It has been confirmed that troubled Hong Kong Ocean Park is to have even more money thrown at it from the government – this time a $361 million bailout loan! The latest funding request is the second in less than a year after the park obtained a government bailout of HK$5.4 billion in May 2020.
The new business model is to move the traditional theme park to a conservation centre and travel destination. Ocean Park Hong Kong, commonly known as Ocean Park, is a 44-year old theme park/amusement park that offers various attractions and rides as well as displaying captive animals including dolphins. In 2020, Ocean Park finally announced an end to its controversial Ocean Theatre dolphin show, despite staunchly defending its shows for their supposed “educative” value, however selling this as educational to the public could not be further from the truth as in reality, it’s miseducation.
Although the decades-long signature circus-style shows may be over for the dolphins, the marine mammals will be moved to a new exhibit, still within the Ocean Park area for public display. While outsourcing most new attractions (in operation as early as autumn 2022), Ocean Park chairman Lau Ming-wai has said the park would retain management of its dolphins and other animals which include sharks and penguins. Over the years there have been dozens of dolphin deaths at the facility and between 1979 and 1997, Ocean Park also exhibited a female killer whale which four years previously had been captured from the wild in Icelandic waters – she died at the park.
Ocean Park has been operating at a loss for the last four years and is temporarily closed due to Covid-19.
