The Hong Kong government has unveiled a five-year development blueprint for the city’s tourism industry, with the goal of boosting its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) to around 5 cent by 2029.
Hong Kong will implement 133 measures in the next five years to develop tourism products and projects with local and international characteristics and attract “high-value overnight visitors” to the city, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said on Monday as she announced the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry 2.0.
The government will focus on promoting culture, sports, ecology and major events in the city, integrating those areas with tourism, Law said. Customer groups such as conference participants, exhibitors and cruise travellers would be targeted, while the city sought to attract more study tour groups and young travellers, she added.
Monday’s announcement marked the first major policy plan delivered by Law since she took over the bureau earlier this month, after the former tourism chief Kevin Yeung was sacked in an unexpected reshuffle of officials.
The new minister said Hong Kong must make good use of the central government’s support to promote the comprehensive development of its tourism industry. If Hongkongers were able to “work together” and provide the “highest quality hospitality and service,” the city would be able to attract return visitors, Law said.
“Everyone can contribute to the development of tourism in Hong Kong,” she said in Cantonese.
Monday’s blueprint also covered efforts to promote smart tourism by using artificial intelligence to add “smart elements” to tourist attractions.
Law added the quality of services and facilities in the tourism industry would be enhanced with measures to help those in the sector to improve their professional skills.
The first tourism development blueprint was launched by the Tourism Commission in 2017. Law said on Monday that since then, Hong Kong’s cross-border tourism activities had been severely impacted, especially when the city’s borders were closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The release of a new blueprint was targeted to cater to changing visitor behaviour and spending of the city’s tourists, the minister said.
Since Hong Kong’s borders fully reopened in early 2023, tourists from mainland China have led the recovery of visitor arrivals, though numbers still lag pre-pandemic figures. Additionally, tourists’ spending has decreased amid a weaker Chinese economy.
According to data from the Census and Statistics Department, the tourism industry added some HK$75 billion to the economy last year, equivalent to 2.6 per cent of the city’s GDP. A total of 145,600 people were employed in the industry.
Law said on Monday that the government aimed to boost the value-add of the tourism industry to HK$120 billion by 2029. The projected figure would mark an increase of around 60 per cent compared to last year’s figure.
With the return of tourists, and the supporting measures of the Chinese government, Law said she was confident that the tourism industry’s contribution to economic growth could bounce back to 2018 levels, before Hong Kong was rocked by citywide protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, which was around 5 per cent.
“I am optimistic that what we set out in our blueprint will be achievable,” Law said, adding that whether the goal could be achieved would depend on the performance of other major economic factors.
