Hong Kong Disneyland redundancies a concern for the city’s tourism industry

With Hong Kong tourism facing a significant downturn, Hong Kong Disneyland has fired up to 100 staff, including some managers, as of Friday (15th April).

As reported by the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong Disneyland spokesperson would not confirm exact numbers, stating that the figure was “below 100”.

The sackings mark Disneyland’s first large-scale redunancies since it opened in 2005, and follow the theme park making reported a loss of HK$148 million for last year with visitor numbers dropping 9.3% per cent to 6.8 million in 2015.

Following the loss, long-time Hong Kong Disneyland Managing Director Andrew Kam left his position last month, although the terms and nature of his departure have not been explained.

The South China Morning Post went on to report ‘tourism insiders’ expressing fears that the sackings at one of city’s biggest employers was only the start of “massive lay-offs” in the whole tourism industry.

However, Disneyland said the redundancies were an “operational adjustment” to pave the way for future development while delivering services “in the most efficient way possible”.

The South China Morning Post advised that the redundancies involved back-office staff and not frontline workers.

Ellen Cheng Lai-yee, Head of Hong Kong Disneyland’s cast members union, said this was the first major staff-cutting exercise after several dismissals in the past over employees’ poor performance.

Cheng told the South China Morning Post the redundancies “we will request a dialogue with the park on behalf of those laid-off workers”,  adding that “a proper reason must be provided.”

A slowdown of inbound tourism to Hong Kong by visitors from mainland China is likely to be exaggerated for Hong Kong Disneyland when the Shanghai Disney Resort opens in June this year.

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