Opinion | Fate of Disneyland, Ocean Park hangs on Hong Kong’s tourism future

Whatever we do with the 60-hectare lot alongside Hong Kong Disneyland, we won’t be building a second Disney theme park, following economic development secretary Edward Yau Tang-wah’s decision to scrap the plan.

Although this was presented as a bold decisive move, the option to buy the adjacent site was always dependent on certain business performance measures being met (attendance, etc). As they have not been, the option lapsed. So what the government actually decided was not to renew it with relaxed conditions.

Also worth remembering is that the park and the right to buy the nearby lot are in fact owned by the joint venture company Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited, whose majority shareholder is the Hong Kong government. So the development restrictions on the adjacent site, sometimes criticised as an unfair imposition by a foreign party, are to protect the government’s investment in the park as much as anything else.

There has been much public discussion about what to do with the land, including on an RTHK radio show last week. The boldest suggestion was to scrap the park altogether and use the site and surrounding area for housing. There is already an MTR link, so perhaps we could manage without the Lantau Tomorrow Vision, long attacked as being too expensive and environmentally damaging.