Flow of people, flow of growth
HK is well positioned to take the ‘citylink tourism’ initiative with mainland Greater Bay Area cities
Editor’s note: group
In this installment of the series, the executive chairperson of Shun Tak Holdings shares her insights into the city’s tourism development over the past 25 years.
Throughout the 25 years since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the city has gone from strength to strength, nourished by the dynamism, agency and competence endowed by progressive national policies, said Pansy Ho Chiu-king, group executive chairperson and managing director of Shun Tak Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed conglomerate with core interests in property, transportation, hospitality and investments.
“Hong Kong has continued to be a crucial international hub for Asia, representing a major gateway to the Chinese mainland market, and vice versa, while attracting tons of the mainland businesses, thanks to policies and programs granted to Hong Kong by the central government,” said Ho.
Ho joined Shun Tak Group in 1995 as executive director, was appointed managing director in 1999, and is ideally placed to chart how the watershed moment transformed Hong Kong for the better, especially how it moved the needle for Hong Kong’s tourism segment and economy.
Reminiscing about her early forays into public and corporate relations as well as entrepreneurial investments in the early 1990s, Ho said the Hong Kong enterprises she worked for eagerly anticipated the establishment of the HKSAR and already had future plans up their sleeves ahead of July 1, 1997.
Fondly recalling a conversation with her father Stanley Ho Hung-sun, the legendary businessman, over a family dinner, Pansy Ho said, “I asked my father, ‘What about our (Shun Tak) family business? What have we planned ahead to embrace the handover?’” Her father responded, “We’re a patriotic family and our business has already built connections with the mainland.”
“But is that enough?”, quizzed Pansy Ho. This provided food for thought over the conglomerate’s vision and strategies. She believes that her father was primed mentally, organizationally, structurally and strategically for the exceptional opportunities that were about to be unfurled.
The introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme in 2003 was groundbreaking, adding flourish to the city’s tourism and hospitality sector, said Ho. Hong Kong had already shone as an international tourist attraction before the scheme was initiated. But the central government’s move to open Hong Kong’s door to mainland travelers for visiting the city in their individual capacity transformed the SAR into a tourism hub.
The signing of the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement in 2003 made Hong Kong even more seductive as a place for conducting business, especially for those international entities yearning to have a presence in the mainland market, said Ho. “Hong Kong has since become more important as a convention and trade exhibition center, where trade exchanges and fairs are conducted by leveraging Hong Kong’s role as an intermediary.”
These factors all contribute to the tapestry of Hong Kong’s fetching cultural persona characterized by multiculturalism and East-meets-West eclecticism, diversity, inclusivity and versatility.
While the pandemic caught the industry by surprise, it forced the industry to reshape its service model and reimagine its tourism offerings.
“Hong Kong is a free market. Its people are open-minded and receptive. It is through the ingenuity of our people who treasure but constantly innovate on the presentation of our cultural stories that ensures that Hong Kong’s tourism never goes flat,” Ho said.
In a nutshell, the dazzling range of components in Hong Kong’s culture gives its tourism and hospitality industry multiple “legs”. Despite one leg crumbling when a crisis hits, it won’t force the whole segment to collapse, as more improvisational legs appear to supplement and complement the existing legs.
China is steeped in venerable traditions
There’s a need for a ‘multiple stops, one destination’ tourism offering that inspires international tourists to spread their footprint across the country and explore hearty cultural treasure troves.” Pansy Ho Chiu-king, group executive chairperson of Shun Tak Holdings
and a diverse culture with distinctive nuances representing every region. To allow international tourists a thorough understanding of China, there’s a need for a “multiple stops, one destination” tourism offering that inspires them to spread their footprint across the country and explore hearty cultural treasure troves, said Ho.
Hong Kong is well positioned to take the “citylink tourism” initiative with Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area cities in Guangdong province, where Lingnan culture that Ho strives to promote, enjoys a wide reach.
“Now with this convenient network of transportation and infrastructure, wouldn’t it make sense to make your whole journey even more productive or interesting by visiting more than one place in a trip? After all, these places are linked by a common heritage, but at the same time, each has gone on to develop its own unique distinct flavor,” she said.
Ho co-chairs MGM China Holdings Ltd. Based in Macao, it is one of the leading developers, owners and operators of integrated resort hotels in China. The ethos of MGM China — “Originality + Innovation” — alludes to the milieu in the GBA, where technology and innovation dominate and steer its economy. This resonance in mentality and strength, if harnessed effectively, could forge a more powerful synergy, and the result will be greater than the sum of its parts. It’s been on Ho’s mind. This is anything but a figment of her imagination because the synergy fostered through actual collaborations has done well. Ho said a case in point is, MGM China participating in the Light Up Macao Drone Gala 2022, a visual extravaganza involving the employment of drone technology provided by Shenzhen and organized by the Macao SAR government.
Looking ahead to the prospect of better integration of Hong Kong into the whole national development, Ho is hopeful of seeing more cross-border exchanges in “people”. “The flow created by human exchange will allow Hong Kong to become more aware of building affinity with our motherland, and also galvanize our mainland fellow citizens to come to Hong Kong seeking opportunities while facilitating Hong Kong to cement its bridging role between the East and West.”