Culture and tourism minister Kevin Yeung on Monday said he is hopeful that Hong Kong Disneyland will be able to balance the books again soon, after eight consecutive years of losses.

The park, which is majority owned by the government, lost HK$2.1 billion last year amid the Covid pandemic, despite reporting a record number of local visitors.

Speaking at a Legco panel meeting, Yeung said the park’s expansion work, including a new area themed around the "Frozen" film series to be opened in November, offered cause for optimism.

“We can see that they have further expansion plans, so this shows that they have confidence in their future development, otherwise they would not inject extra money,” he said.

"We want to be able to break even. If there is a profit, then that would be great. Second, it will drive Hong Kong's overall economic development and bring about positive effects."

Asked by a number of lawmakers about the park's financial performance, managing director Michael Moriarty said recovery will take time as both flight capacity and tourist numbers still fall short of pre-Covid levels.

"I think it's important to keep in mind that the recovery really is just a few months old right now. And we are still learning about the pace of our recovery and how fast that will go," he said.