Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui is on the show this week.

She talks about how Hong Kong is turning into a sports and cultural hub, where more visitors are looking for an immersive experience when they come to our city.

Check out the full transcript of TVB’s Straight Talk host Dr Eugene Chan’s interview with Rosanna Law:

Chan: Good evening! I'm Eugene Chan on Straight Talk, and our guest is Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Rosanna Law. With over 30 years in public service, she has brought a wealth of experience to the role. Prior to her current appointment in December 2024, she held senior positions across key policy areas, including transport, housing, tourism and constitutional affairs. Her previous posts include the Commissioner for Transport and Permanent Secretary for Housing. Tonight, we are looking at the future of Hong Kong's tourism, a key driver of our economy that has been working hard to regain its momentum in a post-pandemic world. Welcome, Rosanna!

Law: Hi, Eugene!

Chan: Thank you for coming to the show. And, to start off, I think the viewers would like to hear from you how you assess the current state of the Hong Kong tourism sector in terms of, say, how many people are arriving, and whether we have more mainland tourists or even more outbound and inbound.

Law: The context, of course, is that for 2024, we had close to 45 million visitors to Hong Kong, 80 percent of who were Chinese mainland visitors. This is actually a 31 percent year-on-year growth compared to 2023. So, that's the context. The latest figure is for the first four months of 2025. This growing trend continues. We have 16 million already for the first four months of 2025, which also represents a handsome growth of 10 percent year on year. Of these 16 million visitors, three quarters of them are from the mainland, and then another quarter of them are from outside of China. So, we are actually seeing a very good recovery of our overseas markets, short-haul and long-haul. For the short-haul market, basically we're talking about Southeast Asia – the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, also the East Asian part of this world, Korea, Japan. All of these markets, we are seeing 20 percent growth, or 20 percent recovery from last year. For the long-haul market, one very outstanding one is the Australian market, which we saw 30 percent growth from last year, same time. So, I think the overall trend is really encouraging, and is also a testimony of the effort we have been making, on recovering Hong Kong's tourism, attracting more people to come visit us since last year, has really bear fruits.

Chan: Right. I'm sure the viewers will be very excited to hear those figures. But another thing that we often hear on the news is that the tourists, in terms of spending, are sort of spending less per visit. Do you see that trend continuing, or is this a concern?

Law: This is actually a global trend. I said before, there was this event called the Tourism Overview organized annually by the Hong Kong Tourism Board back in March this year. And at that Tourism Overview event, I heard a presentation from a Visa card analyst. He was giving us an overview of spending patterns, visitors’ behavior and preferences from the Asian region and also globally. This trend of people spending less on luxurious goods, people wanting to have more in-depth, immersive experience while traveling is not particular to Hong Kong or Asia. It's actually a global trend. Perhaps, after the pandemic, people are establishing a new sort of traveling pattern. So, we will have to think about how to deal with it. One of our solutions, tying in with the commissioning of the Kai Tak Sports Park, is that we now have a whole range of major mega events in terms of concerts or sports events, coupled with exhibitions, or what we call the MICE activities: meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. Those are high spending visitors. Many of them will be staying for a few days in Hong Kong, because they may be participating in meetings for a few days, or they are actually buyers or sellers in exhibitions. So, they have to be in Hong Kong for a few days. They will be making use of our facilities. They will be visiting our sight-seeing attractions at their leisure. And also we are trying to organize new things. And then we are trying to unearth our traditional attractions like horse-racing tourism, which was also included in the Policy Address of the chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, last year.

Chan: Right, Rosanna. It's very exciting to hear all these sort of initiatives. As some of the viewers will know that the Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism is a relatively new bureau. It's only been set in like 2022 and you've been there for just over six months. And I think it used to be the area like culture, arts and sports were under the Home Affairs Bureau, and also the creative industries, also the film and tourism under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. This used … I'm sure … to sort of have synergy and enhance the intra-government coordination. Have you seen that being successful so far? Is it the right direction?

Law: Yes. I think, of course, combining the three areas – culture, sports and tourism – means my bureau is always on the run. We are actually quite busy, because just take the word sports, you actually have dozens of sports events or dozens of sports categories in the National Games this coming November. I think all together, we have 34 main areas, main sports areas. So, just one word, “sports”, you have already a lot of activities going on. Same for culture. When we talk, when we say culture, we actually have the classical culture, the historical ones, but also the modern, contemporary ones, visual arts, performing arts, and then we also have museums, mega events, concerts are popular culture. So, a whole range of that. And tourism, we are now talking about Hong Kong, everywhere is a tourist site or tourist attraction. So, it's a lot of things going on, but the good part is, all of these activities or areas, they have a commonality, which is, they bring happiness to people. They bring a good spirit to people, or they help people to really release some of their tension to wind down. So, all of these are actually intertwined, and we can have mega events in culture, sports, popular culture. We can have very good visual arts or competition, competitive matches. All of these would be very attractive, not just to people of Hong Kong, but also to our visitors. We have in the past, heard comments that maybe in the evening, people need to really think about something to do. Now they also have to think about what to do, because there are so many options in Hong Kong.

