Owing to the territory's subtropical climate, there are no natural winter sports venues in Hong Kong. Several artificial ice rinks have been constructed since the late 20th century, mainly inside shopping centres.
Former Rinks
In a subtropical city like Hong Kong, there is no ice and snow in winter. Ice skating was not available to the locals until the 1st artificial ice rink was built in Lai Chi Kwok Amusement Park or commonly called "Lai Yuen".
Note: A newspaper mentioned that there was an ice rink in a private club as early as 1940. As there is no other supporting that it was an artificial rink, it was included in this record.
Swire Properties opened the first-ever shopping mall ice rink in Cityplaza or commonly known as "Taikoo Shing". Although it was small rink, the ice rink got so popular that the rink was moved from Cityplaza Phase 1 to Cityplaza Phase 2, a much larger ice surface.
Shopping Malls owner, seeing the successful story of Cityplaza Ice Palace, followed suits. 3 new ice rinks opens in 6 months time:
Mr. John Wagner was the shopping mall manager of Cityplaza. He brought the idea of shopping mall ice rink to Hong Kong. After he retired from Swire Properties, he founded Ice Rink Resources Limited - an ice rink building and management company.
His company not only build and manage Riviera Ice Chalet, but further involved in building/managing 3 more ice rinks in Hong Kong and the 1st ice rink in Macau:
Ice Rink Resources Limited's successor Ice Rink Management Asia Limited was formed in 1994 and kept on opening ice rinks around Asia.
1994 Crystal Palace closed down one year after Ice Rink Resources Limited, due to payment issues, withdraw from management. The site was changed to a shooting range.
Unexpectedly, Tsuen Wan Plaza closed down and the site was rented to Jumpin Gym U.S.A.
It was said that Sun Hung Kai Properties moved some of the equipment of Tsuen Wan Plaza and opened another rink in . However, the rink was closed in about 1 year time.
Though the business is good in Whampoa Super Ice, the landlord did not extend the lease with the rink in 1997. The site was again rented to Jumpin Gym U.S.A.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis put a halt to the growth of ice rinks in Hong Kong. For nearly 10 years, no new ice rink was built. No new ice rink was built around Asia for at least 5 years.
Ted Wilson, manager of Cityplaza Ice Palace, first proposed to Swire Properties for a second ice rink in 1992. After more than 6 years of planning, Swire Properties finally opened its second ice rink, Festival Walk Glacier, in Kowloon Tong. Festival Walk Glacier became the largest ice rink in Hong Kong.
The project was delayed due to unexpected construction complications.
Two new ice rinks, both promoting ice hockey, opened. One of them is the first standard-size ice rink in Hong Kong: