Hong Kong's economy, the people's confidence and our international image have suffered greatly under SARS.

Yet thanks to the positive action taken by the business community, in particular the "We Love HK" campaign, initiated by the aviation and tourist industries to boost local spending, the gloom is lifting and vital signs are pointing towards the beginning of a recovery.

On the Mothers' Day I saw many happy families as they celebrated in the sunshine. They went dining, shopping, hiking and bought flowers for mums.

This has been something of a rare sight recently, and a lot of credit for this must go to the effort made by the public together with the business sector.

Hundreds of shops, restaurants and even taxis are displaying the "We Love HK" logo. Thousands of shoppers are enjoying special discounts and offers. It is commendable that the campaign has achieved such great results in only two weeks.

I would like to express my personal thanks to the aviation and tourism sectors who helped to organise it. Although these industries have been most badly hit by the crisis, they neither issued a word of complaint nor sought handouts from the Government.

Instead, they united together to save themselves by making use of their own resources and by dreaming up ways to get through this difficult period.

With so few people flying, the airlines offer discounted tickets. With the number of in-bound tourists dwindling, travel companies organised local tours. And while there have been few overseas visitors, hotels have instead offered special packages to Hong Kong people.

The "We Love HK" campaign has not limited itself to travel and tourism sectors. All sorts of other business, from retail and restaurants and advertising firms to telephone companies have climbed aboard.

As far as I know, the campaign was staged at zero cost. There was no budget and everyone gave their time, effort and ingenuity for free.

The "We Love HK" campaign slogan is "Get out and spend to benefit all". The campaign has shown just what Hong Kong people can do when they come together and work towards a common goal.

It serves as good example to Hong Kong's wider community. With that kind of spirit I am confident we can make Hong Kong shine even brighter when SARS subsides.

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