With only eight days left before the formal opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, Hong Kong is being soaked in an atmosphere of jubilance.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang has already described the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland as an important milestone for Hong Kong's economic and tourism development. And celebrities from Hong Kong commerce and industry sectors also believed that the Hong Kong Disneyland will give a strong boost to tourism related sectors as retail, hotel and property, besides the tourism industry itself.

The opening of the theme park is widely viewed as one of the most important events in Hong Kong this year.

According to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government press release Saturday night, Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong will open Hong Kong Disneyland on Sept. 12during his three-day visit to Hong Kong from Sept. 10 to 12.

Henry Tang has pledged earlier that detailed arrangements and contingency plans have been made to ensure all guests have an enjoyable time at Hong Kong Disneyland.

He estimated that though the building of Hong Kong Disneyland had cost 3.5 billion US dollars, the theme park and the resort will bring Hong Kong at least 148 billion US dollars in the first 40 years of its opening.

Even the project's building process offered 14,000 job opportunities and is expected to offer 18,000 direct or indirect job opportunities just after Hong Kong Disneyland's opening and an additional 18,000 posts are expected to be created for Hong Kong in the coming years.

Hong Kong Disneyland is a joint venture between Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. HKSAR government, taking a share of 53 percent, is in charge of the infrastructure building, which includes the sea reclamation, pipeline arrangement, highway building and some other sub-projects while Walt Disney takes a share of 47 percent.

Following the completion of the first construction phase of the Hong Kong Disneyland by HKSAR government, construction of the theme park and resorts started in January 2003 and is scheduled for opening on Sept. 12. A three-day serial celebration ceremony will start from Sept. 10.

Don Ronbinson, group managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland estimated that Hong Kong Disneyland is expected to receive at least 5.6 million tourists in the first year of its opening, aboutone third of the visitors are expected to be Hong Kong citizens and another one third from the Chinese mainland and the rest from the Asia Pacific market.

He said apart from the targeted household visitors, Hong Kong Disneyland is also eyeing the business passengers. Two hotels with1,000 guest rooms and convention halls have been built in the resort for receiving tourists.

He said there is plenty room for further expansion of either the existing hotels or building new hotels, adding the expansion plans will depend on the market demand.

Apart from holding conventions and meetings, Hong Kong Disneyland could also arrange romantic weddings just like those told in fairy tales.

Roy Yan Hardy, vice president for marketing and sales for the theme park, said Hong Kong Disneyland has witnessed a strong reservation of park tickets and hotel rooms.

It is reported that hotel room reservation during holidays such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and the coming "Golden Week" starting from Oct. 1 has already accounted for half of the total of 1,000 hotel rooms one month before the theme park's opening.

The five-star JW Mirriot Hong Kong is among Hong Kong hotels that have already benefited from not only Hong Kong's economic recovery in general, but also Hong Kong Disneyland in specific.

Elaine Luey, director of marketing of JW Marriott Hong Kong, said in an interview with Xinhua that the summer season usually sees a relatively low hotel room occupancy rate. However, the hotel room occupancy rate in JW Marriot Hong Kong exceeded 80 percent in August and reservation for the coming months is also very strong and the hotel's annual revenue is expected to become highest in comparison with that of the past few years.

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is all the more optimistic aboutHong Kong Disneyland's future. Encouraged by the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, the HKTB expected that the number of tourists to Hong Kong is expected to set a record number of 23 million in 2005and 27 million in 2006.

In the first half of 2005, tourist arrivals in Hong Kong exceeded 10.97 million, up 9.6 percent over last year's same period and a record high number. Of those tourists, 5.88 million came from the Chinese mainland.

As the Chinese mainland is believed to be one of the major passenger sourcing markets for Hong Kong Disneyland, a serial of arrangements have been specially made for the Chinese mainland tourists.

To let Chinese mainland tourists arrive at Hong Kong Disneyland more conveniently, a total of six franchised bus routes started to operate to and from Hong Kong Disneyland. From Aug. 16 the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and the Chinese mainland authorities have issued 60 additional quotas for cross-boundary coach services to and from Disneyland via Lok Ma Chau Control Point.

The Kwoloon-Cantoon Railway Corporation will also operate a "rail-bus" service for Chinese mainland visitors to travel between the Lo Wu Check Point and Hong Kong Disneyland via Sheung Shui Station.

The "rail-bus" and the cross-boundary coach services will commence operation in September to tie in with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Hong Kong's neighboring Shenzhen and Zhuhai cities have already seen the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland as a chance for tourism promotion. The HKTB and Hong Kong Disneyland have already made tours to Guangdong, Beijing, Shanghai and some other big Chinese mainland cities for tourism promotion earlier this year.

Hong Kong Disneyland said it has already received group reservation of its two hotels from Guangdong and some other Chinese mainland cities.

According to a latest press release from ACNielsen, an international market survey company, with the coming of Hong Kong Disneyland's grand opening, "excitement grows for children at the prospect of a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland this summer holiday, but we can also expect to see a mass exodus from the Chinese mainland as travelers descend on Hong Kong for their own taste of the world-famous theme park."

ACNielsen has recently released findings from its latest telephone survey among 1,500 citizens in Chinese mainland's three key cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to understand their awareness of the opening of Disneyland Hong Kong, and their intention to visit the theme park.

"Our survey sends a very encouraging message to the tourism industry," says Glen Murphy, managing director of ACNielsen China."We've found mainland people in the key cities to be enthusiastic about traveling to Hong Kong for Disneyland. This new tourist attraction is definitely going to add an additional touch of glamour to Hong Kong as a travel destination".

About three quarters of respondents surveyed by ACNielsen had heard of the opening of the theme park and more than half knew it would be open this year. At the moment, about a third of all respondents are either considering a visit or have decided to do so.

The survey indicated that over 80 percent of those aged 25-34 are aware of the opening of Disneyland and close to 40 percent would like to take a trip to it. Meanwhile, the high income group also showed the strongest intention to visit for the first hand experience.

In general, over 70 percent of the respondents planned to visit with family and a third will go with their friends, said the survey.

Due to open on Sept. 12, coupled with Chinese mainland's "Golden Week" of the National Day holidays starting from Oct. 1, Hong Kong should expect over 16 percent of the travelers in these three key cities, mostly from Guangzhou, to visit the Hong Kong Disneyland in September and October, said the survey.

For tomorrow's Hong Kong, "Shopping Mecca" is not necessary enough to describe the city in the mind of tourists and Hong Kong Disneyland is believed to be a "must-go" scenic spot for a great number of travelers, especially Chinese mainland tourists to Hong Kong, which already accounted for over 50 percent of the total number of tourists to Hong Kong.

Source: Xinhua