Ocean Park reportedly looks to reposition as holiday resort rather than amusement park

The loss-making Ocean Park is ramping up its plans to offer more modern facilities and services to better meet visitors' needs. It is now planning to transform itself into a holiday resort instead of an amusement park, according to a report from Sing Tao Daily.  Ocean Park's operations and entertainment executive director Timothy Ng Sau-kin said the park is also planning to offer glamping sites on its hilltop in the future. Currently, Ocean Park is offering “Ghostly Glamping” on designated dates with a series of interactive activities to celebrate Halloween and lure customers in. Customers can access three interactive attractions, namely "Survivor of the Undead", "Forbidden Rainforest Treasure Hunt", and "The Supernatural Ghost Tour". To further amuse visitors, they can also visit visit the Halloween Fest make up centre to get a glimpse of how the ghosts are coming to life. There will be professional makeup artists creating a unique Halloween look for them. Other glamping service offerings include the Starry Summit Glamping with necessities provided. 

The report cited that Ocean Park is also planning hire a company to build and operate zipline facilities near the retired Mine Train and Raging River rides. The park has communicated with various operators and hopes to build and create zipline which will leverage the park's topography to offer adventure facilities.  

The new plans are part of its ongoing effort to increase income. In late September, it opened Water World as the management of the park and the Hong Kong government hoped the venue would become a favourite leisure destination of locals and international visitors in the years to come. Water World spans nearly 6.5 hectares of a Tai Shue Wan hillside in Southern district. It caters to a maximum of 4,500 visitors during the opening period, operating at half capacity under COVID-19 pandemic rules.

Ocean Park said Water World's unique location and concept make it "the only water park in Asia that combines stunning ocean views and landscape". Water World takes advantage of the site, using terraced platforms and outdoor areas to capture the panoramic views of its surroundings. It added that Water World's all-weather design, together with its proximity to Hong Kong’s urban centre, makes it easy for visitors to visit and get in touch with the wonders of water and nature.

Meanwhile, to make room for redevelopment, the park retired the Raging River water ride, the Mine Train roller coaster and the Abyss drop tower in August after serving visitors of the park for more than 20 years. The park will phase out old rides and continue to operate seven or eight of them launched in the last decade, as the park is transforming itself from an amusement park into a holiday report.

In the same month, Ocean Park issued a pre-qualification invitation to solicit potential partners to co-develop the park through a build-operate-transfer model, kicking off the two-phase procurement process for the implementation of the future strategy of Ocean Park. This process begins with the current pre-qualification stage and will be followed by the tender stage in late 2021 or early 2022. The pre-qualification exercise will help pre-qualify respondents for the tender process, maintaining a manageable number of bidders while ensuring that they share Ocean Park’s vision on future development, conservation and education, as well as having the requisites to deliver the development proposals of the future strategy.

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