MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Tourism Authority said publicity and the summer vacation generated so much excitement for the Manila Ocean Park -- the first in the country -- resulting in long queues to the ticket booth that young and old visitors have been enduring under the hot sun.

“The park is simply overwhelmed. Imagine, there are 3,000 visitors every day. We can’t do anything about the queues; even Disneyland has long queues,” PTA general manager Robert Dean Barbers told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

Barbers apologized for the chaos and inconvenience experienced by visitors, adding that the agency would be talking with the park managers to resolve the problem.

“We are fixing the system. I hope they would understand us,” Barbers said.

The Inquirer has received several complaints from local and domestic tourists who went to the park. Visits to the park have also been the topic of complaints in travel and tourism blogs, ranging from poor ventilation to park staff’s alleged discourtesy and their inability to handle big crowds.

“Understandably, it was overcrowded and the lack of a 'walkalator' inside the tunnel 'stagnates' the crowd just like in a bottleneck or a traffic jam, yet still the employees should have at least the patience to deal with the chaotic crowd,” one irate visitor said of the park at the blog after his visit last Mar. 2.

In another blog, one Annie Samson said she could barely enjoy her Mararch 9 visit at the Ocean Park because of the throng.

"If you take pictures, you'll be blocked by many people [passing by] and, take note, camera flashes are not allowed so you'll [have nice] pictures in the lighted portions," she recounted.

In www.traveljournal.com, another visitor, "kirsten" said she visited last March 2 and said she and companions "felt cheated because it only takes at most, two hours to explore the place."

"Some of the fish weren't even labeled. It really looked unfinished," she said.

Despite the ban on flash photography, "kirsten" recounted that "people were takin’ pics with blinding flashes like there’s no tomorrow!" She and other visitors were told that flashes scare fish.

The PTA chief said even his office, too, received many complaints about the system being implemented by the park’s owner, China Oceanis Philippines Inc., to whom the PTA awarded the P1-billion oceanarium project.

The park charges P400 for adults and P350 for children.

Barbers said he would meet with China Oceanis officials and might propose a one-day closure to give the park’s staff time to work out a better system to regulate visiting routes and formulate new guidelines and ground rules during “peak” hours.

Aside from the long queues, tourists have complained about being rushed in completing their visit. Many could not take pictures or even linger around to relax.

“There’s supposed to be batches going inside with a guide. But because there are so many people waiting to get in, we have to order those inside to hurry up. Some, however, simply refuse to cooperate,” Barbers said.

Crippled visitors have also complained that the park was not “disabled-friendly,” because they cannot ascend a platform leading to major parts of the park.

Barbers said the park had its “soft opening” last February 29 and all its services and amenities were expected to improve in the coming weeks. Also, some of the new and bigger marine animals were already on their way to the park, he added.

The tourism official vowed that the visitor’s concerns would be addressed soon.