Hong Kong tourism sector hoping for 30% bump in visitors over mainland China’s Labour Day ‘golden week’ holiday
- Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu says industry working on presenting ‘old offerings in new or refreshing and innovative ways’
- Forecast comes after Chief Executive John Lee vows to showcase Hong Kong as ‘city of hospitality’
The forecast came hours after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed on Tuesday to bring in more tourists during the five-day holiday starting on May 1 and showcase Hong Kong as a “city of hospitality”.
Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said the industry was hoping tourist numbers would grow by about 30 per cent year on year.
Hong Kong welcomed 723,587 visitors during the five-day break last year, 86 per cent or 625,538 of whom were from the mainland.
Yiu said the sector had made “sufficient preparations” based on experience from previous holidays such as Lunar New Year in February and National Day in October last year.
“I think the key is to find ways to present old offerings in new or refreshing and innovative ways, which the industry has been working on for a while now,” he said. “We understand visitors are looking for more cultural experiences, so we have been promoting in-depth tours that introduce the city’s history, as well as green tours that show our natural landscape.”
