Motion of Thanks - Economic Development  (2013/1/30)

Tourism has all along been one of Hong Kong's important industries, with the number of employees currently engaged in tourism-related trades and industries reaching 210 000, and spending related to in-bound tourism exceeding $300 billion. This proves the effect of tourism on promoting economic development and stimulating employment. As a Member representing the tourism sector, I am, of course, most concerned about how the Chief Executive expounded on the way forward for Hong Kong's tourism industry in the blueprint outlined in the Policy Address for the next five years. However, no account of a long-term plan on tourism can be found in the entire Policy Address, which consists of 200 paragraphs and 11 chapters. Instead, many related issues, such as co-operation between Hong Kong and Guangdong, hotel sites and tourism project development, merely scattered among nine paragraphs and saw brief mention. I am disappointed with the relatively loose content of the Policy Address concerning tourism.

Among the various policy issues, economic development is given the top priority in the Policy Address with a proposal for the Government to set up the Economic Development Commission to formulate an industrial policy for industries in six areas, including Convention and Exhibition Industries. In this connection, I asked the Government in the Chief Executive's Question and Answer Session on the Policy Address whether overall planning would be undertaken for tourism development. The reply given by the Chief Executive was that he would listen to the views of the Working Group on Convention and Exhibition Industries before making a new decision. In this regard, I hope substantive results can be achieved. The Chief Executive further explained that there is currently no lack of tourists in Hong Kong, and it is more important to consider the capacity of tourism facilities in the future, or in his words, upgrading the quality of inbound tourists. President, I agree that it is worthwhile to study ways to upgrade the quality of inbound tourists, but the tourism industry as a whole might not necessarily be benefited as a result. It is quantity that really matters when it comes to the various tourism-related trades and industries. 

In recent years, there have been concerns in society about tourism facilities reaching capacity, and they are, to a large extent, attributed to a lack of comprehensive tourism planning over the years. In the past, overseas promotion, for instance, was most of the time focused on the introduction of only several tourism or shopping destinations. Although such a strategy can highlight well-known bright spots in Hong Kong, tourists tend to be over-concentrated, thus stimulating the rents in the relevant districts to rocket, or even affecting the daily life of the public. It is the aspiration of the industry to motivate the Government to formulate long-term planning for tourism development. In the light of the issues before us, Hong Kong cannot restrict tourists visiting Hong Kong for the sake of controlling their flow. Through effective planning, however, it can take stock of existing tourism resources and allocate them appropriately having regard to their unique characteristics. In this way, not only more selling points in tourism can be created in Hong Kong, the distribution of tourist flow can also be adjusted, thereby fundamentally alleviating the overcrowding of tourists in individual districts.


Among the numerous new projects mentioned in the Policy Address, including the development of Lantau Island, the setting up of a recreational landmark in Kai Tak, and pressing ahead with the harbourfront development, the Kai Tak project may capitalize on its cruise terminal to open up new client sources in overseas places and the Pearl River Delta Region. The opportunities  brought forth by the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge must be seized for the development of Lantau Island, which can hopefully become a new tourism landmark in Hong Kong, if the existing resources can be consolidated. Furthermore, some colleagues in this Council have also proposed setting up a shopping mall at the boundary. All these proposals can effectively open up new client sources and regulate visitor flow. I hope the Government can expeditiously draw up timetables for the development of these tourism projects.

President, the Policy Address proposes that our industries must be "deepened and expanded". Insofar as the tourism industry is concerned, the long-standing imbalance between the supply and demand of hotel rooms has invariably stifled its sustainable development. According to the statistics released by the Government, the volume of inbound visitors had increased by 153%, from 16.6 million passenger trips in 2002 to nearly 42 million passenger trips in 2011. During the same period, however, the supply of hotel rooms had increased by only 77% from around 35 000 to 62 000. As the rate of growth is lagging far behind the demand, I agree with the remarks made by Mr James TIEN just now. However, the content of the Policy Address concerning supplying more commercial land made no mention of hotel sites. Instead, it merely mentioned the development of a short-term land use project in Tin Shui Wai, and the consideration of rezoning the land for hotel uses was brushed aside lightly. Obviously, the Policy Address has failed to provide a satisfactory answer to address the inadequate supply of hotel rooms. It is imperative for the Government to address the present situation squarely by granting additional hotel sites promptly and reasonably and streamlining the vetting and approval procedure for hotels in order to increase the supply of hotel rooms and ensure stable and reasonable hotel room rates.

