Hong Kong Expects Tourism Bumper Year with 60 million Visitors

Hong Kong’s government will work to help keep tourism growing as part of a major effort to stabilize the city’s economy and offset the effects of a trade war between the U.S. and China, the top financial official said.

The comments by Paul Chan Mo-po, the financial secretary of HK, come as he predicts a bumper year for Hong Kong’s tourism industry, with more than 60 million visitors hitting a record high.

He also said the government could explore easing visa requirements for some countries in the Belt and Road Initiative – China’s global trade strategy – to boost tourism, while also urging the sector to grab the opportunities offered by the Greater Bay Area development to work with neighbouring travel spots to promote multi-destination itineraries.

The Greater Bay Area project aims to develop Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in guangdong province into innovation centers.

In an article published on his official blog on Sunday, Chan stressed that tourism accounts for about 4.5% of Hong Kong’s GDP and employs 6.7% of the city’s workforce.

The latest figures from the Hong Kong Tourism Board show that about 5.88 million tourists visited Hong Kong in October, a rise of 11.5% compared with the same month in 2017. About 4.65 million of them, or about 80 percent, are from mainland China. This is a 15.4% increase from October 2017.