Hong Kong still top Asian destination for half of mainland tourists: HKTB

Tourism Board will focus on promoting Hong Kong on the mainland this year, as its survey found half of mainland tourists picking the city as their top destination in Asia. 

In a Legislative Council panel meeting, the board's executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat said 13,000 visitors from 16 markets were surveyed in the fourth quarter of last year in its latest research. 

Among them, about half of the mainland visitors chose Hong Kong as their top destination in Asia for reasons including health and safety, convenient transportation, and value for money.

Cheng said the image of Hong Kong's tourism industry among mainland visitors has changed a lot in the past few years. The board will focus on promotion on the mainland in the coming year, with a commitment of at least HK$100 million. 

Transport sector lawmaker Frankie Yick Chi-ming expressed concern about the development of the cruise industry, saying that one of the two cruise companies which used Hong Kong as a home port shut down recently. The other transferred its cruises out of the city.

In response, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said the government could only launch “cruise-to-nowhere” – meaning sailings to international waters which does not involve ports outside Hong Kong. The city will promote multi-destination travel within the Greater Bay Area in the future.

Lawmaker Chan Siu-hung suggested that the authorities should combine the city's cultural monuments and places visited by national leaders to set up a Hong Kong version of “red tourism”, which can help promote the local travel industry and enhance the national identity of young people at the same time.