HONG KONG: With the dust settling on the recently signed deal between Disney and the Hong Kong government to build a HK$21 billion theme park - scheduled to open in 2005 - concerns are being raised by the travel industry as to what will be on offer for local travel agents.
"The question is about ticket sales and whether these will be commissionable to travel agents. Disney may bypass local suppliers," says HATAS board member and general manager of Watertours of Hong Kong Edmund Tsang.
"Will the local agent be able to get a piece of this business?"
At Disney parks in the US agents are included in the ticketing process. At Euro Disney, where alternative distribution channels were set up, local agents were unable to claim much business.
Tsang has called for industry representation on any advisory body that is set up to oversee the project. "In this way, we can ensure that we don't get cut out of the decision-making process, and that travel agents don't get excluded," he says. "It is right to raise such concerns at this time."
Disney's Hong Kong spokesman Chris Fruean says it is too early for decisions on how the tickets to the Disney park will be sold. "I think it would be too premature to say anything about that, after all we haven't got Legco approval yet," he says.
"There must be some sort of travel industry consultation in the planning of the Disney park," says Concord Travel director of product development (inbound) Ashish Bhathager.
"It will determine how they finally decide to run the project. In the case of Ocean Park most transport companies had programmes that the travel agents could lock into, as well as agency involvement in the ticketing. Travel agents need to know whether they can work with Disney. This will determine what products can be developed," he adds.