Troubled Hong Kong floating restaurant’s film and video game appearances and the movie stars who ate there, including Tom Cruise and Gong Li
- The Jumbo Floating Restaurant, built by casino mogul Stanley Ho in the 1970s, is the latest victim of the pandemic, with reported losses of over US$12 million
- It has appeared in films such as Contagion, video games and books, and had millions of visitors, including Queen Elizabeth, Tom Cruise and Richard Branson
These are uncertain times for the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, the neon-drenched tourist attraction that’s been a fixture in Hong Kong’s Aberdeen harbour for almost 50 years.
Since then the world’s largest floating restaurant has racked up jumbo losses, reportedly in excess of HK$100 million (US$12.7 million), forcing the parent company Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises to announce this week that it was unable to afford the operating and maintenance costs and would look for a new home outside the city.
“Over the past year, [the company] has had discussions with more than a dozen companies and organisations regarding its unconditional offer to donate the Jumbo Floating Restaurant,” it said. “However there was no taker, with all parties citing high operating costs.”
