MACAU DAILY TIMES
Macau’s Panda Habitat theme park will open on Tuesday (January 18), but only schools, elderly and associations will be able to visit “Hoi Hoi” and “Sam Sam”. The park will be open to the general public, with to some restrictions, on January 27.
Last week the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) held a press conference to announce that the pair of pandas is adapting very well to Macau. The official opening will be broadcast live on television.
First tickets will be on sale from January 21 at Macau Forum. Each person will only be allowed to buy four tickets. In addition, each buyer is allowed to get four free admission entrances to be used by children and elderly, but identification documents are required upon sale.
From January 28, the Panda theme park’s sales office will start operations. Furthermore, from February 11, tickets will be available at the IACM service centres. Entrance costs MOP 10 and is valid for a month.
Between January 28 and April 27, the park will be open to the public, but only six daily visits will be organised. During this trial period, the park will limit the number of visitors per day to a maximum of 1,000.
During the next three months, the park will be under a trial operation period. IACM president Raymond Tam Vai Man explained that the first trial period will be very important to figure out how the public will respond to the park opening.
The IACM set up a temporary car park with 300 spaces. In addition, the Transport Bureau will launch a special bus route to Seac Pai Van, departing from Ferreira do Amaral roundabout, in front of Hotel Lisboa.
The two giant pandas, sent as a gift to Macau by the central government in Beijing, arrived in Macau on December 18 and were placed in quarantine for at least 30 days. Located in Seac Pai Van, the 3,000 square-metre park was a MOP90 million (US$11.2 million) investment, costing MOP10 million higher than the initial budget.
The theme park will open its doors from 10 am to 1 pm, and from 2 pm to 5 pm, from Tuesday to Sunday.
