TOURISM CHIEF MEETS TRADE REPS

Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism Kevin Yeung today met representatives from the tourism, hotel, aviation, catering and retail sectors to discuss how to enhance the speed and quality of the tourism industry's development.

They also exchanged views on tourism marketing strategies and the promotional direction following the expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme to cover eight more cities.

At the meeting, Mr Yeung conveyed the care of State Council Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong towards Hong Kong's tourism industry.

The tourism chief also had in-depth discussions with the representatives on issues such as how to encourage the trade to actively understand, respond to and embrace changes, as well as how to frequently adopt new ideas and methods to overcome challenges.

It was agreed that Hong Kong's rich tourism resources must be fully explored, while at the same time, enhancing service quality and promoting further collaboration between the tourism and related sectors in developing new products and promotion to reinforce and strengthen Hong Kong's position as the best tourism destination.

Mr Yeung also expressed his sincere gratitude to the central government for the expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme to cover eight more cities and its staunch support to Hong Kong.

In addition to discussing with the trade on how to enhance the tourism service and generate more economic benefits following the expansion of the scheme, Mr Yeung thanked the trade for their efforts over the years and encouraged all sectors to continue to render strategic advice on the further development of Hong Kong's tourism industry.

He pointed out that the Government attaches great importance to the development of the tourism industry and its contribution to the economy.

“Promoting Hong Kong's tourism development requires the contribution and support of all sectors. We will work hand in hand with the trade to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong's tourism industry, making the best use of Hong Kong's ample tourism resources and drawing reference from the successful experience of other cities in order to promote innovation and improve policies.”

In the face of changing visitors' patterns and competition from neighbouring cities, Mr Yeung made it clear that Hong Kong's tourism and related sectors need to be flexible and innovative to uncover more attractions with local characteristics, step up promotion of those attractions to create more diversified, enriching and unique travel experience for visitors so as to pursue the concept of 'Tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong'.

The Government will actively promote continuous enhancement of the quality of services rendered by the trade, and encourage members of the public to extend warm hospitality to visitors, he added.

Mr Yeung also revealed at the meeting that the Government would shortly announce the list of mega events for the second half of the year. He encouraged the trade to capitalise on the business opportunities brought by the mega events and make timely preparation and deployment.

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