(Policy Address 2024) Hong Kong to attract Middle East and ASEAN tourists

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu said they will develop Hong Kong into a premier tourist destination to attract tourists from the Middle East and ASEAN regions.

The Hong Kong leader said that the CSTB will publish the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0 (Blueprint 2.0) later this year, with a focus on promoting culture, sports, ecology, and mega-events.

They will aim to develop visitor sources from the Middle East and ASEAN countries, and the government will actively encourage various sectors of the community to enhance tourism-support measures to create a friendly environment for visitors.

Such measures include providing information at the airport in Arabic and encouraging taxi fleets to provide fleet service information in Arabic, compiling a list of restaurants offering halal food, encouraging more commercial establishments to provide appropriate facilities, such as worship facilities in hotels, and stepping up staff training to strengthen their knowledge on receiving visitors from different cultural backgrounds.

The Hong Kong leader said they will develop tourism products with certain characteristics including yacht tourism in the expansion area of Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, the ex-Lamma Quarry area, and the development of the waterfront site in the vicinity of the Hung Hom Station.

They will also promote panda tourism, horse racing tourism, and the like.

The CSTB will promote cultural and eco-tourism itineraries and products at Sha Tau Kok. The Security Bureau (SB) will increase the daily visitor quota under the Sha Tau Kok opening-up plan to 3,000 by the end of this year.

Facial recognition technology will be adopted to enable people living or working on Chung Ying Street to enter and leave the street unimpeded via a "contactless" mode on a pilot basis. The SB will explore the application of relevant technology to complement the future opening up of Chung Ying Street for tourism.

He said they will also aspire to develop eco-tourism, and explore more itineraries with characteristics related to the countryside and coastal routes, such as island-hopping tours in Yan Chau Tong, and enhance related amenities; expedite the development of the South Lantau Eco-recreation Corridor, develop the ex-Lamma Quarry site into an area for resort and outdoor recreational uses, and develop Tsim Bei Tsui and Pak Nai into eco-tourism nodes.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club welcomes the Policy Address to promote horse racing tourism and noted that horse racing sport has made important contributions to the economy and livelihood of the city. 

The Club noted that many tourists love to visit the Happy Valley Racecourse as well as the race meetings in Sha Tin, where the Club has received 93,000 tourist arrivals in total in season 23/24 and over 27,000 visiting the racecourses in the first two months of this racing season. 

HKJC noted that it will fully support and collaborate with the relevant government departments to take horse racing tourism forward.

(Updated at 5.09 pm)