Thanks to the wise moves by the special administrative region government to bail out Ocean Park and Cathay Pacific Airlines, two leading firms in the tourism and airline industry, respectively, have escaped bankruptcy. The plight of these two entities is different. Cathay Pacific became financially insolvent when the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the globe; once the pandemic subsides, the company will be out of the woods. Ocean Park, however, was already in financial distress before COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the world economy, because a considerable volume of mainland tourists now prefer the newly established Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai. Therefore, even when the COVID-19 pandemic is over, Ocean Park's survival will hinge on how its management team responds to competition from Chimelong Ocean Kingdom.

The SAR government should make more efforts to help industries that encounter challenges similar to those facing Ocean Park. The experience and woes of the local movie industry offer the government and players in those industries an idea about how they can cope with those challenges.

Source: China Daily