Hong Kong Disneyland commits to corporate social responsibility

Hong Kong – Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) after a fifth consecutive year of increase in performance showed how it has helped the country’s tourism industry and its overall economy. In the past year, HKDL welcomed more than 100,000 underprivileged community members to visit the park, contributed nearly 8,500 hours of skills and services through its Disney VoluntEARS programme, and collaborated with the Agency for Volunteer Service to offer 480,000 hours of volunteer service in the community through “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day.” On average, more than 5,100 full-time and 2,700 part-time staff were employed, making the resort one of Hong Kong’s largest employers in the entertainment industry. HKDL also provided more than 390,000 hours of professional and technical training to Cast Members last year. The opening of Disney Explorers Lodge will be set to create another 600 to 700 full-time equivalent jobs once it opens early 2017. Other community activities include promoting the wise use of surplus food through a partnership with local charity Foodlink, encouraging creativity and family-bonding through play via the second Community Built Playground. This sparked the creativity of tertiary students through the Disney ImagiNations Hong Kong Design Competition, and connecting kids to nature through an expanded “Adopt A Garden” programme at local schools. In financial year 2014, HKDL brought an estimate of HKD 13.2 billion (USD 1.7 billion) to Hong Kong, which makes it the equivalent of around 0.62 percent of Hong Kong’s GDP. A total of 30,600 jobs (in terms of man-years) were also created in the city’s growing travel and hospitality industry.