Park Profile
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Founded in 1977 by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Ocean Park enjoys a unique setting overlooking the South China Sea on the southern side of Hong Kong Island. Operating on a not-for-profit basis, wholly owned by the Hong Kong Government and a public trust, its mission is to provide an affordable day out centred around entertainment, education and conservation.
As it celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2012, Ocean Park has become one of Asia’s top five amusement parks,
entertaining over 7 million annual guests. Yet while it enjoys a reputation as the “Hong Kong people’s park” it has been a massive influx of visitors from Mainland China that has fuelled much of its growth over the last decade.
In 2006, work began on a HK$5.5 billion (US$710m/€565m), six- year Master Redevelopment Plan (MRP) that has transformed the park into a world-class venue fit for the challenges of the 21st century – including new competition from Hong Kong Disneyland and other attractions in the wider Pearl River Delta. Here Tom Mehrmann, Ocean Park’s American- born chief executive who has guided the MRP through to its completion this summer, shares the challenges and achievements with Park World readers.
Aqua City
W
hen I arrived at Ocean Park in January 2004, we were facing a number of challenges. SARS had been a very
prominent threat in the market, and although people in Hong Kong felt that it was behind them, it had provided a massive shock to tourism throughout South East Asia.
SARS really just highlighted what had been a difficult time for the park. Attendance was low – we finished the year at around 3 million people. After four consecutive years of loosing money, cash reserves were being eroded and very low capital investment was made as a result. And with Hong Kong Disneyland close to opening [in September 2005], there was a sentiment that our park had grown tired, a new thing was coming and people were just waiting for it to arrive.
But there were some silver linings. During SARS, the Mainland Government had, in partnership with the Hong Kong Government, come to an agreement to
relax visa restrictions on a controlled basis across different Chinese cities and provinces. To this day, I think Hong Kong has some really aspirational qualities to the Mainland market. As the Frequent Independent Traveller scheme (FIT) was rolled out across China, visitor numbers really grew. To break up a shopping or a gastronomic trip to Hong Kong, people realised they could throw a fun day at Ocean Park into the mix. It was a wonderful deal.
The FIT scheme has slowed down quite a bit lately, but there are still 450 million people that have access to it, which is a significant number when you think about it – more than the population of Europe, certainly more than the United States, and about one third of the Chinese population. Each time the Government releases a different province, it just opens up a new market for us. We see that the first time a traveller has the ability to come out of their own province they like to come as part of a group, with others that speak the same language, but they are usually on a very packed itinerary. The second or third time they come, they stay for the whole day, bringing family and friends and enjoying the park on every level.
Big and bold
When signing the deal with Disney, the Hong Kong Government made the decision to put in a tourism foundation as a pillar of economic development to shift Hong Kong away from what was once a manufacturing and financial-based city. As part of this, they put the proper infrastructure in place and placed emphasis on hotel development. As a result, the city of Hong Kong become one of the pre-eminent tourist destinations in the world.
RIGHT: Tom Mehrmann 24
It was therefore incumbent on us to make sure that Ocean Park was standing tall and offered value when people came, but I think I can honestly say that if
SEPTEMBER 2012
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