Chan: Right. Secretary, I must sort of commend on your good effort, because Straight Talk have been trying to cover all the sports and all the events, and we always see you there. So, we all know you work very hard. Secretary, when you were the permanent secretary for housing, you instituted a very successful program to combat tenancy misuse. In one of the committees I've witnessed it myself. Do you have similar sort of pivotal initiatives in mind for your bureau?

Law: Anti-abuse in the housing area has been an aspiration for many, but it wasn't easy to roll out in the past because of a whole range of reasons. Political tension being one of those. In this area of culture, sports and tourism, I think my priority at this point is really to enhance our attractiveness through enriching our content and also in some of the areas, for example, sports, apart from making us more competitive in the elite level, to make Sports an even more commonly pursued or commonly enjoyed area. But also there are things like corporate governance of sports sectors, the association, sports associations, we heard in the past, there may be, some hiccups here and there, or even malpractice here and there. And it is my hope that through good communication with the associations, through building of a proper system, introducing a proper system, we can also improve the corporate governance of sports, community of sports associations. For tourism, I think it's been very clear. You also mentioned I've been deputy commissioner for tourism in the past. At that point, we had a lot of tourists, to the extent that we have to look into our capacity, whether or not Hong Kong is really ready for taking up so many, for receiving so many tourists. Right now, we have not returned to that point. So, our job here is to ensure that while we have growing number of visitors to Hong Kong, which we are, of course, very happy about it, we need to ensure that our capability is up there, and then our service is also up there. We can create a happy vibe in Hong Kong. We can create a hospitable atmosphere in Hong Kong so that our visitors will come to us and then enjoy themselves and then they become our loyal supporters.

Chan: Rosanna, time for a quick break now and viewers, don't go away, we won't be long.

Chan: Welcome back! You are watching Straight Talk with Eugene Chan, and we are back with Secretary Rosanna Law, to talk about how the government is boosting our cultural and tourism appeal, so that Hong Kong can become Asia's top tourism hub once again. So, Secretary, you had a lot of initiatives. And one area I am sure that the viewers will be interested is that under the 14th Five-Year Plan, we have to make a vision to make Hong Kong to be an “East-meets-West” center for international cultural exchange by attracting both overseas and mainland Chinese artists, sportsmen, and tourists to visit Hong Kong. So, what are your key strategies to boost these numbers, in particular the East and the West?

Law: Actually, we talked about the recovery of tourism arrival just now. Obviously, this is very encouraging. So, after people come to Hong Kong, what do we show them? Obviously, Hong Kong is unique. It is unique in the sense that we are definitely Chinese, we have a long history and legacy of the rich Chinese culture. But also, we have our unique historical background, which makes us an excellent “East-meets-West” center. And so in Hong Kong, we of course have the Palace Museum, we of course have our sort of … these days we talk about “Red Tourism” elements. We have a different history that would be intriguing and also of interest to our visitors. In terms of visual arts and performance, we have a few things every year, annual events. First of all, the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The Hong Kong Arts Festival has a … my favorite program this year is actually Cantonese opera.

Chan: Right.

Law: There was this one show called Wu Song, very, very good in a classical way with, of course, the acting and also the ... you see proper training, you see good tradition.

Chan: Right.

Law: But we also have outside of Hong Kong, outside of the mainland, influences of the programs. For example, there is one classical interpretation of Carmen, the opera. And that was very popular. We also have the classical music performance and contemporary music performance from both the mainland and also from outside. So, all these give people or our audience a good mix of different cultures, different tastes of different countries.

Chan: Right.

Law: But also we have the Chinese Culture Festival. This year we are going to have the second year of the Chinese Culture Festival. We also have the Asia+ Festival, which is a forum where we bring together different arts and cultural performances from Asia. We held the Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum+ in April, and I think we had 18 delegations from Asia, Belt and Road countries, and there was even a cultural minister from Slovak Republic.

Chan: I see.

Law: And through these international collaboration and cooperation, we can exchange our vision, we can also establish ties.

Chan: Right.

Law: For example, I just visited UAE, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. And they actually invited us to bring our performance groups to Dubai and Abu Dhabi for performances. And I am actively considering that because I think that is a good opportunity to showcase what we have in Hong Kong to the rest of the world, especially our new market in the Middle East.

Chan: Right.

Law: I am also interested in bringing, for example, Arabic culture and Muslim culture exhibitions to collaborate with my museums in Hong Kong, and maybe to collaborate with West K, the West Kowloon Cultural District.

Chan: Right.

