Will adding KPI target to tourism projects ensure Hong Kong officials don’t waste money?
Call comes after senior Beijing official Xia Baolong once again underscores need for government to improve offerings
Hong Kong should make economic benefits a key performance indicator for every tourism project and craft offerings that can lure more visitors who stay overnight, industry players have said, after Beijing’s point man on local affairs singled out the importance of the development of the sector for the second time in six months.
But the tourism chief told lawmakers on Monday that most of the suggestions made by the senior Beijing official were already included in the latest development plans.
Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told 29 Hong Kong tycoons in a closed-door meeting in Shenzhen on Friday to “leave no stone unturned” in upgrading the city’s tourism offerings.
“Make good use of Hong Kong’s 1,180km [733 miles] of coastline and 263 islands, and develop wellness tourism, vacation tourism, cultural tourism and cruise tourism, according to the city’s actual circumstances,” he said.
Xia earlier singled out the sector for greater attention when he met Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung in Beijing in May, during which the minister was urged to view every corner of the city as a potential spot to lure visitors.
At a Legislative Council home affairs panel meeting on Monday, Yeung told lawmakers that a number of points raised by Xia were already covered in the chief executive’s latest policy address last month.
