Ocean Park Re-opens, Tickets Booked Up For Days

Ocean Park said on Saturday that its visiting quota for the next couple of weeks is already full, as it reopened its doors after a coronavirus-forced closure of more than four months.

The theme park has put in place a cap of 9,000 visitors per day – a quarter of its full capacity – for the next two weeks, and is requiring customers to register online before entering.

Dozens of people were seen queuing up before the park re-opened on Saturday morning. One child told RTHK: "I'm so happy because I can come back and play here again, the rides here are a lot of fun."

One person said they were taking precautionary hygiene measures inside the park by wearing a face mask and using hand sanitiser regularly.

Visitors also had their temperatures checked upon entering, and were reminded by park staff to wear face masks.

There was also a notice inside one of Ocean Park's restaurants telling guests to keep a distance of at least 1.5 metres when waiting in line.

Some of the rides were closed for health and safety reasons, while other attractions such as the roller coasters required visitors to be spaced apart. The park's panda enclosure has also been shut temporarily.

An executive director for the park, Timothy Ng, said the park will decide after this weekend whether to increase visitor numbers to up to 18,000 per day for the next round of reservations.

Ng also said that visitors must follow the rules limiting public gatherings to eight people.

Earlier this week, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said health authorities had been consulted before arriving at the decision to re-open the park, even though the eight-person limit on public gatherings was extended until June 18.

Ocean Park has been closed since January due to the Covid-19 outbreak and has been struggling financially. Last month lawmakers approved HK$5.4 billion in emergency funding to keep the park afloat for another year.