Dramatic decline in visitation sees Ocean Park lose over a million visitors in 2015

Hong Kong theme park Ocean Park saw its visitor numbers dip by 14% in 2015, slipping by over a million visits from 7.8 million visits – the highest number ever recorded – in 2014 to 6.7 million last year..

Ocean Park Corporation Chairman Leo Kung blamed the fall on a drop in visitors from mainland China coming to Hong Kong, with mainland visitors to the theme park falling by over 20%.

With their numbers having grown in recent years, mainland visitors make up half of visitation to Ocean Park while local visitors make up around 30 to 35% of the park’s total. However, there was an upward trend in locals visiting the amusement park due to promotions targeted towards them in January. There was also a rise in Indonesian and Filipino visitors.

Despite the overall fall, the park said that all the employees would receive a pay rise of up to 6%, as well as a bonus equivalent to one month’s salary.

Despite of the fall in numbers, Kung indicated that revenues had largely held up with yield per visitor rising and said there are no plans to cut entrance ticket prices.

Mindful of competition from the Shanghai Disney Resort, which opens in June, the park is unveiling new features and promotions to attract more tourists, particularly from India.

The theme park will also start the construction of its Fullerton Hotel next year.

The 460 room facility is expected to open by 2020 while its new waterpark is expected to be operational in 2018.

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