Hong Kong’s ocean park has announced a strategic blueprint for the future with plans to refurbish the park into an adventure-themed resort destination focused on nature, edutainment and conservation.
The plan is to expand the park and create 20 attractions and 7 experimental zones over the next 7 years in hopes of enticing more visitors. Some of the current attractions will be demolished to make way for the refurbishment of 10 existing attractions. The park is expected to host a series of high-tech interactive rides and activities.
The park has been sustaining a loss for the past couple of years, with losses as high as $77.5million. The park is solely relying on the Hong Kong government to offer a helping hand by financing its renovations which amount to HK$10.64 billion. The government hopes the park will attract more guests and bring sufficient revenue for it to successfully sustain operations in the future.
Commerce and Economic Development Secretary, Edward Yau Tang-Wah, has stated that the investment of billions of dollars proves that the government shows commitment towards the betterment of the tourism infrastructure, especially after the political unrest in the country.
The park levelled accusations on the political and civil unrest in the country for its unsatisfactory performance in 2019. Upon completion of the refurbishments, the park is expected to see a rise in traffic of about 5 million people by 2022-2023 and 7.5 million by 2027-2028.
Chairman of Ocean Park, Leo Kung stated, “Our globally recognized conservation and education focus makes Ocean Park much more than an amusement park. This strategic repositioning plan will build on our legacy as a Park that blends entertainment with education and conservation. It aims to offer guests of every age new adventure and discovery experiences like nowhere else, setting Ocean Park apart from the APAC region’s increasingly competitive theme park industry.”
The Ocean Park is planning on steering away from animal shows amidst the protests by PETA, and will purely focus on exhibitions on environmental protection, conservation, and education. The park’s signature theatre that had dolphin and sea lion shows will be demolished and the animals will safely be transported to another area.
The Park’s expansion plans have received mixed reviews, with the Chairman of Hong Kong’s Tourism Board Pang, Yui –Kai, showing support for the expansion declaring that it will bring about economic development in the country. However, not everybody was too keen on the future plans. Lawmaker, Tam Man-ho, from Hong Kong’s liberal Democratic Party said that despite the record high tourist arrivals in 2018, the park still lost money. He stated that the government should let the park resolve its financial issues on a priority basis rather than let it repay all its previous debts to the government.
The ocean park is situated in the south of Hong Kong Island and is a 43-year-old non-profit organization that relied on donations from Hong Kong Jockey Club and operates on a site provided by the government that commission its board members.
