Tourism rise leads to new look for Peak

HONGKONG and Shanghai Hotels is to redevelop two Victoria Peak properties to cope with rising expectations from the increasing number of tourists.

The Peak Tower and Victoria Park Apartments will be demolished by early next month to make way for the development, but the Peak Tram facilities will remain in operation through the construction which is due to start by the end of the year.

The new development will include seven storeys of retail, restaurant, entertainment and viewing facilities when it reopens in 1995.

Analysts are wondering about the reasons for the demolition of the Peak Tower, which was opened only in 1972.

''Twenty years is a fairly short period in the history of Hongkong,'' said Neil McCallum, the group's general manager - projects. ''In that time, however, the number of tourists has increased considerably.'' In the 1980s, annual arrivals rose from about 2.5 million at the beginning of the decade to the present figure of between six and seven million, about half of whom make a trip to the Victoria Peak, according to the Hongkong Tourist Association.

''So a building which was appropriate in 1972 is not really adequate for the middle of 1990s,'' he said. ''The present facilities are inefficient for visitors and also to operate.'' The Victoria Peak Apartments - a residential block - was also old enough to justify the redevelopment, he said.