Melco International Development said profit generated by its floating restaurants sand 40 per cent this year compared with the same period last year, having already plunged last year.
The company, whose main business is running Aberdeen's Jumbo Seafood restaurant and its two adjoining restaurants, Jumbo Palace, and Tai Pak, said it cut 80 staff in April and now employs about 400 staff at the floating restaurants.
Chief executive Patrick Huen Wing-ming said salaries were more than $90 million last year but the company would try to retain as many staff as possible, despite the profit drop.
It reported an 80 per cent drop in attributable profit last year, to $10.3 million from $57 million in 1996.
Mr Huen said the firm had more than $200 million in cash and generated interest income of over $15 million last year.
Chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun attributed the drop in business to the state of Japan's economy. Most customers were Japanese, "but Japan is not doing well and a lot fewer Japanese are coming to Hong Kong", he said.
About 65 per cent of the restaurant's patrons were tourists, with Japanese tourists making up more than 40 per cent.
Mr Ho said with markets such as Thailand slowly picking up, he expected the tourism slump in Hong Kong to bottom in the latter part of the year.
Deputy general manager Tong Yau said the company was seeking to extend its local client base by advertising in magazines. He said negotiation for a few projects had been put on hold.
source: SCMP, Jun 2, 1998, p. 34.
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also from SCMP, Mar 8, 1972, p. 5.
Hongkong's floating restaurants come under fire
Hongkong's world-famous floating restaurants are becoming the targets for increasing complaints from tourists and travel agents overseas.
The Executive Director of the Tourist Association, Mr John Pain, said this yesterday.
And he said tourism officials had held two meetings with the management of these establishments to try to get the quality of service improved at these places.
Mr Pain's comments came after Magistrate K. W. Dillon in Western Court yesterday dismissed a charge of assault against a foki of the Sea Palace restaurant who had been accused of assaulting a tourist customer after he complained about a bill.
"We have had a number of complaints in recent months about the floating restaurants," Mr Pain said.
"They come from tourists and from travel agents overseas who have in turn received complaints from tourists who found the floating restaurants unsatisfactory.
The main complaints have been about service and the attitude of waiters who throw food down in front of customers and who display a lack of courtesy."
He said tourists had also complained about cold food and poor quality food.
Mr Pain said the following restaurant companies were members of the Tourist Association, and as members, the association could not accept unsatisfactory and poor conditions.
"We can't have these undoubted tourist attractions ending up as liabilities to the tourist industry," Mr Pain said.
"We can't have these undoubted tourist attractions
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SCMP, Mar 19, 1972, p. 3.
Aberdeen's world-famous floating restaurants are under heavy attack overseas and it could ruin them as tourist attractions.
It could also severely damage their local business.
One attack concerns a dead cockroach.
It was found recently in a dish of boiled shrimps by a local diner.
This is one of many complaints against the food and service at the restaurants.
The Tourist Association has received an avalanche of complaints in recent months from customers and the association is worried.
The restaurants' reputation has slumped so much that tour organisers - who once listed a visit to Aberdeen as a "must" - are looking for attractions of a similar nature in other areas.
One obvious choice is the floating restaurant at Shatin. Here the surroundings are pleasant, the view superb and the food up the an acceptable standard.
Pleas to improve the standard at Aberdeen have so far fallen on deaf ears.
Meanwhile, the complaints pour in. One letter (a copy of which was received by the HKTA) stated: "It is an embarrassment for me to take overseas visitors to the Aberdeen restaurants.
"In future I will not use the restaurants nor recommend them to others."
A tourist said in another letter: "I regret to say we were given a travesty of a meal which was matched by poor service.
"I complained to the management who offered me other dishes - once was enough!
"I am no stranger to Chinese food and cannot recall having received such poor service anywhere in the world."
The HKTA has held meetings with the managers of the Aberdeen restaurants and local civic groups in an attempt to improve dining conditions and win back some of the former esteem and popularity.
But the executive director of the HKTA, Mr J. H. Pain, said in a letter to one manager: "It seems these meetings were of no avail.
"We are faced with increasingly bad comments overseas on the floating restaurants. Frankly, conditions at Berdeen are becoming a liability to the industry."
Mr Pain concluded by requesting a "prompt explanation" for the complaints.
He said the situation had reached a stage where the restaurants' membership with the association would have to be reviewed.
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