The Chief Executive's Question and Answer Session (2015/05/28)

MR YIU SI-WING: President, Chief Executive, the Mainland authorities have recently started to cut import duties on certain consumer products to boost domestic consumption. The situation is expected to persist.Hong Kong will gradually lose out on our edge as the Shoppers' Paradise and we can no longer rely on shopping to attract Mainland tourists to visit Hong Kong. It is thus necessary to add new ancillary facilities for the tourism industry. In fact, in the coming few years, a number of tourism infrastructures are in the pipeline, including the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) and the Kai Tak Fantsy; besides, many development projects in Lantau are also tourism-related. However, the said projects are under the portfolios of three different Policy Bureaux, each with its own development focus. In face of the coming challenges in the tourism industry, how will the Chief Executive co-ordinate the tourism aspect in the aforesaid projects?

CHIEF EXECUTIVE: President, the SAR Government attaches great importance to the contribution of the tourism industry to the economy and social development of Hong Kong. As I have repeatedly pointed out, although the tourism industry, now occupying roughly the same share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as that of the professional services industry, contributes not as much as the finance industry to our GDP, it provides job opportunities for numerous grass-roots workers in Hong Kong. And that is why we attach great importance to the development of the tourism industry in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a tourism hub. Hong Kong's tourism industry has played a vital role in our economy and social development in the past few decades. As time changes, the tourism also adjusts its focuses and selling points. I thus have pointed out in my opening speech that we cannot rest on our laurels. It is possible that our selling points, our strengths and edges today may be weakened when the overall situation evolves with times. Hence, we need to continuously explore new selling points and strengths.

As far as the tourism industry is concerned, in the past when there were a large number of Mainland visitors coming to Hong Kong, especially when they focused on visiting a certain districts, conflicts were broken out between Hong Kong people and Mainland visitors. The SAR Government is very concerned about the matter. As such, we have adjusted the "multiple-entry" Individual Visit Endorsements by replacing it with the "one trip per week" Individual Visit Endorsements. The matter has now subsided. Hong Kong's tourism industry still has great potential for development. What does this include? Under the existing policy, Mainland residents in only 49 cities are eligible to come to visit Hong Kong through the Individual Visit Scheme instead of joining guided tours, and there are about 660 cities on the Mainland. Hence, our next task is to explore ways to open up new markets and find new strengths and selling points in Hong Kong.

In tandem with opening up new markets, we can explore ways to better control the total number of in-bound tourists to Hong Kong. That is to say, we can limit the annual number of in-bound Mainland tourists, regardless of which provinces or cities they are from, to a certain level, so as to avoid straining our transport and community facilities, and thereby preventing conflicts between local residents and Mainland tourists from taking place.

MR YIU SI-WING: The Chief Executive has not clearly answered my question just now. As I said just now, while different tourist spots will be commissioned in Hong Kong, such tourist spots are under the portfolios of different Policy Bureaux. For instance, the WKCD is put under the Home Affairs Bureau, projects in Lantau are under the Development Bureau, and Kai Tak Fantasy is under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. These projects I have just mentioned are closely related to tourism, but each of the said Bureaux has its own considerations. Just now the Chief Executive referred to the tourism industry as one of the four major economic pillars of Hong Kong. Even though the Government has attached so much importance to the industry, with the Policy Bureaux acting in their own different ways, how can the said projects help to push forward tourism development?
Actually, I wish to ask the Government whether it is feasible to assign one Secretary of Department to co-ordinate all the infrastructural projects in this regard and formulate comprehensive planning for the tourism industry. I wonder if the Chief Executive has such consideration.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE: President, the tourism ancillary facilities involve not only the few Policy Bureaux that Mr YIU mentioned just now. They actually straddle across the work of several Departments and Bureaux. For instance, overnight visitors will need to stay in a hotel and this involves the work of lands and planning departments; with more visitors coming to Hong Kong, the supporting manpower related to the tourism industry will have to be strengthened, and this concerns our labour and population policies. Hence, while we attach importance to the tourism industry, the entire Government, or what we call a joined-up government, including the Chief Executive, the three Secretaries of Departments, the 12 Directors of Bureaux and colleagues of different departments need to pull together to do a job in all aspects, including tourism. At present, as several Departments and Bureaux are involved and joint efforts have been made in this respect, I do not see any need to set up a new department or assign a Secretary of Department to co-ordinate the work of the several departments involved.