EdTalk | Hongkongers need to be told more about advantages of the Greater Bay Area

After a decade of construction work, and billions in investment, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge was formally opened on October 23, signalling closer links between the three cities in the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Meanwhile, the high-speed railway linking Hong Kong and Guangzhou, launched officially a month earlier, now brings people from the Bay Area to Hong Kong in a faster, more efficient way. The strategic investment in infrastructure promoting Hong Kong and Bay Area development is a laudable goal. But do Hong Kong people fully understand and appreciate the development opportunities available in the GBA?

In order to better understand how Hongkongers perceive and evaluate such opportunities, Lingnan University and Sun Yat-Sen University jointly conducted a telephone survey, focusing on examining Hong Kong people’s perceptions and evaluations of GBA development. During the period from August 15-27 2018, 1,033 Hong Kong residents aged 18 or older were interviewed as part of the survey to learn about their views and attitudes towards GBA development.

The results focus on three main areas: the relationship between Hong Kong residents and the GBA, their perception and evaluation of the GBA, and their concerns about living in the GBA.

The two universities recently released a research report titled “Perception & Evaluation of Hong Kong Residents of the Greater Bay Area Development”. In addition to the suggestion of introducing policies to promote a better understanding of the GBA among Hong Kong residents, academics from both universities proposed new models of cooperation between Hong Kong and other GBA cities, such as the mutual use of health care vouchers and old age allowances.

The relationship between Hong Kong residents and the GBA 

53.9 per cent of the respondents claimed not to have visited the GBA (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) in the past year, with only 4.6 per cent having visited the GBA 13 times or more (more than one visit per month on average). Among respondents who had visited the GBA in the past year, 59.2 per cent and 20.5 per cent listed “sightseeing” and “food” as their main purposes for visiting, respectively, while only 16.7 per cent claimed to have gone for “work”. Forty-seven per cent of visitors to the GBA listed Shenzhen as their destination, followed by Guangzhou (40.1 per cent).