Abstract
Today, the Disney Company is well known around the world for its theme parks based on the American Disney fantasy world. In 2007, the theme park industry was estimated at US$22.8 billion and Disney is one of the major players on this growing market. Since 2008, the company has 5 Parks and Resorts located on 3 different continents with 11 different theme parks. In September 2005, Disney opened the doors of its last Park & Resort in Hong Kong. The company did a joint venture with the Hong Kong Government investing a total of US$1.8 billion in the project. The Government, which invested US$419 million and provided the land for the project owns 57% of stake and Disney, which invested US$316, has 43%.
Disneyland has been studying the idea of opening a theme park in China since the 90s. The company finally decided to build it in Hong Kong because of the city's good infrastructure and the high level of income of its citizens compared to other Chinese cities. In 2006, the median income in Hong Kong was US$1,282 per month and the median household income was US$2,212. The city, which used to be an English colony, has a big Western influence, which makes its people more familiar with Disney characters. Hong Kong also has a large number of tourists from Mainland China and other countries. Everything was pointing out that the Hong Kong Disneyland could have been very successful. However the project didn't work out as it was expected. This failure was due to many different events and issues encountered before and after the opening of the theme park.
