Beloved Lai Yuen amusement park will return in summer at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo
Weather concerns prompt shift indoors from last year’s Central harbourfront venue
The Lai Yuen amusement park will stage another comeback this summer, but in a mostly indoor setting at AsiaWorld-Expo instead of on the Central harbourfront.
The park will also open for a substantially shorter period, just 24 days, compared to the more than two months last year.
Park chairman Duncan Chiu said the decision to move the event to the exhibition venue on Lantau Island was based on experience gained last summer, when the historic theme park, which was originally based in Lai Chi Kok, was reopened for a temporary period for the first time since it was closed in 1997.
“It was a response to opinions raised last year,” Chiu said. “Hong Kong’s weather in the summer is not very stable. Sometimes there are typhoons and rain, and those are hard to control.
“Many people last year said it was too hot outdoors, and there was no air conditioning.”
Chiu said he was not worried about the current economic slowdown or slump in inbound tourist numbers affecting the performance of the park this year because many visitors last year were local residents.
