ENG-2005 — Page 490

424 | Recreation, Sport and the Arts

Ocean Park

Situated on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, Ocean Park is Hong Kong's unique home-grown theme park with a heritage of delivering family fun and fond memories. Since it opened as a non-profit organisation in January 1977, Ocean Park has developed into a world-class attraction recognised for its animal husbandry, research and relationship with the community.

Over the years, Ocean Park has established itself as one of the major tourist attractions in Hong Kong and Asia. For the 2004-05 fiscal year, which ended on June 30, the park achieved the highest recorded attendance in its history. More than 4 million people, including Hong Kong residents as well as tourists from all over the world, visited the park during this time. Aside from its thrill rides, seasonal shows and events such as Big Splash Summer, Halloween Bash and Christmas Sensation, the park prides itself on its education and conservation programmes that connect people with nature.

In July 2004, Ocean Park launched its education arm: the Ocean Park Academy. The academy offers fun courses about animals and their natural habitat. In its first. year, more than 50 000 Hong Kong students participated in the in-park and outreach programmes.

In 2002, Ocean Park was awarded an accreditation by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, making it the first animal facility in Asia to achieve a world- class status among an elite group of internationally acclaimed zoos and aquariums. In October 2005, the World Zoo and Aquarium Association accepted Ocean Park as a member. This umbrella association facilitates the global conservation initiatives of its members.

The park has a pair of giant pandas which were a gift to Hong Kong from the Central People's Government. Star attractions An An and Jia Jia live in the specially designed, 2 000-square-metre Giant Panda Habitat.

As an internationally accredited animal-conservation organisation, Ocean Park is committed to making a difference in the conservation of the natural environment. The Park's research activities on marine mammals and artificial insemination produced the world's first successful births of two Pacific bottlenose dolphins conceived through artificial insemination in 2001. Since then four calves have been born, two of them conceived through artificial insemination. In 2004-05, through in-park donation boxes, raffles, merchandise sales and corporate sponsorship, Ocean Park was able to donate $3.32 million in support of scientific research that has the mandate of conserving marine mammals and their habitats and ensuring the survival of giant pandas.

In February 2005, Ocean Park submitted to the Government a $5.55 billion master plan to redevelop the park into the world's leading marine-based theme park. Under the scheme, the number of attractions will be doubled by 2010. The redeveloped park will have two major areas The Waterfront and The Summit and seven themed zones, Aqua City, Birds of Paradise, Whiskers Harbour, Marine World, The Rainforest, Thrill Mountain and Polar Adventure. The master plan