Law: There are a lot of opportunities, a lot of possibilities, and it is my mission to actually make these things happen.

Chan: Right. Secretary, I think Betty Fung of West Kowloon was here last week.

Law: Oh, yes.

Chan: And then she was telling us about all these exhibitions, and it makes Hong Kong's life very colorful, and with a different exposure as well.

Law: Yes.

Chan: You mentioned the word that people are asking for more “immersive experience”. What do you mean by that? How are you going to deliver that immersive experience?

Law: In the past, perhaps before the pandemic, a lot of tourists, they came here, maybe have a good meal and then go …

Chan: Shopping?

Law: … shopping for luxurious handbags or watches, jewelries, whatever.

Chan: Yes.

Law: Now they probably will still do some of that, but a number of them would also like to go into the city of Hong Kong, walk our streets, go hiking in our trails, and then enjoy our islands, enjoy our coastline, which is very good, because apart from getting economic benefit …

Chan: Right.

Law: … tourists or visitors going to Hong Kong, we have the opportunity to show them in person what Hong Kong today is all about.

Chan: Right.

Law: That Hong Kong is back, back from the pandemic, and back big time. That Hong Kong is still open, vibrant, and very international.

Chan: Right.

Law: I would say with the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park and the mega-concerts such as that from Coldplay, such as what we are going to have as Hong Kong Football Festival in July this year.

Chan: Yes, in July coming up.

Law: We are going to have the first ever North London derby outside of London between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. With all these, I want to show people, and then I think they would also agree with me that, Hong Kong is open, ripen, safe, and international.

Chan: Right.

Law: And that kind of immersive experience that is what I want to instill in them.

Chan: Secretary, thank you for bringing up the July international football matches because there is something that Straight Talk is working very hard to bring it to the viewers. Just now when you talk about all that, some people will ask how do you differentiate Hong Kong to say other cities, like Bangkok or Singapore? See Singapore, actually they pay a lot of money for someone like Taylor Swift. How are we going to differentiate ourselves with those neighboring cities?

Law: I think in the past, a lot of comments or questions were pointed our way that we might be sort of disadvantaged in terms of attracting mega-events to Hong Kong. I think one primary reason for that was we simply did not have a large enough stadium at that point.

Chan: True.

Law: Now that we have the Kai Tai Sports Park, the main stadium up and running, and also, it has proven to everybody, all the audience for the Rugby Sevens event, for the Coldplay concert, for the Nicholas Tse concert, and for the May Day concert, all of them, they left with a happy face.

Chan: Yes.

Law: And then they were very happy with the environment, the setup, and also the performance of the artists. So, we have now established ourselves very firmly that we are a major event venue in Asia.

Chan: Secretary, I must say that I want to share with you my experience when I go back after visiting the stadium in the MTR, a lot of the audiences were singing.

Law: Yes.

Chan: They were really happy. So, Hong Kong is back. So, should I say with the title of the show, “is Hong Kong tourism back sort of business as usual yet?” What do you think?

Law: Oh, yes, of course, and even better, I would say.

Chan: Even better?

Law: Because before the pandemic, I think we have a few things being constructed or being developed, the Kai Tai Sports Park, some of our attractions in Disney, in Ocean Park, and other parts of Hong Kong. I think all these are now ready and they are in operation. So, I think in terms of options or places to go, things to do, I think we are actually even better than before. You mentioned people singing, I noticed that too. That is a natural response after you had a good time.

Chan: Right.

Law: So, I think that is something to further look forward to. I mentioned football just now. I envisage that the friends of Liverpool, perhaps after the match, they will be singing “You'll Never Walk Alone”.

Chan: I am sure. The last question I want to ask you is, so many people have mentioned that Hong Kong services are not as good, especially going across the border. Now do you agree? And is there anything we can do to make our own people trust our own service industry?

Law: I think for a long time, we sacrificed service for efficiency.

Chan: Right.

Law: Hong Kong is famous for its efficiency, so maybe we were not attentive enough at some point, because we wanted things to happen quickly.

Chan: True.

Law: Now I think a lot of us, in fact, most of us, are actually aware that these days, visitors or even our own Hong Kong people, they look for better quality service, they look for value for money. And I am glad to see that our operators, our trade practitioners are also aware of that. Just last week, I was at the QTSA annual award ceremony.

Chan: Right.

Law: And I can see that the frontline staff, whenever they get appreciated, they got an award, the entire team cheer for them. And it was really moving and touching. So, I think we will also be commending our good service providers in the future.

Chan: Thank you, Secretary Law, for sharing with us your good work with your team at your bureau. It is indeed good to hear that our tourist numbers are regaining momentum, and with new attractions and major events on the horizon, let us get the message out that “Hong Kong is back to business as usual”.

That is all for Straight Talk from me, Eugene Chan, and see you next time.