Hong Kong’s iconic cable car attraction on Lantau Island carried about 260,000 visitors in 2020, down 82 per cent year on year, with the venue starved of tourists amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ngong Ping 360 cable car, which takes visitors on a 5.7km ride from Tung Chung to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, was only open for 204 days last year, a 40 per cent drop in operations compared with 2019.
About 1.45 million people visited the bi-cable gondola circuit in 2019, which was already a 20.6 per cent decline from the record 1.83 million guests drawn to the attraction in 2018.
Hong Kong has been closed off to tourists for most of 2020, with all but three of the city’s border checkpoints shut since last February as part of infection control measures. Last year, arrivals to Hong Kong plunged nearly 94 per cent year on year in 2020 to just 3.57 million, a 36-year low for the once-thriving tourism hub.
Andy Lau Wai-ming, the attraction’s managing director, said the company had to adapt in light of the pandemic, and focus on family themed activities to attract local guests.
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The average number of daily local visitors to Ngong Ping 360 increased by nearly 13 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019. During public holidays last year, the flow of local visitors to the cable car had grown 50 per cent year on year.
“I hope that as the pandemic continues to wane, the local market and atmosphere for consumption will further revive, so that more guests can enjoy many of the authentic experiences in natural surroundings that Ngong Ping 360 is proud to offer,” Lau said in a statement.
The average number of daily visitors to the cable car attraction dropped about 71.4 per cent to 1,271 last year from 4,445 in 2019.
Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said the grim figures were expected but he noted the growth in the local market would continue as the government was keen on driving green tours that highlighted the city’s natural landscapes.
“Ngong Ping 360 has launched discounts and tour packages with nature discovery and heritage walks, which will still be attractive to locals over holiday periods,” he said.
But Yiu stressed that resuming cross-border travel with mainland China and successfully launching quarantine-free travel bubble arrangements with other countries were key to luring tourists and boosting visitor traffic at attractions such as Ngong Ping 360.
