Hong Kong Disneyland plans to open its third and largest hotel by early 2017 to accommodate an influx of visitors from countries including China and South Korea amid intensifying competition from a local theme park.
The 750-room hotel will cost HK$4.26 billion ($550 million), the company said in a statement today. Hong Kong Disneyland posted a profit of HK$242 million, its second annual gain, in the 12 months ended September, more than double the HK$109 million a year ago, it said.
Visitors from China to Hong Kong Disneyland, part-owned by the city's government, jumped 15 percent last year, while those from South Korea surged 27 percent, Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Andrew Kam told reporters.
Hong Kong Disneyland, 48-percent owned by Burbank, California-based Walt Disney Co., will create an area that features Marvel characters in late 2016 after new attractions including Toy Story and Grizzly Gulch helped it turn a first profit in fiscal 2012.
The theme park has had to contend with government-owned Ocean Park, which drew 7.7 million visitors in the fiscal year ended June. Ocean Park plans to add around 30 attractions by 2017 and a 495-room hotel.
Visitors from China to the former British colony jumped 16.7 percent to 40.8 million last year and accounted for 75 percent of total visitor arrivals, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Click here to see the full story by Rachel Butt at Bloomberg.com.
