I have to think that Disney is looking internationally right now. This is something I wrote about two years ago for work:
In January, 2003, the Walt Disney Company broke ground on its eleventh theme park on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. By analyzing the current Disney project, we can better assess the feasibility of a third Disney theme park on the Asian continent.
According to information put forth both by the Hong Kong government as well as the Walt Disney Company (The Government of Hong Kong, 2004) tourism contributed to 4% of Hong Kongs Gross Domestic Product in 1998. The $14.1 billion Disney project is a key component of the Hong Kong Tourist Associations (HKTA) strong commitment to a position Hong Kong as one of Asia's most popular international destinations. In order to achieve this goal, the government of Hong Kong appointed a Tourism Commissioner in 1999, has given the HKTA $100 million in funding, and made it easier to travel between Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Russia (The Government of Hong Kong, 2004).
Specifically, in terms of the economic benefits of Hong Kong
Disneyland, the Hong Kong government indicates that the new theme park will attract millions of tourists a year, create thousands of jobs, enrich the quality of life, and enhance Hong Kong's international image (The Government of Hong Kong, 2004). The Hong Kong government further asserts that the Hong Kong Disneyland project could potentially yield a benefit of $148 billion over 40 years, will create nearly 20,000 new jobs (rising to over 35,000 over twenty years), as well as approximately 16,000 jobs in construction and infrastructure. These figures are based on the assumptions that the park's attendance in its first year of operation is 5.2 million with a gradual increase of ten million within fifteen years (The Government of Hong Kong, 2004). It should be noted that agencies outside of the Hong Kong government predict smaller numbers, both in terms of revenue as well as jobs.
In terms of the tourism draw, the Hong Kong government estimates that the new Disney theme park will attract 3.4 million incoming tourists in the first year of operation, rising to 7.3 million after fifteen years. Approximately 40% of the first year tourists will visit Hong Kong because of the Disney theme park, with this figure rising to an estimated 2.9 million new visitors to Hong Kong after 15 years of operation. The Hong Kong government further estimates that dollars spent by these tourists will be $8.3 billion in the first year, rising to $16.8 billion per annum by the twentieth year (The Government of Hong Kong, 2004). Again, it is important to note that non-governmental figures are less promising.
Clearly, the Hong Kong government believes that the Disney project will be a boon to the economy, both in the short term as well as long-range planning. Scholars also note the potential profitability of this venture. Gaba, Pan, and Ungson (2002) state that larger, Fortune 500 firms, of which Disney is one, will enter the Chinese market earlier and are thus more likely to have success. Moreover, Lieberthal and Lieberthal (2003) assert that the multinationals will be the biggest winners in China during the next ten years. However, there is not uniform agreement in the literature on this issue. According to other scholars, the profitability of Hong Kong Disneyland depends largely tourists from the Mainland, and this influx of Chinese may not happen in the projected masses, as China is still a poor country per capita (Sung, 2002). Moreover, research by Sung (2002) indicates that the tourists from Mainland China that do visit Hong Kong under the guise of visiting Disneyland, may do so only stay illegally in Hong Kong, thus potentially placing a drain on the economy.