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The $520 million  Hong Kong Wetland Park will open this month, with  hopes that it will attract 500,000 visitors in its first year and position the city as a world-class ecotourism destination.

The park, next to the internationally renowned  Mai Po bird sanctuary, will open on May 20.

Community members, green groups and travel industry representatives have been invited to take part in a rehearsal next week for the opening of the park, which features a 10,000 square metre visitor centre and 60-hectare outdoor area.

Commissioner for Tourism Au King-chi  said yesterday she hoped the park would attract 500,000 visitors in its first year of operation.

'I hope the park will position Hong Kong as one of the world-class ecotourism destinations,' she said. Despite this aim,  Ms Au expects 70 per cent of visitors to be local. Japanese visitors are expected to form a big proportion of the remaining 30 per cent from overseas.

The park is expected to cost $30 million a year to run. In an effort to attract more visitors, tickets will cost $30 for adults and $15 for students and the elderly. Fees of between   $60 and $80 had earlier been proposed.

Ms Au said the government intended the park to be privately managed, after  two years of operation by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.

Operational arrangements have been tailored to address environmental issues, with opening hours of 10am to 5pm to avoid  the use of floodlights.  If there are more than 2,000 visitors at any time, crowd management will be enforced to ensure they are evenly spread.

Ronnie Ho Pak-ting,  chairman of the Travel Industry Council, said the park might not be attractive to visitors from the mainland and Southeast Asia, who  regard shopping and dining as the major  Hong Kong attractions.

But these could lose their edge, tour operators warned, because of hotel prices. In the first four days of the May 'golden week', visitor numbers from across the border  fell by 10 per cent compared with the same period last year, to 198,000.

Mr Ho said visitors were deterred by the high cost of  hotel rooms, which has almost doubled during the holiday period.

Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee,  chairwoman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, urged the government  to speed up approval of hotel expansion and construction projects.



Wetland park seen promoting HK as leading eco-destination