Hong Kong Ocean Park announced Wednesday that it will raise its admission fee by about 20 percent on Aug.1.

The single ticket for adults will cost 250 HK dollars (about 32 U.S. dollars), compared with the current 208 HK dollars while the child ticket will rise by 22 HK dollars to 125 HK dollars.

In terms of the annual pass, the fee will be up 67 HK dollars to 695 HK dollars for adults and 37 HK dollars up to 350 HK dollars for children.

Meanwhile, children younger than three years old and elders aged above 65 will still have free access to the park.

Ocean Park Chairman Allan Zeman said the price hike was "just inevitable" and the park would introduce new programs to draw in more visitors.

As one of Hong Kong's leading theme parks, Ocean Park received 5.03 million visitors in 2008 and the park has seen rising number of visitors and revenue level in the last five years.