The Shanghai Disney Resort is Disney's sixth resort worldwide.[Photo/Xinhua]

Asia is beginning to pull head of North America in the global theme park business. In East Asia, the focus is on Disney parks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In 2014, the worldwide attendance growth in the top 10 theme park groups exceeded 5 percent. These conglomerates — including Disney, Merlin, and Universal — received more than 392 million visitors. In the postwar era, the theme park industry was mainly American. Since the 1980s, it has expanded in the advanced economies. Last year, Disney’s revenue grew by $4.4 billion, topping $50 billion for the first time.

In Hong Kong Disneyland, visitors from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong each still account for about 40 percent of the total visitors. While Hong Kong Disneyland is only a decade old, its daily capacity is barely 34,000 visitors; the lowest among the Disney parks.

With the dwindling number of visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong Disneyland suffered a loss of $20 million in 2015, after barely three years in the black. Fewer people from the mainland are visiting, revenue is decreasing, profits are off and hotel rooms are emptier. The next two years will be challenging, possibly critical.

As Hong Kong Disneyland is likely to continue to lose visitors from the mainland, it is looking harder at Southeast Asian markets, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Surveys suggest that two-thirds of middle-class families on the mainland want to visit Shanghai Disney Resort and 17 percent plan to go this year.

With a majority stake in the park, Hong Kong’s government is boosting its expansion. It is in a double bind. If it does not invest in expansion, Disneyland could suffer even more. Conversely, if the expansion fails, it risks losing more money over time.

Launched near Tokyo in 1983, Disney Park was the first to be built outside the United States. Last year, the number of visitors dropped by more than 1.1 million to 30.2 million. Though the drop was attributed to the extreme heat last summer and recent anniversary celebrations, the stream of visitors is expected to continue. Ticket prices have been raised for the third consecutive year to secure money for investing in the park and Tokyo DisneySea.