The tourism industry is also one of the major areas of collaboration between the Mainland and Hong Kong as promoted by CEPA. Since 2003, more than 20 liberalization measures have been launched under CEPA in the tourism sector, though the number of branches or offices operated by Hong Kong travel agents in the Mainland has increased slowly from four or five a year or so ago to just over 10 now. Under the Supplement IX to CEPA signed last year, the Mainland has been opened up to allow Hong Kong-invested travel agents to operate outbound group tours, which should be tremendously helpful to enabling the local tourism sector to expand business. But at present, consent has been given to allowing only one travel agent to operate such tours on a pilot basis, which can definitely not satisfy the demand of the industry. I hope the Government will continue to campaign for allowing more Hong Kong travel agents to operate outbound group tours in the Mainland for the purpose of "expanding" the local tourism industry.

Furthermore, according to the information provided by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, of the 48.6 million visitor arrivals recorded last year, long-haul visitors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and Korea accounted for only 9.8%, lower than the 11.4% recoded in 2011. Furthermore, the shortening of the duration of stay of overnight visitors from an average of 3.6 nights in 2011 to 3.5 nights in 2012 reflects that the existing tourism nodes in Hong Kong are insufficient to maintain its attractiveness to long-haul visitors. In this regard, Hong Kong may step up collaboration with Guangdong Province and Macao for the joint development of multi-destination itinerary in the three places by turning the resources in Guangdong and Macao into an element to enable Hong Kong to develop tourism in a more comprehensive manner. From the development of complementary tourist attractions to enhancing co-operation in overall publicity, the three places can help raise the desire of long-haul visitors to visit Hong Kong, thereby "playing to Hong Kong's strengths to increase business volume", as mentioned in the Policy Address, in order to achieve the objective of pursuing deeper development.

President, an industrial policy requires long-term planning for complementary measures in the market, and enhancing the business environment of industries is indispensible, too. In tandem with the Travel Industry Authority (TIA) to be set up shortly by the Government to replace the existing Travel Industry Council and the Travel Agents Registry to perform their monitoring and licensing functions, the dual regulatory structure that has been operating in the tourism industry for more than a decade will be overhauled, and this will bring a significant change to the local tourism industry. Although the concern about "the industry regulating its own members" can be allayed as members of the TIA to be set up shortly comprise predominately lay persons, there are bound to be advantages as well as disadvantages. As a result of allowing outsiders to regulate insiders, policies formulated in future might be unable to meet the demand of the industry and consumers. In order to strike a balance between reform and ensuring continuity of some proven practices, the function of the industry must be brought into play and the existing organizational structure be optimized to avoid affecting the normal operation of the industry and ensure that the appropriate regulation effected by the TIA can effectively protect the rights and interests of the industry and consumers without affecting the vitality of small and medium travel agents. 

President, the utilization of the Travel Industry Compensation Fund has been a long-standing concern to the industry because the cumulative amount of compensation made in connection with closures and accidents involving travel agents was only $9,103,000 over the past five years, but its accumulated balance reached $590 million as at October last year. In his manifesto, the Chief Executive proposed studying ways to capitalize on the balance of the Fund, spend the money belonging to the industry on the industry, and set up a small and medium travel agent credit guarantee scheme dedicated to travel agents, but the Policy Address has failed to give an account of this. I hope the Government can expeditiously launch the relevant study, explore ways to expand the scope of the Fund, enhance protection for consumers, and support the development of the industry.

President, concerning economic development covered in the Policy Address, I so submit.