Exclusive | Long-awaited Water World at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park will not require visitors to be vaccinated when it opens in August
- The new park will not make inoculation mandatory as it seeks to draw families over the summer holiday
- The water park, which was supposed to open in 2017, will offer 27 attractions that are expected to drum up much-needed business at the resort
A source familiar with the matter said the HK$4 billion (US$514 million) Water World would announce its official launch date in early August and have a soft opening later that month.
“To encourage kids to go, vaccination is not a must,” the insider said, without disclosing more details.
Hong Kong currently allows people aged 12 or above to be vaccinated with the German-made BioNTech vaccine, while the other vaccine being offered, the Chinese-made Sinovac, is restricted to adults.
The water park, which spans more than 55,740 square metres of a Tai Shue Wan hillside in Southern district overlooking the South China Sea, will offer 27 attractions, including “lazy rivers”, an infinity pool, wave pools and rainbow-coloured slides.
The facility is expected to breathe new life into the debt-ridden theme park that has turned to the government for funds for two consecutive years.
While Ocean Park has not revealed the price of admission yet, chairman Lau Ming-wai previously said he believed tickets would not be more expensive than ones for entry to the resort, currently HK$498 (US$64) for adults and HK$249 for children.
The struggling resort in Aberdeen originally planned to open the all-weather water park in 2017, but the project suffered years of delays and cost overruns. Its estimated cost was HK$2.29 billion eight years ago.
Ocean Park, now in its 44th year of operation, is planning to relaunch itself as a financially self-sufficient leisure and retail destination focused on education and conservation, with a variety of outsourced entertainment and other activities on offer.
Under the proposal, the park would operate less than a third of the site’s footprint, an area that includes conservation and education facilities, a cable car and the water world. The rest of the resort would be run in partnership with external operators, who would pay rent or share revenue with the park.
Tourism lawmaker Yiu Si-wing expected the park would receive overwhelming support in the first few months because Hongkongers had few tourist attractions available to them during the pandemic.
“Hongkongers have been bored for a long time,” Yiu said. “Now we have a new thing, so the response should be great.”
But it remains to be seen how the water park will be received by the public when the weather cools in autumn and winter.
