Seizing the opportunities brought about by "One Belt One Road" and seeking new directions for Hong Kong's economy（2015/10/28）

President, as a major strategic plan of our country, "One Belt One Road" will impact the direction and pattern of the global economic development in future decades, so it is an opportunity that Hong Kong cannot afford to miss. As tourism is one of the four pillar industries in Hong Kong, it is worth exploring how we should make use of the opportunities presented by "One Belt One Road" to further develop our tourism industry.

In March this year, an Action Plan on "One Belt One Road" was jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce. With regard to the strategic positions of various places in China, it is clearly stated in this document that "we should give full scope to the role of Qianhai (Shenzhen), Nansha (Guangzhou), Hengqin (Zhuhai) and Pingtan (Fujian) in opening-up and co-operation, deepen their co-operation with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and help to build the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area." It can thus be seen that under the planning of "One Belt One Road", Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao with their respective geographical and market characteristics are actually regarded as one single co-operative entity that is expected to thrive in complementarity and achieve the effect of "one plus one is more than two". It is also pointed out in the document that efforts must be made to "make it more convenient to apply for tourist visa in countries along the Belt and Road". This means that drawing tourists to places along "One Belt One Road" is one of the important measures to revitalize the economy.

As we all know, since the Mainland introduced the Individual Visit Scheme in 2003, we have recorded significant increases in the number Mainland visitors year after year. We received over 60 million visitors last year, and Mainland visitors accounted for 78%. If Macao visitors are not counted, overseas visitors accounted for 20.7% only. Over the years, the emphasis of our tourism hardware has been the provision of conventional products like the Hong Kong Disneyland, the Ocean Park, and so on. These are attractive tourist spots for Mainland visitors, but with the completion of the Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai and the Shanghai Disneyland and also the emergence of many more major tourist attractions in the Mainland, the appeal of Hong Kong as a world city will only diminish.

Currently, Hong Kong's tourism industry is faced with many problems. While there is the "homogeneity" of tourism products and visitor source, Hong Kong's hospitable image and its reputation as a shopping paradise are also being tarnished. The idea of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area serves to remind us that we must renew our market concepts. We must tap the advantages of surrounding places and seek to attract more overseas visitors, especially long-haul visitors, so as to increase their proportion.

Actually, cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area are all unique on their own. Holidays resorts featuring Chinese and foreign folk cultures are found in Shenzhen. Guangzhou features the Lingnan Culture and marine leisure tourism. Zhuhai is set to develop sports and wellness tourism, and Macao is famous for its Portuguese architecture and gaming industry. The tourism products of these places can be combined with those in Hong Kong to achieve complementarity. As stated by the Director of Macao Government Tourist Office, Ms Maria Helena DE SENNA FERNANDES, in May this year, capitalizing on the development opportunities presented by "One Belt One Road", Macao will strive to open up the Southeast Asian market. Macao will join hands with neighbouring places such as Guangdong and Hong Kong to promote multi-destination tourism to Southeast Asian countries. The thinking adopted by Macao for the development of tourism is basically consistent with the concept of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Big Bay Area.

Both Macao and Hong Kong are now facing the problems of visitor source and tourism products. I am of the view that the Hong Kong Government should capitalize on the opportunity presented by "One Belt One Road" and join hands with Macao and Guangdong Province to recap the problems with promoting multi-destination tourism in the past, introduce new elements, and repackage the multi-destination programme with Southeast Asia as the first target, to be followed by European and American markets step by step. The following are my specific suggestions.

(1) There should be good planning for capitalizing on the opportunity presented by "One Belt One Road". The SAR Government should take the initiative to contact the Macao Government and the Guangdong Provincial Government for the purpose of jointly exploring a development direction for multi-destination tourism based on the unique tourism features of the three places. Steps must be taken to allocate additional resources, enhance publicity and promotion, streamline visa procedures and facilitate immigration clearance to give overseas visitors a good and deep impression, witha view to gradually resolving the present problems of market "homogeneity" and shortage of tourism products.

(2) Additional funding should be allocated. The additional funding of $90 million allocated by the SAR Government to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) this year for market development and revitalization of the economy has achieved certain effect. I hope the Government can seriously recap the experience this year and allocate more additional funding in the Budget next year.

(3) Support should be given to the tourism industry. A good part of the additional funding for publicity granted to the HKTB this year has been used for image promotion and lucky draw programmes. The participation of hotels, airlines and travel agencies has not been very enthusiastic, so the funding cannot help the industry manifest its advantages. The matching fund of $10 million introduced subsequently requires tourist attractions to work with other relevant sectors in the tourism industry. I think this is a big improvement. I hope that in case the Government allocates more additional resource to support multi-destination tourism programmes in the future, the HKTB can consider the continued adoption of a matching fund, so as to encourage participation from the relevant sectors. More importantly, appropriate subsidy must be given to programmes involving key markets.

President, "One Belt One Road" is a state policy and the suggestions mentioned above involve various Policy Bureaux and the two places of Guangdong and Macao. I hope the Government will actively study the proposals at a higher level and implement the measures put forward, so that Hong Kong will not lose out under this mega trend.

President, I so submit.