Stepping into its fourth year, the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Student Summit saw a record-breaking 2,000 students from 65 secondary schools transform the city’s hidden corners into tourist gold, proving that tourism can be found everywhere.
Organized by the Curriculum Development Institute of the Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Tourism Board under the theme “Tourism is Everywhere: Showcasing the Uniqueness and Charm of Hong Kong,” the event aims to encourage students to dig into the city’s diverse tourism potential.
Education Bureau principal education officer for curriculum development Paul Lee, eighth left, and Hong Kong Tourism Board general manager for corporate affairs Alice Li, sixth right, pose with the awardees.
Featuring two main components, the event offered a Keynote Speech Session on community tours, product development ideas, and global marketing, followed by the Inter-school Project Learning Competition and Photo Contest.
Thirteen teams made it to the project learning competition finals, where they showcased creative tourism products using smart technology, repackaging local districts as immersive travel destinations.
Standing out with the theme “Only in Kwai Tsing,” Po Leung Kuk Ma Kam Ming College’s team won the championship with a tour blending city, sea and mountain highlights. With a virtual guide and a dedicated app, the team brings visitors on itineraries that include a romantic nightscape at Tsing Ma Bridge and Kwai Chung Container Terminals, a food hunt at Kwai Chung Plaza, and a hidden pink bridge photo spot at Shek Lei Estate.
The team from Po Leung Kuk Ma Kam Ming College won the championship with their project focused on Kwai Tsing.
The first runner-up award went to Shatin Pui Ying College, which designed a two-day, one-night cultural tour in the Southern District focused on its fishing village heritage, featuring a dawn visit to the Aberdeen Wholesale Fish Market and morning bazaar, as well as the Tai Pak Floating Restaurant.
Moving beyond traditional nature tours of the outlying islands, second runner-up Ning Po No 2 College created an “island-hopping” tour of abandoned industrial sites like Silvermine Cave in Mui Wo, and the abandoned match, leather and lime kiln factory on Peng Chau.
Students were praised for uncovering unique community resources and using AI technology to present unconventional ideas. With the number of students of Tourism and Hospitality Studies steadily rising, both organizers encouraged students to inject creativity into the tourism sector.
The summit’s first Inter-school Photo Contest also drew nearly 800 entries.
The winning photo by Lau Pak-leung from the Carmel Holy Word Secondary School.
Lau Pak-leung from Carmel Holy Word Secondary School won the championship with his sunset shot of the entrance of Ma Wan 1868. Under a golden sky, Lau’s photo features traditional dragon boats in the foreground, evoking the village’s fishing heritage.
The first runner-up award went to Chiu Tsz-yin, also from Carmel Holy Word Secondary School, who presented the hideaway at the Lin Ma Hang Mine in Robin’s Nest Country Park.
Lau Yu-ching from Homantin Government Secondary School, the second runner-up, captured an early morning landscape at the city’s third-highest peak, Sunset Peak, amidst rolling clouds.
