The annual Golden Week holiday of Labor's Day in the Chinese mainland will begin on Monday and it means many business opportunities to Hong Kong tourism industry, especially Disneyland and the Ocean Park.

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the estimated number of visitors from the Mainland may reach 420,000 during the week and provide more opportunities for Mickey and the marine animals.

Being two major theme parks in Hong Kong, Disneyland and the Ocean Park both started earlier to prepare for the forthcoming golden chance for money.

Hong Kong Disneyland, which made a serious mistake during the last Spring Festival by refusing the entry of mainland tourists, will make sure not to screw up the chance to flatter its customers from the mainland this time.

It announced that the famous Broadway-style shows -- The Golden Mickey and The Festival of the Lion King -- will be added with simplified Chinese subtitles to make its mainland audience enjoy more of its theatrical experience.

Besides, a small book of Magical Tips will also be available in simplified Chinese to provide more information and assistance to mainland guests. Hopefully, the cast members can use mandarin to greet mainland visitors and help them to enjoy the magic of Disneyland.

On the contrary, the Ocean Park, which is a long time expert to entertain its mainland customers is putting more efforts in providing convenient transportation than language training.

It arranges a shuttle bus directly from Huanggang checkpoint to the Ocean Park to save transportation procedure and expenses of mainland visitors. The Ocean Park hopes the shuttle bus, which started on Saturday, may bring in more visitors from the region of Pearl River Delta.

The park said the ticket set of 290 RMB (276 HK dollars) includes a ticket to the Ocean Park (185 HK dollars) and a two-way shuttle bus ticket, which is around 20 to 30 HK dollars lower than going the park by train.

New entertaining items, such as the Sea Jellyfish Aquarium, will be added during the holiday to the famous marine show performed by the lovely dolphins and sea lions, according to the park.

It is expected that the newly established aquarium and the Rain Forest Exploration, which were two hot items during the Easter, may attract more visitors during the golden week.

According to Hong Kong Disneyland, the average daily number of visitors was 10,000 during the four-day Easter Holiday, which was two thirds below the designed number. However, as the smallest Disneyland park in the world, Hong Kong Disneyland is much more comfortable and enjoyable when the number of visitors is below 10, 000 daily, according to the visitors.

The Ocean Park said it recorded a total of 300,000 visitors from Easter to Golden Week in May last year and it expected the number of visitors will be around the same this year.

Source: Xinhua