(Yicai Global) Sept. 30 -- Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park has started a CNY1.8 billion (USD278.4 million) extension project that aims to boost visitor numbers by at least 50 percent, The Paper reported.

The 140,000-square-meter extension will increase the size of the popular theme park by another 50 percent and is expected to bring in as many as eight million visitors a year, the report said.

Tentatively dubbed ‘Oriental Ocean,’ it will include a marine-themed boutique hotel, a hot spring hotel and an aquarium and will add another 120,000 square meters of leisure and entertainment space, over 700 hotel rooms and 1,500 parking spots.

Developer Haichang Ocean Park Holdings has built 10 marine theme parks across China over the last 20 years. The new project, which is co-invested by the Shanghai Harbour City Development Group and Dalian, northeast Liaoning province-based Haichang Ocean, will be managed by the latter to reduce the project's financing and debt pressure.

Editor: Kim Taylor