Hong Kong’s Ocean Park posts HK$31.8 million deficit despite government bailouts as Covid-19 blights annual performance figures
- Ocean Park plunges into the red for 2020-21 after recording HK$1.92 billion surplus in previous year
- Revenues nearly halved, visitor numbers down 36 per cent as coronavirus crisis forced repeated closures of the Aberdeen attraction
The net deficit was revealed on Wednesday in the theme park’s 2020-21 annual report, which showed it had received HK$1.45 billion of public funds to mitigate costs arising from coronavirus-related closures.
Ocean Park seeks potential partners as it gets ball rolling on huge overhaul
Ivan Wong Chi-fai, Ocean Park Corporation CEO, said the resort was turning things around through fresh concepts to attract new visitors, such as activities for fitness enthusiasts, pet lovers and nature fans.
“The immense public enthusiasm for our new attempts show that the park is on the right path,” Wong said.
Ocean Park’s HK$270.1 million operating deficit for 2020-21 represented a 77 per cent fall on the previous year’s HK$1.17 billion. The latest figure would have been HK$1.11 billion without the government cash injection, which was used to support the day-to-day running of the park and capital spending, as well as completion of the recently opened Water World Park.
A HK$6.8 billion rebirth plan funded by taxpayer cash was approved in March to help support the park’s operations and capital expenditure over the course of four years, while also bankrolling its shift towards becoming a leisure and retail destination focused on education and conservation.
The government bailout package in 2019-20 was worth HK$5.4 billion – most of which went to repaying some of the HK$3.07 billion borrowed through commercial loans.
Ocean Park, a not-for-profit organisation run by a statutory board, suffered deficits over four straight years before the bailout in 2019-2020, with an outdated business model blamed.
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Hong Kong’s Ocean Park unveils new water theme park attraction
Revenues in 2020-21 dropped by 45 per cent to HK$393.6 million, from HK$717.1 million the year before.
The theme park recorded 1.4 million visitors, down 36 per cent from 2019-20, as the city’s strict rules in place for the coronavirus crisis kept tourists away for 20 months.
The Aberdeen attraction was closed for 146 days because of pandemic restrictions, depriving the park of gate receipts for lengthy periods accounting in total for 40 per cent of the financial year.
It was most recently ordered to close – for the third time since Hong Kong’s first Covid-19 cases in early 2020 – last December before reopening its doors in February of this year.
The 44-year-old park unveiled plans in January this year for a massive overhaul, repositioning itself as a platform for outsourced entertainment running under a financially self-sufficient model.
Covid-19 jabs will not be needed to visit Water World at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park
Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the venue still had a long way to go before returning to profit as it revamped its business model.
“The park has been able to stay open and welcome guests again, despite some social-distancing restrictions,” Yiu said. “It’s up and running and generating some revenue from the local market but it’s also going under many changes.”
Yiu said the two rounds of government injections had helped ease the resort’s debt woes but it must now prove its proposed reinvention would generate self-sustaining revenues.
The park is in the process of finding partners via public tender to convert nearly 1 million sq ft of its footprint in the south of Hong Kong Island into a retail, dining and entertainment zone.
Ocean Park’s new all-weather Water World finally opened to the Hong Kong public on September 21 after four years of delays. Its estimated cost eight years ago was HK$2.29 billion, and has since ballooned to HK$4 billion.
