Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday urged officials to look deeper into tourists’ preferences through technologies and by optimizing mechanisms after Hong Kong saw a 22-percent surge in the number of inbound visitors during the Labor Day holiday break which ended yesterday.
He said the city should welcome all tourists no matter how much money they plan to spend.
During the five-day Labor Day holidays on the Chinese mainland, the special administrative region logged more than 1.1 million inbound visitor trips – up 22 percent from the same period last year. The number of mainland visitors rose by 20 percent, while that of non-mainland travelers went up by 30 percent.
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Friday – the second day of the holidays – saw the highest single-day influx of mainland tourists, with 267,000 arrivals – a 40 percent year-on-year increase. Non-mainland passenger trips also rose sharply on that day, up 44 percent over the same day last year.
Lee described the holidays as a time of "prosperity and bustling activity" for Hong Kong.
He noted that popular attractions like the Hong Kong Observation Wheel and the Peak Tram, as well as theme parks and sightseeing buses, were crowded with tourists, creating a lively atmosphere and giving a significant boost to the catering and retail sectors.
Some bars in the popular nightlife hub, Lan Kwai Fong, reported business surging by 40 to 50 percent, while jewelry, cosmetics and dried seafood stores recorded about 40 percent increase in sales.
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Although public order and safety were well maintained during the holidays, Lee said there’s still room for optimization in terms of tourist experiences, such as providing more information on crowds at key attractions, and enhancing Internet and mobile signal capacities at places where visitors gather.
The Mass Transit Railway’s Lok Ma Chau Station had a high volume of passenger traffic on Friday, with many mainland visitors stuck on the concourse as they couldn’t generate QR code tickets due to an overloaded network.
Lee said he has asked the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, as well as other government departments and industry stakeholders, to review holiday arrangements and report to the inter-departmental working group on festival planning, chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Eric Chan Kwok-ki.
Improvements will also focus on analyzing emerging travel trends, such as eco-tourism, cultural tours and trips driven by "check-in" spots, while monitoring influencer and mainland media recommendations to diversify tourism offerings and improve visitor experiences.
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Asked about mainland "special forces-style" travel -- characterized by low budgets and intensive itineraries that are popular among mainland youngsters for high cost-performance ratios -- Lee said the SAR is coping with emerging tourism trends, stressing its role as a hospitality city.
"We should welcome all types of tourists and cater to the preferences of visitors," he said, emphasizing that people’s spending habits vary, but all visitors contribute positively to the local economy.
Creating an atmosphere to accommodate and care for different tourists is positive for the tourism industry, as well as Hong Kong's economy, Lee said.
