Ngong Ping 360 sees strong visitor growth in 2023
Bosses at Ngong Ping 360 on Tuesday said the tourist attraction saw a sharp recovery last year, with visitor numbers returning to 95 percent of pre-Covid levels. The company that operates the cable car between Tung Chung and Lantau's Big Buddha said it recorded 1.38 million visitors last year - 2.5 times more than in 2022. Ngong Ping 360's managing director, Andy Lau, said the resumption of travel with the mainland was a big boost, with the number of visitors coming from north of the border last year exceeding that in 2019 by 30 percent.  Lau said the cable car operator is looking to do even better this year, saying there is great potential in drawing visitors from places like Taiwan, South Korea and Indonesia. "[2023] is actually a happy year for us. Basically what we did exceeded our expectations and our target. We're setting a more stringent target for 2024, but from the performance in the first two months until [Chinese New Year], we saw that the growth or performance was promising," he said. The executive added that the holidays brought not just more visitors but also more income, noting that spending per person at the sightseeing spot rose almost 30 percent compared to 2019. Lau said Ngong Ping 360 is investing over HK$10 million to buy 10 more “crystal+” cabin cable cars with glass floors, as they are very popular with visitors. The new cable cars will enter service in December.