Hong Kong's money-losing Disneyland on Tuesday posted its smallest annual loss since opening in 2005, as the theme park recorded a 13 percent rise in visitors and a surge in hotel occupancy. The resort said its net loss fell to HK$237 million ($30.5 million) for the fiscal year ending October 1, 2011, less than half its net loss of HK$718 million in the previous year.
Hong Kong Disneyland, which is majority owned by the Hong Kong government, has been desperate to ramp up the number and quality of its attractions as it tries to lure more visitors. Critics have attributed much of the park's struggles to its size -- it is the smallest of all Disney's theme parks -- and a lack of attractions catered to the key China market. The resort, including two hotels, covers about 310 acres (125 hectares). "We are anxious to turn into profitability. With our expansion plan, we are confident we can achieve that goal," Andrew Kam, Disney's president and managing director for Asia, told a news briefing Tuesday.
Park attendance jumped to 5.94 million visitors in fiscal 2011 from 5.28 million in the previous year with Disney recording more than 31 million visitors since throwing open its doors, Kam said. Hotel average occupancy rates reached a record high of 91 percent last year, it said. To boost attendance, Disney and Hong Kong's government struck an agreement in 2009 to spend billions of dollars on expanding the number of major attractions. But doubts over the park's future have persisted after Beijing announced that it had given the green light for Disney to build a long-awaited theme park on the Chinese mainland in Shanghai.