No masking disney joy as loss plunges

Sophie Hui

Hong Kong Disneyland Resort's net loss shrank 83 percent to HK$356 million last year as the Magic Kingdom recovers its sheen.

With borders reopened last February and all anti-pandemic restrictions lifted last March, the theme park on Lantau turned profitable starting from last summer.

For the 2022/23 fiscal year ending September, the park saw revenue hit HK$5.7 billion, up a whopping 156 percent.

Its net loss also improved by 83 percent to HK$356 million from HK$2.1 billion.

"When the masks came off, our business took off," said managing director Michael Moriarty yesterday.

HK Disneyland also saw 6.4 million come in through the turnstiles, up 87 percent and the highest local attendance since the park opened in 2005. Visitors' per capita spending also grew 54 percent year on year.

Moriarty said he was "extremely proud" of the park's achievements, including turning profitable and a visitors'rebound "outpacing the overall Hong Kong tourism market."

He added: "We turned profitable in 2023 and we are not looking back. We are very excited about where we are right now. We are on strong financial footing and this is all during a time where Hong Kong has not fully recovered in tourism yet."

But the net loss was still higher than before the pandemic hit when the resort earned HK$6 billion in 2019 and recorded a net loss of HK$105 million, partly due to the social unrest.

Despite flight capacities yet to recover and the strong US and HK dollars, Moriarty said: "We are very optimistic and confident about the future."

He said the park saw its "most successful quarter ever" in the first three months this year, "achieving record levels of revenue, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization and net income," following the recovery of tourism and the opening of new attraction World of Frozen.

Disney is also back to being open seven days a week from this month.

Its pricing became a four-tiered system in September after it introduced a new type of adult day ticket that costs up to HK$879 for the "most popular days and seasons." It has no plan to raise admission fees for now.

"During Covid, we implemented a tiered-pricing structure. Even then, we were always looking at market conditions to make sure we were making the best and most prudent decision for the business, and we are going to continue to do that," Moriarty said.

The New People's Party's Dominic Lee Tsz-king, who sits in the Legislative Council as well as the Tourism Strategy Committee, said Walt Disney Co should actively consider expanding the park so it can maintain its growing trend and the SAR can consolidate its goal of being a primary travel destination in Asia.