Hong Kong Disneyland still opens new hotels due to losses, the industry is still optimistic about the prospects of theme parks

Despite falling into a loss, it still opens a new hotel. Hong Kong Disney's latest move has attracted the attention and heated discussion of the tourism industry. As the May Day holiday approaches, theme parks in Guangdong and Hong Kong are making intensive moves, hoping to get a piece of the competitive market.

Original title: Hong Kong Disneyland is in a loss but still opens a new hotel.

Competition is fierce. Although it is in a loss situation, it still opens a new hotel. Hong Kong Disneyland's latest move has attracted the attention and heated discussion of the tourism industry. As the May Day holiday approaches, theme parks in Guangdong and Hong Kong are making intensive moves, hoping to get a piece of the competitive market.

The May Day holiday is approaching, theme parks are frequently promoting new programs.

Every small holiday is a tourist attraction point for the growth of theme park passenger flow. Hong Kong Disneyland has seized market attention by launching a new hotel called "Disney Explorer Resort". Chimelong Resort also immediately used the "Ten Thousand People Bikini" to launch the 2017 Sunshine "Summer" Water Ceremony.

During the past Qingming Festival holiday, among the theme parks in Guangdong, traffic increased in scenic spots such as Chimelong Tourist Resort, Million Sunflower Garden, Baishuizhai Scenic Area, and Liuxihe National Forest Park. Among them, Chimelong Wildlife World and Ocean Kingdom doubled year-on-year, and the daily passenger flow of water parks reached 30,000 people. Hong Kong Disneyland also performed well during the Spring Festival holiday, with overall visitors increasing by 13% year-on-year and hotel occupancy rate reaching 97%.

The large number of programs means that the market competition is also quite fierce. Feng Yuguo, secretary-general of China Amusement Park Association, said that with Disney and Universal Studios entering our country's market, how to improve the core competitiveness of theme parks is a huge issue facing the industry.

Hong Kong Disneyland's net loss for fiscal year 2016 was HK$171 million (US$22 million), exceeding its net loss of HK$148 million in fiscal year 2015. Despite the losses, Hong Kong Disneyland launched a new hotel, the Disney Explorer Resort, on April 30.

The person in charge of Hong Kong Disneyland said in an interview with reporters that the performance of the tourism and leisure market continues to be soft, but the park has been actively facing it in the past year. He Huisi, director of hotel operations at the resort, said that data shows that the "Iron Man Flying Tour" just launched in early January this year not only drove the number of admissions to the park, but also drove the hotel's occupancy rate. During the New Year, the occupancy rate reached 97%. She hopes that the opening of the third hotel will bring a second experience and stimulate "repeat customers" to come back and spend in the park.

Competitive pressure The industry is still optimistic about the prospects of theme parks.

However, the larger Shanghai Disney opened its doors in June last year, making Hong Kong Disney, the smallest Disney theme park in the world, face more intense competition. The industry is generally concerned about whether new hotels will bring new changes or adjustments to existing operations.

In this regard, Ho Huisi said that for the new Disney Explorer Resort, there will be a long-term strategy-to develop the MICE business, which is to strengthen the conference reception business. After the opening of the new hotel, the overall number of rooms in the park has increased, which is expected to increase the park's ability to host large-scale events or to build long-term cooperative relationships with some institutions.

It is reported that MICE business is quite common in current theme parks in Guangdong and Hong Kong, and it also brings tangible benefits. In the past six months, a direct-sales cosmetics brand once brought more than 1300 room bookings to Hong Kong Disneyland, booking hotels as a reward for some sales staff.

However, the industry is also worried that the new hotel will also put operational pressure on the theme park. "Although the market is growing rapidly, it takes time to absorb and stabilize customers. In addition, based on past experience, the prices of new hotels may also be high and low, which will bring a certain operating cycle to new hotels and hotel performance. There may be an 'opening shortage', which will drag down the overall profitability of the park." Leung Rongde, an analyst at Business Analysts, said that despite the great market pressure, it is still expected that the tourism markets in Guangdong and Hong Kong will continue to improve, which will bring development opportunities to theme parks.