Only major Hong Kong museum defying coronavirus by staying open suffers collapse in visitor numbers

Hong Kong Maritime Museum is the one attraction of its kind in the city to accept visitors over the last few weeks

Government-run facilities have been closed since January 29 as part of the emergency response to Covid-19

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The Hong Kong Maritime Museum has remained open during the health crisis, when all government-run ones have shut their doors. Photo: SCMP

Published: 6:12pm, 1 Mar 2020Updated: 7:59pm, 1 Mar 2020

The only major museum in Hong Kong to stay open over the last few weeks of the coronavirus crisis has suffered a collapse in visitor numbers.

Bosses at the privately owned Hong Kong Maritime Museum in Central have refused to shut the waterfront attraction, calling their decision a “vote for Hong Kong”.

William Waung, Richard Wesley and Libby Chan Lai-pak, from the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, are still welcoming visitors despite citywide closures because of the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo: Jonathan Wong

But they welcomed just 3,800 people from January 1 to February 23, down 78 per cent from the same period last year, even with all government-run rivals closed since late January.

Museum director Richard Wesley said fewer than 30 people a day visited the 45,000 sq ft site in February as the Covid-19 epidemic and anti-government protests sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill took their toll.

“Since June last year, there has been a sharp slide in visitation,” he told the Post. “Obviously with the civil disorder, then the coronavirus, visitations basically collapsed.”