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Tourists waiting in line for the Grand Aquarium. Photo: David Wong

No more queues! Ocean Park develops smartphone app to book rides in advance

… only you will have to wait a year for the app that Ocean Park believes will cut waiting times for its roller coasters and other attractions

Amy Nip

Are you put off a trip to the amusement park for fear of long queues for rides? Ocean Park is hoping to remove the problem by developing a smartphone application to allow visitors to book rides in advance.

The app, which the park aims to launch next summer, will allow people to book ahead for some rides and restaurants and check current waiting times for others.

With more than seven million people a year lining up to ride the park's 80 attractions, the thinking is that the app would spread out the crowds and shorten waiting times for everyone. It would be fed information on visitor numbers in various areas of the park and then recommend people head to less crowded places.

A pre-booking app was set up for last year's Halloween Fest, which allowed visitors to schedule visits to the haunted house and other rides. The new app will be similar but on a much grander scale.

And to help access the information, a free Wi-fi network in the park is to be launched in about nine months' time, said the park's deputy chief executive, Matthias Li Sing-chung, yesterday.

The park's financial year to June last year saw a record 7.7 million visitors pour through the gates, a 9 per cent rise on the previous year. Half of the visitors came from the mainland.

The visitor numbers for the fiscal year that has just finished were still being audited but were expected to be similar, according to the park.

Executives remain optimistic about the park's future despite questions over whether the city should limit the number of mainland visitors.

A proposal to cap the number of visits to Hong Kong permitted under Shenzhen permanent residents' multiple-entry visas would have limited impact on Ocean Park, given that people do not visit it every trip.

Chief executive Tom Mehrmann said a hypothetical 20 per cent reduction of mainland visitor numbers would translate into 700,000 fewer visitors to the park, which he called a manageable situation.

And to help reduce reliance on mainland visitors, Ocean Park is stepping up its marketing in South Korea, the Philippines and India, he told a media briefing.

Overseas visitors make up about 15 per cent of total attendance, and locals about 35 per cent.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: End of the ride for theme park queues?
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