The iconic Hong Kong floating seafood restaurant Jumbo Kingdom has announced that, starting tomorrow, it will be closing temporarily as Hong Kong continues to grapple with the coronavirus outbreak.
A message posted on the restaurant’s website cited the “impact of the current situation,” and said it will be closed until further notice.
It has been dealing with financial difficulties in recent months, partly because of last year’s long-running anti-government protests, which saw a dramatic reduction in tourists visiting the city and hit the hospitality industry especially hard.
According to an on.cc report from January, the restaurant had to lay off about 70 of its 130 employees. They also started closing on Mondays, and cut their opening hours from 11am to 11:30pm to 11am to 2:30pm and 6pm to 10pm.
The outlet even reported that the restaurant has also reduced the number of dim sum options served on the menu.
Jumbo, which is located in the Aberdeen typhoon shelter, has been serving up Chinese banquet-style dishes since it was opened in 1976 by Hong Kong-Macau business magnate Stanley Ho. It has since become a popular tourist attraction, and the likes of Chow Yun-Fat, Tom Cruise, and Queen Elizabeth II have dined there.
Jumbo isn’t the only F&B outlet feeling the pinch of late. Last week, Jamie’s Italian closed its two Hong Kong franchises for good, citing the financial pressure of months of protests and now the coronavirus outbreak.
