Company Report: Hong Kong Disneyland Reported $19.1 Million Loss As Fewer Chinese Tourists Visit the Theme Park

Hong Kong Disneyland reported last year's loss of HK$148 million ($19.1 million). This is the resort and theme park's first financial loss after previous four years of profit. The loss is attributed to China's economic slowdown, which had driven fewer visitors to the theme park during last year.

This is Hong Kong Disneyland's first loss since it first made a profit in 2012. In 2014, the theme park made a profit of HK$332 million with total revenue of HK$5.4 billion, which is a record-high amount for the decade-old park. Last year's revenue was down by 6.4 percent at HK$5.1 billion with HK$148 million loss.

According to Bloomberg, retail sales were declining as fewer mainland Chinese tourists visit the resort and theme park. The decreasing Chinese tourists were caused partly by the country's slowing economic growth, but other factors also contributed to the decline, such as political unrest and a weak yuan in comparison to the Hong Kong dollar.

Another major contributing factor to the significant decrease in the number of Chinese visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland is Walt Disney Co.'s newest resort and theme park planned to open in mainland China. Shanghai Disneyland will be open for public this summer, and ticket sales will begin as soon as next month.

Shanghai Disneyland have been long-awaited by tourists, with a vast area and new attractions to enjoy. The Shanghai Disney Resort project will cover an area of 963 acres, which is three times bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland. Hong Kong Disneyland itself is the world's smallest Disneyland. Even so, the Shanghai Disneyland's ticket prices will be about 20 percent cheaper than the one in Hong Kong, making the new theme park reasonably a more popular choice for Chinese tourists.

However, Hong Kong Disneyland managing director Andrew Kam convinced the media that the emergence of Shanghai Disneyland is not the reason for Hong Kong Disneyland's loss. He said that demand for theme parks in Asia is still growing, as reported by Variety. Kam also stated that Hong Kong Disneyland will launch new attractions this year to attract more visitors.

According to Business Standard, the number of visitors from mainland China dropped 23 percent in 2015, compared to the previous year. The number is substantial in the overall visitor decline of 9.3 percent, at 6.8 million visitors last year. However, visitors from mainland China still dominate the visitors log, accounts for 41 percent of total visitors.

Hong Kong Disneyland is experiencing significant loss in the last financial year. The loss, which is the first financial loss since 2012, could be attributed to a number of things, including China's economic slowdown, political unrest, weak currency, also the new emerging Shanghai Disneyland in mainland China.