LEAD: Hong Kong Disneyland officially opens

HONG KONG, Sept. 12 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING POLLUTION CONCERNS IN 17TH-18TH GRAPHS, USING BROADER COST FIGURE IN 2ND GRAPH)

Hong Kong Disneyland formally opened Monday with expectations that China's burgeoning middle class will welcome Mickey Mouse with open arms.

The city hopes the HK$22.4 billion ($2.9 billion) complex, Disney's fifth, will boost its status as a tourism destination, but critics have said the effect might be overstated.

The Hong Kong government struck the Disneyland joint venture deal with Walt Disney Co. in 1999 in a bid to salvage the territory's flagging tourism in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

It owns a 57 percent stake in the project while Disney holds the remaining 43 percent.

One-third of the visitors are expected to come from mainland China, one-third from Hong Kong and the rest from mainly other Asian countries, according to Disney's forecast.

The government has forecast to bring HK$148 billion in benefits to Hong Kong over a 40-year period and to create 18,000 new jobs.

While the 18,000 jobs have materialized, many of the positions belong to unskilled workers.

The projected financial returns are also ''too low'' after putting down so much, according to analysts.

''The opening of Disneyland this year could prolong the boom for another two years,'' wrote Andy Xie, a Hong Kong-based China-watcher and economist with investment bank Morgan Stanley in a report issued in July.

''While the boom has been good for employment at the bottom, it is not so positive for the economy, as the retail goods are imported,'' he said. ''Beyond Chinese tourism, it is difficult to see other sources of growth for Hong Kong and tourism will peak out.''

The Hong Kong government has also drawn criticism for failing to secure an exclusive agreement with Walt Disney to have the only such amusement park in China.

Walt Disney's Chief Executive Officer-elect Robert Iger confirmed the company has been in talks with Shanghai to have a second park there after 2012.

Ticket sales have not been as good as anticipated, with only the opening day and some peak periods during the Golden Week holiday period commencing Oct. 1 selling out.

Hong Kong Disneyland officials declined to disclose the exact sales figures, insisting they are satisfied with the situation.

The park is counting on tourists from the nascent middle-class on the mainland to account for one-third of its attendance.

With the park's daily capacity set at 30,000 visitors, patrons complained about congestion, long queues and slow services during the month-long trial leading up to Monday's opening.

Moreover, a thick haze often hovers over the park because of pollutants blown in from mainland China.

The air pollution index exceeded the ''very high'' benchmark of 100 on Monday, with the government warning people with respiratory problems to stay indoors, and the park's landmark, Sleeping Beauty Castle, shrouded in smog.

The park is located on 125 hectares of reclaimed land on the territory's Lantau Island, west of Hong Kong Island.

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