New World’s disastrous 11 Skies project has now been taken over by the airport and bundled with a patch of adjacent sea (over which the airport apparently has jurisdiction) as ‘Skytopia’…
…a new tourism landmark offering leisure, entertainment, arts, and sea-air joint sightseeing, with most amenities, including a minibus connection to Tung Chung, scheduled to debut by 2028.
Speaking at the Super Terminal Expo on Wednesday, AAHK Executive Director of commercial Cissy Chan Ching-sze said the project would cover 200 hectares of surrounding waters and include leisure and water-recreation facilities, as well as arts and cultural attractions.
A yacht bay with 500 berths is planned, with about half able to accommodate superyachts. Chan said AAHK also intends to develop sea-air sightseeing, allowing visitors to arrive by plane and continue their journeys by yacht to destinations around the world.
I Googled ‘sea-air sightseeing’ to find out more about this multi-modal form of leisure travel. It would appear that the phrase was invented by Hong Kong bureaucrats a few months ago. Jet into CLK on your private jet, take a shuttle bus to sunny exotic Tung Chung, then go somewhere else ‘around the world’ by yacht.
But wait! There’s more yachts. Also from the Standard…
The Festival of Connoisseurs debuted in Hong Kong on Wednesday at AsiaWorld-Expo, showcasing prominent brands across nine luxury lifestyle categories, including yachts, supercars, fine jewelry and timepieces, art, and premium travel.
…Airport Authority Hong Kong chief executive Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, also the chairman of AsiaWorld-Expo, noted that with 12,500 registered vessels in Hong Kong but only 4,000 available berths, there is significant demand for yachting facilities.
Are yacht berths going to be Hong Kong’s version of China’s over-invested solar panel manufacturing sector? It has that ‘Five-Year Plan’ decree-from-on-high feel about it. Would the private sector, left to its own devices, be doing this?
Is Trump on some sort of really effective psychotropic meds? He’s taken the mid-terms defeat on the chin – completely out of character for a narcissist. What happens when they wear off? And do they work for people with an obsessive fixation about yachts?
I’m not clear on whether Skytopia is designed for millionaire yacht owners, or the proles who come to gawp at yachts. The article says: “aim is to create synergies with other sightseeing destinations, making it easier for visitors and residents to include places such as Hong Kong Disneyland”. Do yacht owners want to visit Disneyland? Do they want to berth their yachts next to a busy airport? Could no one think of anything better to do with some free real estate?
What are the chances that the Hong Kong taxpayers will eventually be asked to bail out this future Skytopia fiasco? In the same way that we are going to pay for the West Kowloon M+ Museum art hub fiasco, like forever, because it can never pay for itself unless the whole lot is converted into luxury apartment towers like the rest of Hong Kong?
Good luck. With a cartoonish, almost satirical name like “Skytopia” how is anyone expected to keep a straight face? It’s almost like soft resistance.
“including a minibus connection to Tung Chung” Woo Hoo!
There are some anomalies in the promos –
Minibus and superyacht …………………………
“with 12,500 registered vessels in Hong Kong but only 4,000 available berths”
Yet they must have somehow found a spot to drop anchor as I have not spotted them dropped off on parking meters downtown.
Also the fact that HK yachts will be free to sail and dock at the mainland indicate a greater rush to the north, especially for cheper repairs and maintenance.
http://nansha.guangdong.chinadaily.com.cn/2026-11/03/c_1225289.htm
The first day the Nansha connect opened TEN HK yachts docked there compared to the 5 that sailed south.
As the saying goes, “Be careful for what you wish for…………..the high-speed rail effect.
On the bright side, Nan Sha was developed by the Fok family so the $oot will boost our financial services sector.
“Hoist the sails”
HK01 gets Joshua Wong’s plea letter. Tsk HKFP you guys really are slipping (or did you get it and not like the content…..>)
https://www.hk01.com/article/60385879