Hon YIU Si-wing, SBS (Tourism)

Speech on Giving full play to the edges of local tourism resources

GIVING FULL PLAY TO THE EDGES OF LOCAL TOURISM RESOURCES

MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese): President and Honourable colleagues, the tourism industry is an important pillar industry in Hong Kong. It brings benefits to many industries and increases employment opportunities for the grass roots. Tourism is also a lifestyle which enables people to admire beautiful scenery and broaden their horizons, so as to bring happiness to their personal lives. With the advancements in transport and the information boom on the Internet, the modes of tourism have started to undergo noticeable changes.

Here, I try to classify tourists into three categories by travel purpose and consumer behaviour. The first category consists of traditional tourists who are older, or mostly travel with their families. They tend to visit many destinations within a short period of travel, and are generally satisfied as long as they can do some casual sightseeing upon their arrival at the destinations. The second category consists of members of the new generation who have grown up in the Internet era. Netizens are able to know what is going on around the world without leaving their homes. They are used to acquiring and sharing information on destinations through the Internet, and are interested in what the destinations offer in terms of special tourist attractions, culture, food and drinks, entertainment, and so on, hoping to get first-hand experience of local folkways and customs. As recently pointed out by Copenhagen's official body for tourism promotion when it unveiled its development strategy for 2020, a new-generation traveller seeks not the perfect still picture to take home, but the emotional connection to an instantly shared experience based on interests, relations and authenticity.

The third category, which is less talked about, consists of our local tourists, that is, Hong Kong people. This category of tourists is often overlooked when we discuss the composition of visitor sources of the tourism industry. In fact, the success of many tourist attractions was initially driven by local demand before they gradually became popular and found favour with foreign tourists. Take for example Japan, which we are familiar with. Many tourist attractions in Japan were promoted overseas only after they had satisfied the demand of local people and after their ancillary services had taken shape. Some of the tourism projects there even rely on local people. A typical case in point is Tokyo Disneyland, with domestic tourists accounting for over 90% of the total attendance. So, when considering tourism planning, the authorities should also take into account the needs of Hong Kong people. The Lantau Development Advisory Committee has recently incorporated recreation and leisure into its study of tourism planning. This is a correct and wise move. In the light of this, when devising forward-looking tourism strategies, the Government must not focus only on meeting the traditional demand of the tourists in the first category while ignoring the needs of the tourists in the second and third categories. Today, in moving this motion, I hope that the authorities can break away from the traditional concept of tourism planning, leverage the edges of local tourism resources, embrace the changes in the existing consumer base, and provide new visitor sources and impetus for Hong Kong's tourism industry.

In retrospect, it can be said that the development of Hong Kong's tourism industry over the past 10-odd years has benefited from three factors, namely good timing, geographical convenience and harmonious human relations. Thanks to the Central Authorities' policy of expanding the Individual Visit Scheme, as well as Hong Kong's own tourism resources and its strength as a shopping destination, Hong Kong saw a golden period of inbound tourism from 2004 to 2014 with a continuous and significant growth in visitor arrivals, which rose from 21.8 million in 2004 to a peak of 60.83 million in 2014, representing a nearly twofold increase. In that period, however, the Government failed to make corresponding adjustments to ancillary services to address changes in market demand. This has led to a series of problems, causing the development of our tourism industry to hit a bottleneck. The first problem lies in the Government's complacency and lack of long-term planning. Over the past 10-odd years, the Government has only been complacent about the continuous growth in visitor arrivals without conducting any in-depth study of the changes in the composition of inbound visitors or any serious assessment of Hong Kong's receiving capacity. It has also failed to take adequate measures against our rivals in the region, and there has been a lack of long-term planning for tourism development. The second problem is that the Government has focused on investing in major tourist attractions but given little weight to tapping local tourism resources. Regarding the development of tourist attractions, the Government has obviously focused on investing in major ones. In recent years, almost $20 billion has been committed to the expansion of Ocean Park and Disneyland. By contrast, when it comes to other local tourism resources, there has been a clear lack of investment in hardware facilities and ancillary support for software tourism services. Our policy departments in charge of tourism have even refused to provide free guided tour and tourism ambassador services on the pretext of having no budget, while these services are regularly provided in the communities and tourist attractions of certain countries. Our training and accreditation systems for tour guides are stuck in a rut. The authorities have failed to make professional classification of tour guides to address changes in visitors' needs, leading to varying standards of our tour guide services.

The third problem is the lack of coordination and connection among tourism-related projects. At present, the regulation of the tourism industry, the development of major tourist attractions and the publicity or promotional funding for tourism are within the purview of the Tourism Commission under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, but the powers to lead the operation of many local tourist attractions are scattered across the portfolios of different Policy Bureaux. There are many examples of this: country parks and geoparks fall under the purview of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department; Kai Tak Fantasy and the tourism-related planning for Lantau fall under the purview of the Development Bureau; district tourism resources such as museums, antiquities, monuments and the West Kowloon Cultural District fall under the purview of the Home Affairs Bureau.

