Source: CCTV.com

06-28-2007 08:47

Special Report:   HK 10 Years

 

November 2006 was the busiest month ever for Hong Kong's Ocean Park. For the whole year, attendance was at a record high of 4.4 million visitors.

At the same time, work was beginning on an expansion project for the park.

"The past 30 years have been very successful and we are looking forward to even greater success in the next 30 years," said Henry Tang Ying-yen, Financial Secretary of HKSAR Government.

"We set an attendance record of 4.4 million visitors for the year. If we continue to improve our service for tourists we can break that record," said Dr. Allen Zeman, Chairman of Ocean Park Corporation.

Ocean Park is set like a pearl in the southern tip of Hong Kong Island. It is the largest marine park in Asia. Opened in 1977, over the years its fortunes have ebbed and flowed along with those of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong people have taken the park into their hearts, so much so that it is sometimes called the “People's Park". Over the past 30 years, countless Hong Kong children have experienced wonder and joy there that will live forever in their memories.

The 1990s saw Ocean Park reach the height of its success. The people who flocked to it from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia considered the visit the highpoint of their stay in Hong Kong. In the year when Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, Ocean Park received more visitors than ever before. Subsequently, however, the Park gradually lost its appeal, affected by the decline in its wildlife numbers, the aging of its facilities, and Hong Kong's poor economic climate. By 2004, Ocean Park was near to shutting down permanently.

But then the Hong Kong government signed a partnership agreement with Disney. A Hong Kong Disneyland would, it was hoped, revitalize the Hong Kong tourist industry and raise Hong Kong's international profile.

Hong Kong Disneyland is the second Disneyland in Asia – the other being in Japan – and the fifth in the world. Disney executives have said they see Hong Kong as the gateway to China, and its almost limitless source of customers. There are 300 million children in China aged 14 or younger, more than the total population of the United States. For the people at Disney, this is a very exciting demographic.