The opening of Disneyland in Hong Kong saw the largest ever mainland tourist group join the enthusiastic party-makers yesterday.

A group of more than 1,800 tourists left Guangzhou for Hong Kong yesterday morning. They visited Disneyland in the afternoon and spent a night at local hotels.

Members of the tour group, the largest group ever organized by local travel agencies, were just many of the Guangdong residents who arrived in Hong Kong by train, air, bus and ferry to visit Disneyland yesterday.

"It is a great pleasure to be the first group of visitors to Disneyland," Liang Guowen, one of the Guangzhou tourists, told local media at the railway station.

She said she believed the new theme park would be worth seeing.

"I got up at about six this morning as I did not want to miss the train," Liang said.

Guangdong residents represented about 30 per cent of the total visitors to the theme park in its first day, according to an executive from the Guangdong Branch of China Travel Service.

"As a neighbour of Hong Kong, Guangzhou's travel agencies actually have great potential to help residents visit Disneyland in the future," said Xu Yongsheng, deputy general manager of Guangdong Branch of China Travel Agency.

According to a recent survey, more than 55 per cent of Guangzhou residents have shown great interest in visiting the theme park in Hong Kong in the past couple of months.

Some 22 per cent of Shanghai residents and 20 per cent of Beijingers have also promised to visit the theme park in the near future, the survey indicated.

Disneyland is expected to receive at least 1.5 million visitors between September and December this year.

Of them, one-third will come from the mainland.

Xu forecasts the peak period for visiting the theme park will be during the upcoming National Day holiday, which takes place from October 1 to 7.

Source: China Daily