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Mickey and Donald roll out the red carpet as Shanghai Disneyland reopens under China’s easier Covid-19 rules
- Shanghai Disneyland’s rides, shows, restaurants and hotels would resume business starting Thursday, according to a statement on the theme park’s website
- Some attractions and facilities may have to operate at reduced capacity or may be unavailable
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Zhang Shidongin Shanghai
The Walt Disney Company’s US$5.5 billion theme park has fully reopened in Shanghai, after city authorities lifted a nine-day closure of the landmark in accordance with the easing of anti-Covid controls in mainland China.
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The amusement park’s rides, shows, restaurants and hotels would resume business starting Thursday, although some attractions and facilities may have to operate at reduced capacity or may be unavailable, Disney said in a statement on its website.
The reopening of one of China’s largest amusement parks is a major step forward for Shanghai’s 25 million residents, who had to put up with daily tests, quarantines and two months of a citywide shutdown in summer as authorities tried to snuff out the Covid-19 disease. Online searches for “Disney” jumped by 300 per cent on Tongcheng Travel’s platform the day before the park’s reopening, emanating from Shanghai’s neighbouring provinces Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, according to a report in the Chinese Business News.
“The reopening is a signature event for the revival of domestic tourism in China,” said Wang Qi, the chief executive of MegaTrust Investment (Hong Kong). There is “strong pent-up demand for leisure and hospitality services, as China takes steps to remove its anti-Covid restrictions,” he said.
Amid sporadic protests and discontent among the population, China’s health authorities started dialling back many of the nation’s draconian anti-Covid measures on November 30, concluding that the current Omicron variant is “more transmissible but less deadly.” According to the latest 10-point guideline unveiled yesterday, self-isolation at home would be allowed for mild and asymptomatic cases, while the nation’s contact-tracing health codes can be abandoned for domestic travelling.
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