Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant leaves for new secret location as residents bid farewell
- Tugboats take the tourist attraction to moor outside the city after talks between owner and government fail to save it
- ‘I really can’t bear to let it go. I think it’s a great loss,’ 76-year-old resident of Southern district says
Hong Kong’s iconic Jumbo Floating Restaurant sailed away on Tuesday as residents showed up to bid it farewell, after talks failed to save the struggling 46-year-old tourist attraction.
At noon, tugboats started to move Jumbo away to moor overseas. Brunswick group, a public relations firm, confirmed that the restaurant had left Hong Kong but said the new location could not be revealed.
“It has been a great honour for us to share beautiful, collective memories with local and foreign visitors. We sincerely thank you for all your love and care,” the firm’s statement read.
Workers boarded it at around 8am for some preparation work. The restaurant’s welcome sign was moved to the nearby Tai Pak floating restaurant an hour later. The latter was connected to Jumbo and has been closed since early 2020, the same time Jumbo stopped operating. These two locations were together known as Jumbo Kingdom.
Some residents came to bid farewell to Jumbo early in the morning. One of them was a retired 76-year-old man, who only gave his surname as Lai.