Tokyo Disney rides popularity wave

Japan operator sees overseas visitors more than doubling by 2020 to 4 million

The operator of Tokyo Disneyland expects overseas visitors to more than double by 2020 to around 4 million, as The Walt Disney Co's first resort outside the United States - opened in 1983 - rides on the publicity generated by Shanghai's new theme park and a government plan to draw more tourists to Japan.

Oriental Land Co, which is licensed to operate the Tokyo resort consisting of Disneyland, DisneySea, hotels and shopping malls, forecasts its annual investment of 50 billion yen ($481 million) on park attractions and new hotel projects will help it capture about one-tenth of the 40 million foreign visitors to Japan by 2020.

That's according to Executive Director Akiyoshi Yokota, who said on Tuesday that his resort attracted 8.5 percent of the 21.4 million foreign visitors to the country in the year ended March 2016.

"Shanghai Disneyland is a plus for us as it is likely to boost the recognition of Disneyland in the region," said Yokota, who is in charge of finance and accounting at Oriental Land.

"There are wealthy Chinese people who may want to come to the one in Tokyo after experiencing it in Shanghai," he said.

The company, partly owned by Tokyo train operator Keisei Electric Railway Co, forecasts it can maintain the visitor ratio at around 10 percent of the country's annual tourists despite a stronger yen, said Yokota.

The world's second-biggest theme park market grew 11 percent last year to hit 823 billion yen, according to Euromonitor International, even as Japanese consumers tightened their spending over the country's economic uncertainty.

The resort plans to increase the number of foreign language-speaking staff to prepare for the influx of overseas visitors, Yokota said. It raised admission prices for the third consecutive year in April.

Maintaining that pace of visitors may be challenging, said Naoki Fujiwara, chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co in Tokyo.

"It will be hard for Oriental Land to increase total visitors beyond the current 30 million level before it expands capacity, which won't happen before 2020," the fund manager said.

"It's questionable whether the increasing trend will keep up its pace."

Tourists watch the big parade at Shanghai Disneyland. Provided To China Daily