Policy Address
Supporting the Tourism Industry
65. Tourism is one of Hong Kong’s four pillar industries and the number of practitioners amounts to nearly 260 000. Our tourism industry has been subject to multiple blows since the second half of 2019. With cross-border people flow almost coming to a standstill, business is nearly frozen. In view of this, the Government has implemented a number of targeted relief measures since the second half of 2019 to help the industry tide over this difficult period.
66. Given that the tourism industry will continue to face grave and prolonged challenges for quite some time in the future, the Government will roll out additional relief measures for the industry, involving a total commitment of close to $600 million. These measures will benefit travel agents and their staff, freelance accredited tourist guides and tour escorts whose main occupations are tourist guides and tour escorts, and drivers of tour service coaches mainly serving tourists. Once the epidemic has eased, we will tap into more local cultural and green tourism resources to revive our tourism industry with a view to expanding both the Mainland and overseas visitor source markets, as well as offering leisure and travel experience with rich historical and cultural elements to locals and visitors. The persisting pandemic will alter the global tourism landscape. The Hong Kong Tourism Board is taking the opportunity to examine the positioning of Hong Kong’s tourism to meet future challenges. When I visit Beijing later, I will strive to enlist the continuous support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the tourism co-operation between Hong Kong and the Mainland and enhance the quality of the tourism industry.
