Lo Shupei: Hong Kong's tourism industry is showing good momentum, expected to see a year-on-year increase of 8% in visitors to Hong Kong for the whole year

The Director of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, Luo Shupei, stated at the Legislative Council meeting that Hong Kong's tourism industry is showing good momentum, with an expected total of 53.8 million visitors to Hong Kong this year, an increase of about 8% compared to last year. In the first quarter of this year, the number of visitors to Hong Kong has already exceeded 14.3 million.

Luo Shupei indicated that the government will allocate HKD 1.66 billion to the Hong Kong Tourism Board in this fiscal year, a significant increase of 34.5% compared to the previous year's allocation. The Tourism Board will make good use of the funding to enhance promotion in potential markets. The authorities will also continue to leverage various measures introduced by the country to benefit Hong Kong and deepen tourism collaboration with the Greater Bay Area and other provinces and cities in mainland China, including discussions with airlines to launch "multi-stop" itineraries to attract more overseas visitors to Hong Kong and mainland China.

In terms of the sports industry, the Kai Tak Sports Park has hosted over 120 large-scale events since its opening a year ago, with the usage rate of the main venue and the sports and arts hall approaching 90%. Luo Shupei stated that they will continue to work with the Kai Tak Sports Park Company to host more large international sports events and entertainment activities, continuously promoting the synergistic development of "sports + events."

Regarding the cultural and creative industries, the government is actively working to establish Hong Kong as a global hub for high-end art trading and is very pleased to have reached a five-year cooperation arrangement with Art Basel last month, consolidating Hong Kong's position as the only host city in the region.

Luo Shupei mentioned that the Art Basel Hong Kong exhibition will continue to promote public art and education in the community and will support Hong Kong in further developing strategies for the local art ecosystem and market; research on different categories of art trading is expected to be completed within this year. Meanwhile, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will also participate in establishing an art trading ecosystem