Fri, November 06, 2009
The long-awaited Disney theme park project in Shanghai finally became a done deal on November 4, 2009.
The first phase plan for the Shanghai Disney theme park and ancillary facilities area covers about 4 square kilometers. A 1 square kilometer theme park will serve as the core area. The investment for this phase will be about 250 billion yuan and is planned to take 5 to 6 years to complete.
What effects will Disney have on Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta and even the national economy?
Effect One: directly stimulate related industries and neighboring economies.
The world's five major existing Disney theme parks are all powerful engines for the local economy.
Lou Jiajun, director of the Tourism Department at East China Normal University, said that Disney project is a world-class theme park, once the projects have been formally put into operation, it will attract at least 10 million tourists a year. This would bring new opportunities for development to the related modern service industry in Shanghai. This project will add new attractions to Shanghai urban tourism and drive hotels, retail, catering, exhibition, entertainment, transportation, finance, insurance, construction and other industries as well as improve Shanghai's international reputation and competitiveness.
However, some economic experts suggest that Shanghai needs to make such a huge investment in tourism project their "wealth" rather than "burden". Hou Zhigang, Associate Professor at the Shanghai-based Fudan University said that Disneyland has to learn how to continue to "win the hearts of consumers" in the network era.
Effect Two: fill the gaps in the domestic tourism industry.
Professor He Jianmin, Head of the Department of Tourism Management at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that at present China's annual number of overseas tourists has reached 50 million, and most of them travel at their own expense. From this we can tell the Chinese people's travel consumer demand has not been met.
Statistics show that at present the Yangtze River Delta region receives nearly a quarter of all tourists in China, and tourism revenues accounted for nearly one-third of the whole country. But it does not have prominent tourist resources, in particular, this region lacks international tourism resources or products. The introduction of the Disney project, on the one hand helps to improve the modernization and international level of the tourism industry in Yangtze River Delta, on the other hand will also help to build the Yangtze River Delta as world tourism brand.
Effect Three: help to stimulate local cultural industries and tourism industry and accelerate their development.
Disneyland's settlement in Shanghai will first affect the domestic animation and other cultural industries as well as tourism industry such as theme parks. However, many local enterprises have mentally prepared for the competition, and are full of confidence about winning new development opportunities through continuous innovation.
The domestic theme park industry leader OCT Enterprises Co has just opened a new "Happy Valley "in Songjiang District in Shanghai. CEO and president of OCT Enterprises Co Ren Kelei said Disney's entry has not hindered the development of other theme parks, and it will promote the development of the local theme park brands and the whole industry.
Ren said for example, after Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2006, growth in visitors of the nearby "Happy Valley" in Shenzhen reached as high as 10.2% in 2007 and with the annual admission of 3.23 million people, it has become among top ten theme parks in the Asia Pacific region. "After many years of hard work, China's domestic theme parks have been developed to a considerable size and strength, and has an irreplaceable advantage," Ren said.
Effect Four: help economic restructuring in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region.
From the map view, Shanghai World Expo 2010 site which also located in Pudong New District is not far away from planned Shanghai Disneyland site. These two major projects which have both received investment of more than 20 billion yuan will play a very important role in promoting economic restructuring in Shanghai as well as Yangtze River Delta region.
Professor He Jianmin said the entertainment industry in developed countries accounts for 6% to 7% of all expenditure, while in China there is still considerable potential. The "twin-engine" of Shanghai World Expo and Disneyland will no doubt greatly enhance the attractiveness of Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta to attract more business conferences, conventions, exhibitions and tourists to this area. The modern service industry in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta will subsequently make substantial progress.
