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Adult tickets will be raised from HK$385 to $438 from January 1 for tourists, but it will not apply to Hongkongers until March 1.
The Smart Fun annual pass prices will remain unchanged.
The theme park in Aberdeen published its annual results for the fiscal year from July 2015 to June 2016 yesterday.
Attendances dropped 18.8 percent to six million year-on-year amid a plunge in the number of mainland tourists and a strong Hong Kong dollar against other currencies. It is the park's first deficit since 2002-03 during the SARS outbreak.
Chairman of the park Leo Kung Lin- cheng said a combination of factors was behind the drop in tourists to Hong Kong, including intensified competition from other regional destinations, the strengthening Hong Kong dollar against the yuan and other currencies, and the slowed economic growth in China, affecting mainland visitor flows to the city.
A breakdown of the attendance figures shows 40 percent of visitors were mainlanders, another 40 percent Hongkongers and the rest overseas tourists - similar to the 2014/15 fiscal year.
Most tourists were individual travelers and 30 percent from group tours. Photo: The Standard
Explaining the deficit, the park said costs were running higher since it added more attractions - to a total of more than 80. It also borrowed HK$2.3 billion from the government to develop Water World and is paying interest on the loan.
Attendance was further weakened by bad weather, as rainfall during the first four months this year was double normal levels. The ticket price of the park is also lower than those in the region, Ocean Park said.
Hong Kong Disneyland charged HK$539 for an adult ticket. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom charges 350 yuan, or about HK$395, according to the attractions' websites.
Ocean Park will not lay off any staff or subject them to salary cuts, but will freeze the headcount except for vital departments such as maintenance. The deficit was covered by its HK$2 billion reserve.
Looking forward, it hopes the launch of MTR South Island Line and the Ocean Park Station on December 28 will help draw guests, especially locals.
It will provide dining around the lake in the Aqua City area in February, allowing guests to have dinner and visit the aquarium.
Two hotels will open in coming years. Hong Kong Ocean Park Marriott Hotel, in front of the park's main entrance, is expected to open in 2018.
The Fullerton Hotel in Tai Shue Wan will open in 2020, while the revived water park Water World will open in 2018.
Performance of Ocean Park. Photo: Ocean Park
There will also be more promotions to mark the park's 40th anniversary next year.
Statistics disclosed in the financial report said four marine mammals died during the fiscal year. They included a 44-year-old Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin which died of old age, a new born bottlenose dolphin which died minutes after birth, a spotted seal pup which failed to take its first breath and a harbor seal that died due to anesthesia complications.
There were five deaths of mammals on land: a koala was euthanized for an incurable disease, an arctic fox died during an epileptic seizure, an aged rat died, and a golden snub-nosed monkey and a red squirrel died after anesthesia.
Three Chinese sturgeons died or were euthanized due to incurable bacterial infection.
In 2015, tourist arrivals to Hong Kong dropped 2.5 percent to 59.3 million from the previous year. In the first 10 months this year, arrivals totaled 46.7 million, down 5.7 percent year-on- year.
(The Standard)
