Promoting Hong Kong's economic restructuring (2013/03/20)

President, the Economic Development Commission newly established by the Government held its first meeting last week, with the conclusion that the Government should appropriately and proactively promote economic development by taking the initiative to actively invest in the development of industries. I concur that this is the right direction.
While Hong Kong's economic structure has long been criticized as unitary, it is easier said than done when it comes to rectifying the situation. From the development of a "Chinese medicine port" or a "flower port" during the time of TUNG Chee-hwa, to the six industries with competitive edge advocated during the time of Donald TSANG, economic restructuring has still remained stagnant.

Economic restructuring can only succeed on the basis of Hong Kong's real economy through integration with the latest trends in the Mainland and global economic situation, so that we may seek new opportunities through changes. Through the diversification of industries, different industries in Hong Kong can go on the track of development. Hence, we must learn from our past failures in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

President, in his Policy Address, the Chief Executive proposed that we must deepen and expand our industries. To deepen our economy, we must venture into new frontiers such as cultural and creative, innovative technology and environmental protection industries; to expand economic development, we must, while actively pursuing economic restructuring, diversify the products and services of the existing pillar industries in order to strengthen our competitiveness. Hence, there is no conflict between restructuring and expansion; instead, they have an interactive relationship.

I agree with the amendment proposed by Mr SIN Chung-kai, viz. "to further promote the tourism industry to enhance the diversified development of Hong Kong's economy". This amendment also touches on Hong Kong's capacity to receive visitors, which is a controversial subject in society recently. In this connection, the Government has also stated that an assessment would be conducted on the development of the tourism industry. There is no denying that Hong Kong's tourism industry has now run into a bottle-neck. The crux is the lack of planning by the Government over the years, which has led to the over-concentration of visitors in several major core business districts and scenic spots. As a result, rents have increased rapidly affecting people's livelihood. Given the lack of new tourism products and inadequate supply of hotels, the ratio of overseas visitors has dropped. If the authorities impose a limit on in-bound visitors on this account, or even try to indiscriminately resolve the problems arising from the increasing number of visitors through restructuring, it would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water. To address the issue fundamentally, we must seek development through increasing the carrying capacity of Hong Kong's tourism industry and diversifying our tourism products.

President, in order to break the visitors' normal pattern of only sightseeing at traditional tourism spots such as the Peak or the two major theme parks, the Hong Kong Tourism Board had established a $4-million fund at the end of last year for developing new tourism products and encouraging local inbound travel agents to create innovative itineraries. Such initiatives are worth supporting because they can help attract visitors of different profiles to visit Hong Kong. As far as I know, seven applications for grant under the fund have been approved so far. One of the selected innovative itineraries is a bicycle tour with two stops.

In fact, bicycle tour has become increasingly popular in recent years, with Hangzhou, Taiwan and Japan becoming hot destinations of bicycle tour. Apart from the appeal of beautiful landscape, these places would provide various supporting facilities enroute such as bicycle parking spaces, repair and service stations, and so on. Although a decision was made in 2008 to build a cycle track network in Hong Kong comprising a backbone with a total length of 82 km, the project has been delayed time and again as many government departments are involved and there is opposition from residents in the neighbourhood. Although the first stage of works is expected to be completed by the end of this year, the whole project will not be completed until 2019. As such, it is indeed necessary for the authorities to consider compressing the construction timetable of 10 years.

Separately, many overseas countries have been actively developing eco-tourism in recent years. According to the findings of a public opinion survey conducted by the media at the end of last year, 85% of the respondents would be willing to make extra spending on eco-tours. However, the number of eco-tourists in Hong Kong had only increased from 70 000 in 2004 to about 140 000 in 2011 because the Government had all along stressed that eco-tourism should be developed on the industry's own initiative, and no subsidy scheme had been provided systematically. Take the example of Sai Kung. Its volcanic rock scenic area has been designated as a global geopark, while its seafood delicacies are renowned around the world. Yet supporting tourism facilities are highly inadequate with many scenic spots having neither any signage nor introduction, and the area is not conveniently accessible by public transport. Apart from funding provided by the Government for the purpose of general publicity, no concrete support has been provided. As a result, the tourism industry is not willing to promote or organize sightseeing tours to the area. I suggest that the Government should change its previous free market economy approach and adjust its support strategy proactively by trying to provide direct subsidies for the development of green tourism products.

Outlying island tour is another specialty tourism product worth developing in Hong Kong. Take the example of Lantau Island. Although Lantau has no lack of tourism supporting facilities and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will be completed in 2016, the Government has, so far, yet to provide a clear position of tourism development there. As a result, there is a lack of co-ordination among the relevant departments, and it has directly stalled the progress of tourism development in the whole area. The Government must confront and resolve the related problems.

President, according to the research findings of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the scale of Hong Kong's economy was about two times that of Shanghai, 2.5 times of Beijing and three times of Shenzhen in 2001. After a decade of development, Hong Kong's aggregate economy has been overtaken by Shanghai and Beijing, and perhaps by cities like Suzhou and Tianjin in a few years' time as well. As tourism is one of Hong Kong's four major economic pillars, the strengthening of Hong Kong's tourism industry should brook no delay. 

I hope the Economic Development Commission will expeditiously formulate proposals that can guide the development of the tourism industry as well as other related industries towards a more realistic direction. 

President, with these remarks, I support the original motion.