Ocean Park's Water World To Open On September 21

Ocean Park on Monday announced that its all-weather Water World will open its doors on September 21, and urged visitors to put on a mask whenever they leave the water and move around within the facility.

"What we are asking guests to do is come with a reusable mask," said the water park's executive director, Bryan Fish, who added that studies have shown that aquatic facilities are generally Covid safe.

"We all know that, with the disposal mask, as soon as they get wet, they simply don't work, where reusable masks when they get wet or saturated with water you can wring them out and just continue to use them," he added.

The number of visitors will be capped at 4,500 – half of the water park's maximum capacity – because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Entry fees for the Water World for is set at at least HK$320 for adults and HK$225 for children during the initial opening period.

But after that, ticket prices will not be fixed, but will be determined by "seasonal factors" in the next 60 days as well as whether it's a weekend or weekday.

The deputy chairman of the Ocean Park board, Paulo Pong, said he believed the fees are attractive and relatively cheap since the HK$4 billion attraction is Asia's only all-weather water park.

But some people RTHK spoke to at Ocean Park said they think the ticket price is rather expensive.

"I think it's a bit expensive for a normal person," said a woman called Lily, who was visiting Ocean Park with her friends. "If you have more than two kids, that's a lot."

However, another visitor, Sean, who was visiting with his family, said the prices are acceptable.

"I think the price is alright compared with parks around the world," he said. "It's about right for amusement parks, especially water parks."

Professor Brian King, from the Polytechnic University's School of Hotel and Tourism Management, told RTHK's Annemarie Evans that Hong Kong people are craving for such resort-type experience amid Covid-19, and believes Water World would be a draw for locals and visitors alike.

"It's more like a recreational facility, but nevertheless, because of the location which is pretty spectacular, I think it will be appealing to visitors from overseas as well."

But he also pointed out that it's too early to say if the new attraction would help turn things around at the loss-making theme park.

"Achieving profitability at Ocean Park is more like a medium- to long-term plan," King said.

"But I think the quality of the facilities, they're very contemporary, I think it's well attuned to what Hongkongers with families, what they want, or that kind of experience, so I think that at least gives Ocean Park a very strong basis with contemporary offer, so that I think it's a real positive."