Ocean Park has put its faith in pandas to boost revenue after Hong Kong’s largest theme park recorded a HK$71.6 million deficit in its latest fiscal year despite the highest number of visitors in five years.
Ocean Park Corporation (OPC) announced its financial results for the year on Thursday. The park saw around 3,140,000 in total attendance from last July to the end of June this year, up from around 2,360,000 in the previous financial year.
The figure is a five-year high, driven by non-local visitors whose numbers more than tripled. The park said visitors from mainland China almost quadrupled, while those from India and the Philippines increased by more than three and five times, respectively.
The rise in visitors contributed to a rise in income from admission, catering and merchandising, resulting in an increase in overall revenue of 41 per cent.
Still, the park reported a deficit of HK$71.6 million. Its operating costs rose 17 per cent from the previous year, with spending on conservation and education comprising almost 30 per cent of this.
“Despite the ongoing challenges in the market following the pandemic, Ocean Park Corporation has seen significant growth in both visitor numbers and revenue, with a continuous influx of visitors,” said Paulo Pong, the chairperson of the corporation’s board.
“We will continue to pursue diverse revenue sources and aim for continued improvement in our financial performance over the medium to long term, despite prevailing external economic uncertainties,” Pong added.
‘Panda tourism’
Opened in 1977, Ocean Park is Hong Kong’s largest theme park. It also conducts animal conservation research and boasts around two dozen animal attractions including an alligator marsh, aquariums and an Arctic fox den.
The park also houses Hong Kong’s only panda enclosure, home to six pandas. Ying Ying and Lok Lok gave birth to panda twins in August, whose names will be decided by a naming competition.
In September, the central government gifted two five-year-old pandas – An An and Ke Ke – to Hong Kong.
“For the fiscal year 2024–2025, we will capitalise on the presence of six giant pandas in the park to drive citywide excitement, thereby increasing visitor numbers and revenue while promoting panda tourism and ecological conservation in Hong Kong,” Pong said in the statement.
Lawmakers have been urging Hong Kong authorities to capitalise on the “panda craze.” Last week, the government announced that the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, the Tourism Board and Ocean Park were promoting a campaign called “Come and Enjoy a Pandastic Hong Kong.”
‘The new Hong Kong giant panda family will serve as Hong Kong’s tourism ambassadors in promoting a ‘tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong’ experience, attracting visitors from all over the world to Hong Kong and thus driving tourism development,” the government said.
