Regina Ip

Opinion | Hong Kong must turn Greater Bay Area integration challenges into opportunities

The city’s economic rebound depends, in the short term at least, on encouraging more mainland visitors, and getting them to spend more

In the longer term, to remedy Hong Kong’s housing and labour shortages, the government should develop a strategy to make use of the mainland’s resources and talent

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Travellers wait to cross the border at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge checkpoint on the first day of the Easter holiday on March 29. Photo: Edmond So

Regina Ip

Published: 9:15am, 21 Apr 2024

The tireless efforts the government is making to reboot Hong Kong’s economy will be futile if the city’s leaders fail to grasp the challenge of integration within the Greater Bay Area and come up with strategies to turn the challenges into opportunities.

A framework agreement for deepening cooperation between Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau was signed on July 1, 2017. Almost seven years on, development in the bay area plan is bringing about profound changes to Hongkongers’ lifestyle and the economy.

Soon after the reopening of mainland China early last year, Hongkongers discovered that cities in the Greater Bay Area have made giant strides in urban planning and the service economy. As a result, they have been flocking to the bay area to spend their consumption dollars.

Between March 28 and April 8, which includes the extended Easter weekend and Ching Ming Festival, a staggering 3.6 million Hong Kong residents went north via land control points, compared to about 860,000 mainland residents who visited Hong Kong.

Other cities in the Greater Bay Area have become Hongkongers’ go-to playground in the same way that mainland residents poured into Hong Kong after the Individual Visit Scheme was launched 21 years ago.

The economic impact of this reversed travel pattern being felt across the Greater Bay Area. Last year, Shenzhen authorities announced that “social consumption and retail spending” rose by 7.8 per cent while its gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6 per cent, exceeding Hong Kong’s and other first-tier cities on the mainland.