HONG KONG SPOTLIGHT: Lauching Spotlight Hong Kong, a five-year programme to make Hong Kong "the big apple of the east" by attracting international events, are Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) chariman Lo Yuk Sui and executive director Amy Chan (above). They would not reveal the cost of the campaign, but said it would attract the likes of basketballer Magic Johnson, and popular musicals. HONG Kong's travel industry plans to lobby the new chief executive of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) for continued government support of the industry.
The Joint Council of the Travel Industry (JCTI), representing all sectors of Hong Kong's travel and tourism industry, will put its case in a position paper to be presented to the new chief executive on December 12, the day after his election.
JCTI vice chairman Thomas Axmacher said the paper would put the views of the different sectors of the industry and ideas for moving forward.
Axmacher would not be drawn into revealing the contents of the paper, but he said he hoped it would help the chief executive understand the importance of the tourism industry to the economy of Hong Kong. Currently, it is the territory's second-largest revenue earner.
Asked what his advice to the new chief executive would be on the tourism industry, Axmacher said: "You just want to make sure it continues to be successful because it works very well now. Keep improving it, but don't ignore it or turn your face in some other direction."
Howard Young, the tourism functional constituency representative on Hong Kong's Legislative Council, is one of six representatives from the travel industry appointed to the 400-strong Selection Committee that will elect the chief executive on December 11. The others are Lui Che-woo, Gary and Hari Harilela, Chan Lup-chi, and Jackie Wong.
Young told TravelNews Asia that he would be stressing to the chief executive candidates the importance of getting on with the Hong Kong Tourist Association's VisTour strategy, particularly the proposed film city, and cleaning up Hong Kong's environment to make it more attractive to visitors.
He said he hoped the chief executive would make an announcement on continuing visa-free entry for many foreign visitors, and grant visa-free access for citizens of countries or states now without visa-free entry to Hong Kong, such as Taiwan and some Middle East countries.
"I think the chief executive should make the announcement on this issue before the handover in 1997," he said. "I hope he will also look at the latest financing figures for the new airport ... [I am sure] he will see there is no great need to increase landing fees."