As different Policy Bureaux have their respective purview and do not want to overstep their bounds, they are unwilling to take the initiative to coordinate and solve practical problems. For instance, in the case of the Geopark, ever since the announcement that it was listed as a global geopark in 2011 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ("UNESCO"), Hong Kong has been obliged to meet the requirements of UNESCO with respect to local engagement, improvement of rural livelihoods, science popularization and geotourism, but the follow-up actions taken by Hong Kong regarding ancillary services and publicity have been clearly inadequate. In UNESCO's assessment, Hong Kong has lost the most ground in its scores for "local engagement", nearly resulting in the removal of the Geopark from UNESCO's list. Obviously, if we had a Tourism Bureau, it would be responsible for the integration, coordination and deployment of tourism-related resources, in which case the tourism resources in various districts of Hong Kong would definitely be put to good use, and we would be able to prevent any embarrassing situation similar to the one concerning the Geopark as mentioned above.

Deputy President, the aim of giving full play to the edges of local tourism resources is not only to recommend Hong Kong's local culture and special tourist attractions to overseas tourists, but also to provide Hong Kong people with room for recreation and leisure, with a view to creating travel experiences with Hong Kong characteristics and a colourful variety of lifestyles. In view of the needs of the aforesaid three categories of tourists regarding tourism products, as well as the problems facing us, I would like to make a few suggestions below:

Firstly, I suggest establishing an inter-departmental body responsible for coordinating and enhancing the tourism-related facilities in various districts. In addition to maintaining the competitiveness of the existing traditional tourism projects, the authorities should comprehensively collate the tourism resources scattered in different districts, and offer appropriate support in respect of ancillary facilities through coordination. Take Tung Ping Chau for example. This island is part of the Geopark and is generally recognized as a unique tourist attraction in Hong Kong. However, as there has been no mains water or stable electricity supply on the island as yet, residents of the island have to collect rainwater and rely on electricity generators for power supply, and it is difficult for them to live there permanently. Despite the residents' vociferous calls, the problem remains unsolved, thus leading to the near-desolation of the island, which is a precious tourism resource. In the past,
residents of Tung Ping Chau used the shale they obtained locally on the island to build distinctive houses, one of which has even been listed as a Grade 3 historic building of very high historical and conservation value. But now, due to the constraints of environmental policies, residents of the island can no longer obtain shale to repair the houses, let alone convert them into homestay lodgings to attract tourists.

Although Tung Ping Chau has become part of a global geopark, no improvement has been made to its facilities and accessibility. If even basic ancillary services are not up to scratch, any attempt to develop geotourism is bound to be futile. The Government should start by looking at tourism demand, collaborate with stakeholders in the local community on the premise that proper conservation should be conducted, and provide basic facilities through the implementation of favourable policies to enable people to take up residence on the island, while developing ecotourism to provide the residents with more business start-up and employment opportunities. Launching tourism projects with distinctive features based on historic and ecological revitalization is not only good for the enjoyment of the public and tourists, but also conducive to disseminating information about conservation and passing on history and culture. This is worth considering by the relevant government departments.

There are actually many similar examples. As Hong Kong has yet to set up a Tourism Bureau, I hope that the Government can study the establishment of an
inter-departmental body first. It should, on the basis of feedback from all quarters, select several district development projects with tourism potential, and invest money to improve basic hardware facilities and refine ancillary services for such projects, including strengthening traffic arrangements, updating signage, increasing Wi-Fi hotspots and QR Codes, and setting up more tourist information centres, so as to progressively enhance the tourism facilities in various districts and upgrade Hong Kong's overall receiving capacity. Secondly, the Government should attach importance to the opinions of the District Councils and stakeholders in various districts. At present, each of the 18 districts of Hong Kong has different tourism resources, some of which have already made their presence felt and are quite popular with tourists (such as Ngong Ping, Stanley, the Peak, Wong Tai Sin Temple, Hollywood Road in Central, and Cheung Chau), but some of which are still in want of enhancement in terms of ancillary facilities, promotion and publicity despite being well placed for development (such as Tung Ping Chau, which I have just talked about, Sai Kung, Lei Yue Mun, Sham Tseng, Sham Shui Po, Lam Tsuen in Tai Po, and Kai Tak Cruise Terminal). Many districts wish to boost employment and revitalize the economy through the development of tourism with distinctive features, yet they are worried that the growth in visitor numbers may get out of hand, causing nuisance to residents and undermining conservation efforts. The authorities can, through conducting surveys, take the initiative to collaborate with stakeholders in the districts according to priorities; seriously assess the tourism characteristics, traffic conditions and conservation capacities of different districts, as well as the extent to which local residents may be affected; and then, having regard to the characteristics of different districts, formulate tourism development plans for the districts in phases, and appropriately provide policy support and funding, with a view to developing district tourism in earnest after fully understanding the actual needs of different districts. Thirdly, the Government should strengthen the pool of tour guides in Hong Kong. At present, there is only one type of licence for tour guides in Hong Kong, and the training of them is merely confined to general knowledge about guiding tourists and is certainly unable to cater for future market demand. The Government should encourage the industry to reform the current licensing regime by categorizing tour guide licences based on different tourist guiding professions. At the same time, additional funds should be allocated to provide different training platforms to progressively establish a pool of tour guides that can cater for different needs, so that tourists can get not only pleasure from their visits but also a better understanding of our unique local characteristics, Chinese and Western cultures, scenic spots and historic monuments from the introduction by tour guides, so as to know more Hong Kong stories from tourism.

Later on, I will seriously listen to the insightful opinions of Honourable colleagues, and then respond to them.

With these remarks, Deputy President, I move the motion.