The ‘Working Group on Developing Tourist Hotspots’ unveils its list of ‘new experiences that are more in-depth and fascinating’ for visitors to Hong Kong. They include: tours of Lee Kum Kee and Yakult factories; the already-crowded area around Central’s Escalator; ‘exciting themed activities’ (crafts stalls) at Victoria Park; the already-popular Yau Ma Tei police station; ‘green tourism’ around four trails and mountains (inspired by the Four Trails movie); the already-crowded Kowloon City; and Disciplined Services’ museums. Plus the desperate-sounding Hung Hom railway freight yard and a pink trumpet tree garden. (The pink trumpet tree is native to South America and popular as a Japanese cherry blossom wannabe in cities around the world from California to India.)
Deputy Chief Secretary Cheuk Wing-hing says…
“The … hotspots span across the territory, underlining the concept of ‘tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong’. There are indoor and outdoor hotspots, locales for visits and explorations, as well as places for enjoying the ecology and scenery. They cater for travellers’ individual preferences, which can easily fit in different travelling routes for creating pleasant journeys. Hong Kong will gain in popularity and prosperity as the hotspots will bring economic benefits, boost consumption sentiment and stimulate the economy.”
As various commentators, even former Financial Secretary John Tsang, have pointed out, tourism does not account for a large part of Hong Kong’s GDP and is probably not worth trying to expand. This is especially so given that the costs in terms of overcrowding and inconvenience to residents seem to outweigh the possible benefits. So why this obsession with pushing up the numbers? Several reasons…
One clue here is in the phrase ‘tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong’. This was pushed by Mainland officials, so our local bureaucrats can’t not follow through – hence the formation of a dedicated Working Group..
Tourism essentially means more Mainlanders in town, which (as with talent visas) seems to be an unofficial policy aim.
It also offers the prospect of higher rents for retail and commercial property, key to the high land valuations Hong Kong bureaucrats yearn for.
More generally, Hong Kong has never recovered from Covid restrictions and the National Security clampdown, both of which reflect Beijing’s tightening control over the city. And now we also have Trump’s trade wars. The (unelected) government is under pressure to Do Something about the economy. And announcing measures to boost tourism is easy: you just pick some locations, and put up some signage – mission accomplished. Launching a new bio-tech industry is really difficult.
More on online archives removal…
Hong Kong’s ombudsman has defended the removal of years’ worth of records from its shelves, saying it may improve its website’s user experience…
…“I dare not comment as I am not an IT expert. But my colleagues mentioned that saving too much information will slow computers. The most important thing is that we have kept all information, and none of it will be deleted,” [Ombudsman Jack] Chan said.
Were they storing it all on 5.25-inch floppy disks?
Now can we please have a Working Group on Developing Tourist-Free Zones?
Cramming more people who don’t spend money in so that people who do have money to spend go somewhere else to spend it.
Genius.
Pretty much everything on that list caters to mainland day-trippers with packed lunches.