Ocean Park CEO Tom Mehrmann is spearheading a six-year master redevelopment plan that aims to double existing rides and open new hotels within the property

On June 29, 2008, at 11 am, when Eddie Hung from Hong Kong and his family passed through the turnstile at Ocean Park, they were in a for a big surprise. They were the five millionth visitors to the theme park in the 2007/2008 financial year, helping it to rack up five successive years of record-breaking attendance.  In June 2006, Forbes.com ranked Ocean Park as one of the 10 Most Popular Amusement Parks in the World, and in 2007 Forbes Traveler cited Ocean Park as one of the 50 Most Visited Tourist Attractions. Currently Ocean Park ranks 16th in the world and 5th in Asia, based on attendance results compiled by industry authorities. About 50 percent of visitors come from Mainland China, and the majority of the remaining 50 percent are from Hong Kong.

These enviable achievements and plaudits may have come as something as a surprise to sceptics, who feared that the government-run Ocean Park might be overshadowed or even eclipsed by the Disneyland theme park that opened at Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island, three years ago.

But Ocean Park, located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island and this year marking its 31st birthday, has proved the doomsayers resoundingly wrong. However, it is not resting on its laurels. In March 2005, the park announced an ambitious Master Redevelopment Project costing $5.5 billion. To be completed over six years in eight phases, the project will double the number of animal and ride attractions, from 35 to more than 70. Also planned, and awaiting formal approval, are three hotels to be built at the park to suit every taste and budget. The hotels are expected to open from 2011/12 onwards. Access to the park will be further improved when the MTR Corp. rapid transit railway system extends its network to the south of Hong Kong Island, including a stop at Ocean Park.

The park’s chief executive, Tom Mehrmann, who has spent his entire career in the theme park industry, tells Hong Kong Business that despite Ocean Park’s popularity and success, it must constantly seek to renew itself. Standing still and simply admiring the park’s stunning seascapes is not an option.

Up close with Tom Mehrmann
I grew up in southern California. And for anybody who has been through Southern California – or even Florida – it’s kind of a theme park capital of the world. Growing up there, it almost becomes a rite of passage that most teenagers are going to spend some time working in a theme park. I applied as a minor, under the age of 18, at Disney. At the time there was an ample supply of employees, so Disney was not hiring minors. Knott’s Berry Farm, a theme park just down the street from Disney, was hiring minors, and I was hired. I became a sweeper, working literally from the ground up, sweeping the grounds.

It evolved into a summer job, then a part-time job and then a full-time job. Literally it went from sweeper, to assistant supervisor, to supervisor on up to manager, and then on into other facets of the business. This business is really kind of unique in that there are so many different disciplines that reside within a theme park.
I had heard about Ocean Park years and years ago. It is one of these parks that has a great reputation in the industry. When I got contacted by the international headhunting firm Korn/Ferry, looking to fill a position for a theme park in Hong Kong, I thought, this is ideal.

Ocean Park is 31 years old this year, and one of the things that this allows us to do is take stock of where have we come, how were we originally developed, what were the guiding principles that drove the original development. They are pretty simple and fundamental: education, conservation, entertainment. To this day 31 years later, they are still the basic, fundamental principles of our operation.
But with 31 years of history and Disney being in the market and other competition growing, and Macau and Singapore developing, our park has to continue to renew itself. One of the reasons I was hired was to bring in a master plan direction. It wasn’t that I was going to bring the plan, but they wanted me to direct the effort of defining the master plan and getting it started because of my other park development experience.

We wanted to take the strengths of the park, enhance them and then build upon new avenues in the park: make it bigger, put more “ocean” in Ocean Park. Basically, “keep the best and improve the rest” has been the approach we took.

We are two years into a six-year development [period], with eight phases, and will be complete roughly in 2012. You will see essentially a brand new park with all the iconic attractions still very much in place.

I have actually looked at Disney, Ngong Ping, the Wetlands Park, all these centres I would consider to be complementary components of a trip to Hong Kong. What we compete for is discretionary time and money. People only have so much of both. So we have just got to make sure that we put a product out there that is differential enough to, where people will make a choice and say, “If I only can do one thing or two things,” Ocean Park needs to be on that list.

We spend a great deal of time making sure we are differential enough to where we will stand out as an option for our guests when they are planning their itineraries, whether they are coming in from outside the market or if they are in the market. Then it becomes a matter in the market of remaining continuously fresh. And so we do five different events during the course of a year. Five different times a year we completely renew the park experience around these events. It’s a function of what I call software driving the hardware.

My style has always been I would say participative, interactive, engaging. I don’t find a great value in a top-down approach. I have always attempted to bring people into the decision-making or direction-setting. There are certainly times when you need to set a direction top down, but there are more times where it needs to be more iterative and more interactive.

I’m proud of the fact that no senior position in this company was removed upon my arrival. Usually what will happen when you have a senior level change is the team changes. I’ve always felt it important to assess the team that’s there. There’s no need to change people unless of course there’s a mis-alignment of philosophy or operating protocols. I’m very proud to say the team that’s here is the same team that was here when I arrived. We’ve been able to achieve the success we’ve achieved as a result of simply changing priorities, shifting focus and taking advantage of the talents that are in place.

I think it’s one of the greatest parks in the world. Obviously that’s going to come across as a biased opinion, but I just think our position, our location, what we represent as an option for a trip to Hong Kong is what makes Hong Kong even better. One of the reasons it appealed so much to me is that this is really a jewel in the crown of an already great city. I’ve loved the fact that we’ve been able to build the property, build the park and create a destination that does nothing more than make your trip to Hong Kong even better.

Tom Mehrmann Fact File
QUALIFICATIONS: Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from California State University. Has completed the Advanced Courses organised by the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions in Theme Park Management at Cornell University.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: Supports and serves on many public organisations to promote tourist development in Hong Kong, including Hong Kong universities, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and the Employers’ Federation.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Started his career in the theme park industry in 1977 at Knott’s Berry Farm in the USA as a park service attendant, and was Knott’s Vice President of Park Operations and Entertainment when he left. In 1998 joined Six Flags Marine World as Vice President and General Manager and was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Warner Brothers Movie World in Madrid in 2000 when Six Flags acquired the Madrid park. Joined Ocean Park in 2004, directing the park to four successive years of record attendance, revenue and surpluses, while leading the effort of the Master Redevelopment Project.