Aberdeen floating restaurant gets starring role in plans for tourism, leisure hub in southern Hong Kong Island
- Stricken tourism sector gets HK$600 million aid for travel agencies, tour guides, coach drivers
- Southern district plan goes beyond new features at Ocean Park, includes waterfront areas too
The southern part of Hong Kong Island will be transformed into a tourism and leisure hub including a revitalised Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced in her policy address on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old Aberdeen landmark, which closed for good in March, will be handed over to Ocean Park to turn into a heritage and tourism attraction.
A new water taxi service is expected to go through the revitalised district, creating a new day trip experience for visitors, according to a source.
To help the tourism industry which has been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, Lam also rolled out relief measures worth about HK$600 million (US$77 million) for the sector’s stricken businesses, tour guides and coach drivers. Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing welcomed the measures, saying it would help small travel agencies stay afloat and discourage others from putting their workers on unpaid leave.
Unveiling the government’s “Invigorating Island South” initiative, Lam said it aimed to “develop the Southern district into a place full of vibrancy, vigour and velocity” where people could “work, live, enjoy creativity, leisure and have fun”.
The plan includes revitalising Ocean Park by emphasising its strengths in education and conservation. The loss-making attraction has a water park that will open next summer.