SHANGHAI - Annual visits to Shanghai Disneyland are expected to reach 10.5 to 15 million after opening, said a senior official with the International Academy of Tourism (IAT) on Thursday in Shanghai.

"Shanghai Disneyland will be three times of the one in Hong Kong. The massive population in the Yangtze River Delta will strongly support it to be a top choice for a one-day tour," said Alastair M. Morrison, director with the IAT, at the international seminar on the theme park and urban tourism.

The construction on the Shanghai Disney Resort project started in April 2011, with the park expected to open after 2016.

Covering an area of 1.16 square kilometers, the theme park inside the 3.9-sq-km Shanghai Disney Resort, will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first one on the Chinese mainland. It will also be the third of its kind in Asia, after the company's theme parks in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Investment in the Shanghai theme park is estimated at 24.5 billion yuan ($3.7 billion). Construction is scheduled for completion in five years.

Earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would open its first wholly-owned shop on the Chinese mainland in 2012.