Hong Kong officials urged to reveal mega event line-up 6 months in advance to allow tourist trade to create products for visitors
- Caspar Tsui of Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners says city lacks mindset to connect all events and advertise them as package for tourists to stay longer
- ‘The [mega] events are all great, but if you are going to tell me about it a week ahead, I’m not going to be able to sell packages in time,’ he adds
Hong Kong’s calendar of mega events should be released at least six months in advance to give the tourist trade time to create products to sell to visitors, industry insiders have said.
“The [mega] events are all great, but if you are going to tell me about it a week ahead, I’m not going to be able to sell packages in time,” Caspar Tsui Ying-wai, executive director of the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, said on Monday.
“Also, I don’t have time to get in touch with the catering, retail and travel agencies around me to coordinate our products.”
He said the city currently lacked the mindset to connect all events and advertise them as a package so that tourists would stay longer.
Earlier this year, the city hosted the Fortune Innovation Forum, followed by a number of art events such as Art Central, before concluding with the Rugby Sevens in March and April.
“The financial event brought in a lot of high-spending tourists … the other events can potentially cause them to come a few days earlier or stay a few days more.”
But Tsui said authorities also needed to think ahead and tell the public at least two quarters in advance, as tourists needed time to plan their trips.
“Even for us to prepare for the summer holidays now is too late,” he said at an event alongside other tourism-related industry representatives, including those from the restaurants, nightlife and retail sectors.
The government released in May its line-up of more than 100 mega events for the second half of the year, which it said would help bring in around 1.7 million visitors for the entire 2024.
They included 42 large-scale conferences, 25 artistic and creative activities, 15 sports competitions, 13 functions related to finance, the economy and the innovation and technology sector, and 11 festive events.
Hong Kong Bar and Club Association chairman Chin Chun-wing said many of local retailers faced severe financial pressure amid rising operating costs and Hongkongers heading to neighbouring mainland Chinese cities, such as Shenzhen, to spend their weekends and holidays.
“Rents have remained largely unchanged since 2018, when Hong Kong’s economy was at a peak,” he said. “The pandemic did nothing to lower those prices.”
Chin suggested authorities could offer his industry some relief measures, such as a liquor tax break.
Figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Friday showed the city’s April retail sales dropped 14.7 per cent from a year earlier, much worse than authorities expected and twice the decline recorded the previous month.
A government spokesman said that residents leaving the city during the Easter holiday was one of the major reasons for the sharp decline.
