HONG KONG: It looks like Hong Kong is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. After struggling through its worst recession since the Asian Financial Crisis, according to some, the worst is over for Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's economy continued to rebound in the third quarter, growing by 0.4 per cent from the previous quarter. The government is confident the city can return to positive annual growth in 2010.

In one of his first public appearances since he stepped down as the minister in charge of tourism in 2008 due to health reasons, former secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Frederick Ma, said the economy is on the mend.

"I think that the recovery would be rocky though. It is not going to be very smooth because of all the uncertainties in the rest of the world," said Mr Ma.

However, there may be another threat on the horizon. Earlier this month, Shanghai was given the green light to build a Disneyland theme park. Its first phase alone is rumoured to be four times bigger than Hong Kong's Disneyland.

However, Mr Ma brushed off concerns Shanghai will overshadow Hong Kong as a tourist destination. He said Hong Kong will actually benefit from familiarizing the mainland with the Disney concept.

Mr Ma said: "I am speaking from a market perspective. Disney is a brand name. Actually in China, not all the Chinese are familiar with Mickey Mouse. They may have heard about it, but they don't really know what Mickey Mouse looks like and they don't know this American culture.

"It is quite cold in the north anyway. And if I want to come to Hong Kong for shopping or to eat, Hong Kong is well known for all those. I would come down for the Disneyland here because it is much warmer here."

He said Hong Kong also has many other appealing attractions to keep visitors coming, and said the city will not lose tourists to Shanghai just because of a larger theme park.

- CNA/sc