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Opinion | Ocean Park is not too big to fail. If anything, it has failed Hong Kong and we should shut it down
- At this point, a HK$5.4 billion lifeline would only keep the park afloat for another 12 months. Letting it live on borrowed time won’t do it or us any good. Ocean Park, like the MTR, is a Hong Kong brand that has forgotten Hongkongers
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Shanghai Disneyland is the first major theme park to have reopened to the public since the coronavirus ravaged the world. It began phased reopening in early March, with retail and dining locations resuming operations. Last week, the theme park itself welcomed visitors again – but only a limited number, of course.
It is setting a precedent for theme parks in a post-Covid-19 world. More than 90 per cent of the world’s population now live in places with travel restrictions and this spells trouble for these attractions.
The Hong Kong government has a 53 per cent controlling stake in Hong Kong Disneyland. Our home-grown Ocean Park may go bust next month if it doesn’t get a HK$5.4 billion (US$690 million) government bailout. In fact, the amusement park tried to ask for HK$10.6 billion early this year, citing a need to revamp itself as the flow of mainland tourists ran dry during the months of anti-government protests.
But the park was having trouble attracting mainland visitors long before waves of social unrest and Covid-19 hit the city. It has been losing visitors and money for years. Its heyday – in 2012-13, when it drew a record 7.7 million visitors under the chairmanship of Allan Zeman – is long past.
Legislator and New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee called it a “failed business” months ago, when it was revealed that the park was not only in debt but also running low on cash. At the time, it already had to repay commercial loans of HK$2.3 billion, and a government loan of HK$3.67 billion.
At this point, a HK$5.4 billion lifeline would only keep the park afloat for another 12 months. Letting it live on borrowed time, on borrowed money, will do neither the park nor Hong Kong any good.
Alice Wu fell down the rabbit hole of politics aged 12, when she ran her first election campaign. She has been writing about local politics and current affairs for the Post since 2008. Alice's daily needs include her journals, books, a multi-coloured pen and several lattes. She is currently a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA
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