To burnish its status as a premier tourist destination, Hong Kong should elevate hospitality and service quality in the tourism, retail, catering and accommodation sectors, officials and industry insiders said on Monday.
While kicking off a new hospitality campaign, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, secretary for culture, sports and tourism, said he hopes the city can take advantage of the array of initiatives under the campaign and fortify Hong Kong’s status as a premier tourist destination.
The goal of the hospitality campaign is to foster a welcoming atmosphere in the city and make a positive impression on visitors with efforts of our residents, Yeung said
The goal of the hospitality campaign is to foster a welcoming atmosphere in the city and make a positive impression on visitors with efforts of our residents, he added.
He said that a small group of travelers had treated some tourist impolitely in the past, and that has affected the overall image of the service sector and even Hong Kong itself.
ALSO READ: HK to host over 100 mega events in next six months
Under the campaign, one measure will be to recruit more volunteers to help travelers, such as giving advice in the tourist information center.
The tourism industry also announced at the launching ceremony that it will carry out various activities and make a joint effort with the campaign to promote Hong Kong as a hospitable city.
Meanwhile, the tourism sector stakeholders suggested using technology innovation to overcome to obstacles to the market’s revival.
“Hong Kong has more than 18,000 restaurants, and many of them are quite traditional.” Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said at a meeting on Monday morning.
READ MORE: Hong Kong retail sales drop 14.7 % in April
“The Hong Kong catering sector’s operations have rebounded to 85 percent of its pre-pandemic volume,” Wong said. However, a lot of restaurants in Hong Kong have yet to adopt electronic payment systems, in contrast to their widespread adoption on the Chinese mainland.
Legislative Councilor Eunice Yung Hoi-yan lauded the idea of a smart payment system, and she suggested much closer ties among tourism, catering, accommodation and retail sectors by data sharing.
She said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government supports the tourism industry to establish a big-data platform to analyze tourists’ consumption behavior and to set up an “AI travel ambassador” to make good use of artificial intelligence to help tourists design their individual travel plans.
