and Mid-Autumn 'golden week', which ends when mainland tourists go back to work tomorrow, will be at best flat.

For some, the past 12 months have been a comedy of errors for the tourism industry.

'I find it regrettable that we have put so much money into [Disney] and it hasn't achieved the desired result,' said Emily Lau Wai-hing,  Legco's finance committee chairwoman, of the park's failure to draw as many tourists as expected.

'The [attendance] figures that they expected did not materialise and now of course they are giving away free tickets just to boost the number of people going in. It's not a really happy story.'

But still the construction work continues.

Before the year ends, there will be a 38,000 square metre SkyPlaza, boasting 134 shops and restaurants and a '4-D' cinema beneath two office towers, opened at the airport.

This will be followed next year by a HK$100 million, nine-hole golf course and another hotel - this time a four-star - in 2008.

Ocean Park will spend around HK$5.5 billion - half of it public funds - in a revamp intended to increase dramatically the number of species of land and marine animals and boost the number of park attractions to 70. Work will start next year and end in 2010.

But the most ambitious is the government's plan to turn West Kowloon into a cultural hub, which will cost HK$25 billion and involve the construction of three theatres, a performance venue, four museums, another exhibition centre, a water amphitheatre, four piazzas, and possibly the controversial Norman Foster-designed canopy.

Construction is still expected to start in 2007, with the facilities operational by 2011.

While the latest tourism board figures did show that 16.7 million visitors came to Hong Kong up until the end of August - an increase of 10.4 per cent compared to the 15.2 million tourists during the same period in 2005 - the tourism industry has voiced concerns that the projected target of 27 million visitors for this year may not be reached.

This has been attributed to Disney's performance and the delay in the launch of the Lantau cable car, Ngong Ping 360.

Part of the debate may be because official figures fail to show visitors are staying longer.

The board's surveys on exiting travellers also found that there was a marginal 0.3 percentage drop in the number of people who stayed in the city for at least one night, to 63 per cent.

In 2004, a year which saw the opening of the Avenue of Stars on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront - Hong Kong's answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame - and the launch of the permanent Symphony of Lights show, the length of the average tourist stay actually fell by 0.4 nights to just 3.7. This remained the same throughout 2005.

Despite repeated requests the Hong Kong Tourism Board did not comment for this story.

To be fair, most commentators interviewed by the Sunday Morning Post said it was still too early to say whether the new attractions have been a success. Many remain cautiously optimistic about their long-term potential.

This is an edited version of an article that appeared in the Sunday Morning Post on October 8.

Web links

www.discoverhongkong.com

- Find out more about Hong Kong's tourist attractions at this Hong Kong Tourism Board home page

www.tourism.gov.hk

- The Tourism Commission website provides tourism statistics and policy papers

www.np360.com.hk

- The official website for the Ngong Ping 360



Where are the tourists?