Shanghai Disneyland shuts for third time this year
Closure due to Covid surge yet another blow to tourism sector, insider says
Shanghai Disney Resort has closed the US$5.5 billion Shanghai Disneyland amusement park just four days after reopening it, because of a resurgence of Covid19 cases in the city.
This is the third time this year that Shanghai Disneyland has been shut because of China’s zero-Covid policy.
Shanghai Disney Resort, which encompasses the park and hotels as well as the Disneytown and Wishing Star Park areas, apologised for the “temporary closure” in a statement yesterday, and said it needed to comply with Shanghai’s coronavirus control requirements. Its reopening date is not yet known, but the two hotels – Shanghai Disneyland Hotel and Toy Story Hotel – as well as the Wishing Star Park will remain open.
“This deals yet another blow to Shanghai’s tourism sector,” said Li Wenjie, CEO of the Shanghai Yaheng International Travel agency. “The city’s travel industry is unlikely to recover any time soon.”
The park, a major tourist destination in Shanghai, was closed for 101 days between March 21 and June 30 this year, also owing to coronavirus controls. That closure overlapped with a lockdown across Shanghai in April and May, because of an outbreak that saw the city of 25 million residents record more than 600,000 infections.
The local health commission yesterday said it had detected 178 new cases, 20 of them symptomatic, over the previous 24 hours, the highest single-day number since Shanghai lifted its twomonth citywide lockdown on June 1.
Shanghai Disneyland had reopened just last Friday, following a 25-day hiatus. The reopening coincided with a resurgence in cases that prompted the municipality to limit movement by people coming from outside Shanghai.
Currently, people are barred from entering public venues such as restaurants, bars, shopping centres, grocery stores and indoor gyms for five days after they enter the city.
Shanghai Disney Resort said last Thursday that such visitors could enjoy most of the park experiences, but were barred from dining in indoor restaurants or shopping at retail locations for the first five days. After that, they could move freely inside the resort.
“Disneyland is a top tourist destination in Shanghai, as it attracts thousands of visitors a day,” said Meng Tianying, a senior executive at Shanghai-based consultancy Domo Medical.
“Its reopening indeed increased the risk of infections, and it was not a good time to resume operations.”
Over the weekend, protests broke out against mainland China’s zero-Covid policy in Shanghai and other big cities, piling pressure on Beijing to ease up its relentless pandemic control measures.
The protests were largely sparked by a deadly fire in a residential area of Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang autonomous region, last Thursday, which killed 10 and injured nine. The tragedy led to widespread anger on the internet, with many believing that Covid-19 restrictions prevented the victims from escaping the fire, a claim that local officials have rejected.