Overnight visitors a top priority, Lee says in talks with mainland ministries
Attracting more overnight visitors and boosting their spending in Hong Kong will be among the top priorities for the city government, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said yesterday as he briefed mainland ministries on the city’s development.
Lee told a senior official that the development of high-quality visitor experiences was a main focus.
“Upcoming priorities of the Hong Kong government include attracting more high-value-added overnight visitors by tapping into new source markets, stimulating visitors’ spending and promoting the high-quality development of tourism,” Lee said.
He told Sun Yeli, party secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during a closed-doors meeting that the city tourism industry had made a fast recovery after Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted this year.
Lee added that the number of visitors to the city in the third quarter of the year had hit about 70 per cent of the figures for the same period during 2017 and 2018.
Details of the talks were released by the city’s government.
Lee was speaking as he visited two ministries in Beijing – the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Science and Technology – a day after he updated state leaders on Hong Kong’s political and economic development.
He pledged that the city administration would continue to leverage Hong Kong’s role as an international tourism hub and as a showcase for multi-destination tourism.
Lee had earlier met Yin Hejun, the science and technology minister, and thanked the ministry for signing a cross-border agreement with the Hong Kong government in March that “signified a new chapter for science and technology cooperation”.
He also said his administration was “moving full steam ahead” with the development of the Northern Metropolis plan to develop new areas of the city, and that he looked forward to more cooperation in innovation.
The government release said Lee pledged to develop Hong Kong into a collaborative innovation centre.
He is expected to visit the National Development and Reform Commission today and return to Hong Kong before tomorrow.
President Xi Jinping on Monday praised Lee for safeguarding national security and steering the district council system back onto the right track.
The president appealed to Lee’s administration to unite society and boost the city’s development by seizing the “historic opportunities” offered by national development.