Hong Kong’s cash-strapped Ocean Park theme park may not reopen once Covid-19 restrictions are completely eased.
It urgently needs a bailout or it could shut down for good, government officials say.
It requires a HK$5.4 billion bailout just to get through the current crisis.
The park has been struggling for a long time and was already due for a government funded cash injection.
However the Covid-19 pandemic has put it in an even more precarious position said secretary for commerce and economic development, Edward Yau Tang.
He says the initial funding proposal has been revised as it needs a swift bailout to survive the next 12 months.
"Without the help, there will only be one outcome: that Ocean Park will cease operation," he said.
The original funding proposal was to bankroll the attraction’s HK$10 billion transformation into an adventure-themed resort.
For now, it needs about half that amount just to stay afloat, lawmakers were told.
