Experts say Tokyo’s newborn cub can earn the city more than £190 million in coming months as it becomes a tourism phenomenon. Astronomical numbers of visitors are expected to flock to Tokyo zoo to see the tiny black and white bear in the arms of its devoted mother Shin Shin, creating a financial windfall way above the earnings of the planet’s most successful entertainers.

The Forbes’ annual rich list this week had American rapper and entrepreneur Sean 'Diddy' Combs in top spot with earnings last year of £102.7 million, while Beyonce was placed second with £83 million. Britain’s JK Rowling is the third highest earner on £75 million and Real Madrid footballer Christiano Ronaldo also made it into the top five with a £74.5 million income.

GETTY Expert say Tokyo's newborn panda baby can earn he city more than £190 million in coming months

A new panda at Ueno Zoo would have an enormous impact. Baby pandas are incredibly cute Katsuhiro Miyamoto

Yet the mega-money sums pale compared to Japanese estimates of what the three-day old cub will pour into its capital’s coffers over the next financial year. As yet, the cub has only appeared in a few grainy photographs and has neither been sexed or given a name by its keepers at the Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo.

GETTY

GETTY Astronomical numbers of visitors are expected to flock to the zoo after mother Shin Shin gave birth

Shin Shin, 11, appears so devoted to the tiny youngster, which weighs as little as six ounces, that she has not stopped holding it in her arms and heeding its continual soft cries. This is the first panda birth in five years at the zoo and staff remain on tenterhooks after Shin Shin’s last cub died from pneumonia six days after delivery. Subsequent attempts to produce a cub with mate Ri Ri have been fruitless, but late last month she was removed from public viewing after displaying signs of pregnancy. News of the cub’s birth has already sent share prices of restaurants operating near the zoo soaring, with one company reporting a near 10-year high, and financial experts are expecting it have a knock-on effect for the city’s economy.

GETTY The cub has only appeared in a few grainy photographs and has neither been sexed or given a name