Disneyland shrinks losses on cost cutting

Hong Kong Disneyland saw its annual losses fall to 1.32 billion Hong Kong dollars (170 million US dollars) from 1.57 billion dollars owing to cost cuts at the struggling venue, it said yesterday.
Sales in the fiscal year ended October 3 slid one percent to 2.54 billion Hong Kong dollars while the park’s hotel occupancy rate fell to 70 percent from 78 percent in fiscal 2008, Disney said.
The global financial crisis and an outbreak of swine flu sparked the decline, Disney said, adding that park attendance still rose two percent year-on-year to 4.6 million visitors.
However, the park’s operating loss also declined 57 percent to 70 million Hong Kong dollars, driven by cost cuts and stronger attendance figures, the park said.
Since it opened in 2005, Hong Kong Disneyland has been desperate to boost the number and quality of its attractions as it struggles to attract visitors.
The venue, majority-owned by the Hong Kong government, is investing 6.2 billion Hong Kong dollars to build 30 new attractions over the next five years.
But fresh doubts about the park’s future reignited after China announced in November that it had given the green light for Disney to build its long-awaited theme park on the Chinese mainland in Shanghai.