Opinion | Celebrity nudging is no solution to Hong Kong’s tourism woes

This week, the Hong Kong Tourism Board is responding to increasing criticism of the city’s service levels by rebooting a campaign from 2002 starring actor Andy Lau Tak-wah. In this series of new ads, Louis Koo Tin-lok is among the actors taking up the mantle and encouraging Hong Kong service staff to “go the extra mile”.

I sympathise with the tourism board, which has a tough job of restoring Hong Kong’s allure as a tourist destination. Given factors such as the changing spending habits of the mainland visitors who represent the bulk of the city’s inbound tourism traffic and the stiffening competition from other major Asian tourism hubs, I don’t envy the position the tourism authorities are in of having to elevate Hong Kong’s appeal to tourists when everything seems to be punching down on it.

But rallying a cavalcade of picture-perfect celebrities to wag fingers at frontline service staff – or nudge waiters, sales assistants and taxi drivers to do a little better – is not the right answer. According to a recent survey conducted by the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association, 70 per cent of local small and medium-sized firms reported a decline in business performance compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Hong Kong’s food and beverage industry still suffers staff shortages across the board, meaning those who are still busing tables would have to serve even more people. In fact, I’m most curious to know if any of the celebrities on the call sheet for the ads has ever worked a service role. If so, they probably wouldn’t have taken up this job.

The reality is that the service industry in general is, and has always been, a tough business of serving people. Amid staffing crunches and tough economic conditions, life seems harder than ever before for this city’s often-overlooked blue-collar workforce.