Disney Shanghai: Good for China, Bad for Hong Kong
It's been a crummy 24 hours for the Hong Kong tourism industry. The first piece of bad news: China has given the green light to Disney to build a theme park in Shanghai. The $3.5 billion Chinese facility will sprawl across about 1,000 acres which will dwarf Hong Kong Disneyland's 296 acre lot. Mainland Chinese account for more than one third of the visitors to Hong Kong Disneyland, and once the Magic Kingdom sets up in the Middle Kingdom much of that business will get cannibalized. Hong Kong legislator Emily Lau, a long-time critic of Hong Kong Disneyland in which the government has invested billions, called the news a "devastating blow."
