Hong Kong

Ocean Park attendance shows strong rebound

By Timothy Chui (HK Edition)
Updated: 2010-06-26 07:16

Ocean Park Chairman Allen Zeman (left) takes a picture with Yeung Kwok-man (2nd right), his wife (right), mother-in-law and son at the park Friday, as the family brought total attendance at the park to 5,033,385, breaking the park's attendance record for the sixth time in seven years. Hong Shaokui / China News Service

Ocean Park has bounced back from a setback during the economic crisis by breaking its own attendance record for the sixth time in seven years Friday.

After dips in attendance brought on by tough economic times narrowed the gap between the city's amusement parks, Ocean Park has emerged from the doldrums. Yeung Kwok-man, his wife, mother-in-law and son were greeted with a fanfare as they made their way into the park, bringing total attendance at the park to 5,033,385 just days away from the end of Ocean Park's fiscal year.

The family was rewarded with lifetime admission passes.

Speaking to reporters following the award presentation, park Chairman Allen Zeman said the park had posted record attendances in each of the past seven years, with the exception of 2008 due to the global economic downturn and H1N1 flu virus.

"A great number of exciting developments contributed to our record attendance. In addition to having Amazing Asian Animals operational for one full year, we also launched the much anticipated Ocean Express, a key attraction and transportation infrastructure that underpins our Master Redevelopment Plan," Zeman said.

Contributing to the 4.6 percent increase over last year's disappointing showing were record attendances in October during the park's Halloween Bash and strong attendance in May 2010, he said. Improving market sentiment over the past year meant attendance during its Summer Splash, Christmas and Chinese New Year promotions was better than expected.

With only four days to go, June was also shaping up to be a record breaking month in terms of attendance, he said.

According to the Themed Entertainment Association 2009 report, total theme park attendance for the world's top 25 parks was at 185.6 million, a decline of 0.2 percent from the previous year.

Coming 14th on the list, Ocean Park saw a decline of 4.6 percent last year, posting 4.8 million visitors compared with Hong Kong Disneyland's 17th place rank with 4.6 million visitors. For Hong Kong Disneyland the figure represented a 2 percent increase over 2008.

Hong Kong Disneyland has been catching up with Ocean Park over the past three years. In 2007 Disneyland lagged some 770,000 visitors behind Ocean Park's 4.92 million visitors. The gap grew smaller the following year when Ocean Park drew 5.03 million, with Disneyland 530,000 visitors behind.

In 2008, the Asian market fell between 2.9 and 3.5 percent, but numbers are expected to rebound sharply due to a number of new parks and increasing demand from the China market, the report said.

Ocean Park for its part is spending HK$5.5 billion on a redevelopment plan that will double the number of attractions and rides, increase the park's coverage by 15 acres and will be completed by 2012. The redevelopment will also include the three-storey Aqua City, which will showcase the continent's biggest aquarium, slated to open in the coming months.

China Daily

(HK Edition 06/26/2010 page1)