8 April 2007

Hong Kong is famous around the world for its hospitality. Last year, 26 million visitors - almost four times our city's population - came here to shop, to sight-see, to eat out and to enjoy themselves while mingling with Hong Kong people.

Tourism is extremely important to our economy. It creates a lot of jobs, particularly low-skilled positions such as shop assistants, restaurant workers and tour guides. So when we fail as hosts, and our guests go home complaining that they have been cheated or mistreated, it is an issue we should treat with utmost seriousness.

Last week, shortly after I took up my new post as chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, CCTV reported nationwide that mainland tourists had been cheated in jewellery and watch shops while on package tours to Hong Kong.

I find these allegations shocking and deeply damaging for our tourism industry. I understand that the Tourism Industry Council is investigating the complaints raised by the programme, while the HKTB has stepped up measures to enhance consumer education in advance of the coming Labour Day holiday. If indeed the allegations are proved, I feel that effective action must be taken against those involved, especially the tour operators, tour guides and the retail shops.

The full weight of our existing regulations must be brought against repeated offenders. Under the Travel Industry Council ’ s demerit system, a shop that accumulates 30 demerits can be deregistered. However, to be more effective, I suggest that these shops ’ names, after being deregistered by TIC, should be announced publicly and distributed, posted widely at the border controls at Lo Wu, where 80% of these tour groups pass through..

We have all been tourists ourselves, and we know that when we travel overseas, we are in a vulnerable position. We are ignorant of so much of what goes on around us when we arrive somewhere new that we are always to some extent at the mercy of our hosts.

We all know that it is only a tiny, unscrupulous minority of people who stoop to that kind of exploitation, but it only takes a minority to tarnish the reputation of Hong Kong as a destination. We at HKTB, TIC and the government, must do everything in our power to ensure that these cheats do not continue.

Of course, this is a problem that goes deeper than just identifying and catching a small group of dishonest local shopkeepers. It touches on a situation that has developed in recent years, as more and more tour companies from the mainland offer very low-cost breaks to Hong Kong.

The battle to slash prices by as much as possible has seen a worrying trend for “ zero fee ” tour packages, where mainland tourists pay zero or as little as 500 yuan for a two-night-three-day tour of Hong Kong and tour operators can only recover their cost and make money by coercing tourists into shopping trips and obtaining commission from the shops.

It is from these kinds of cheap package tours that most of our recent instances of apparent visitor rip-offs appear to arise, and I would like to see us liaise with mainland officials to see if anything can be done to avoid these problems on their side.

There is nothing wrong with mainland tourists coming to Hong Kong on budget packages. However, the cost of these packages must be fair and transparent. Tour companies must not be allowed to sell tours at below cost price and then make up the money by swindling our visitors once they arrive. If visitors go away feeling cheated, they will not return. And Hong Kong will suffer.

There are already signs that mainland visitors are wary of these kinds of tours. In the October Golden Week last year, we had fewer visitors from the mainland than we expected. I suspect part of the reason for that may be the impact of unpleasant incidents arising from “ zero fee ” package tours.

China ’ s tourists are now the new world travellers. Hong Kong is no longer their only option. With the easing of travel restrictions and the wider availability of overseas visas, better-off people from the mainland can fly to Thailand, to Singapore, to Japan, to Europe and to America.

Hong Kong needs to compete. Hong Kong needs to broaden its appeal to mainland tourists, who last year accounted for 13 million visitors. Hong Kong also needs to broaden its appeal to tourists from other overseas markets. We must show the world that we are more than just a shopping and dining destination.

Most importantly, we need to attract tourists who want to stay here a little longer. Hong Kong is too often seen as a short-stay destination, where people come for shopping and dining, and go back home or fly on to other destinations. That is simply not good enough.

Moving on to a different subject in tourism, I feel Hong Kong has so much more to offer and one of the things I am passionate about seeing during my term as chairman of the tourism board is stronger promotion of the lesser known charms and attractions of our diverse and colourful territory.

Everyone knows about Stanley and the Peak. Everyone has heard of Ocean Park and Disneyland. Everyone knows about the Big Buddha and the Lantau Cable Car. But what about the beautiful beaches and hiking trails in our New Territories? What about the outlying islands? What about the hidden Hong Kong local culture that we enjoy but hardly any of our millions of visitors even hear about?

It is time for some of those secrets to be shared. At a time when eco-tourism is becoming increasingly popular, Hong Kong has a wealth of untapped holiday opportunities for visitors from around the region and the world.

Apart from the blight of air pollution which we must solve, those of us who live in Hong Kong know that we are lucky enough to inhabit a place of vitality, excitement, beauty and rich diversity – a city where skyscrapers, nightlife, bustling markets and fine dining exist alongside idyllic stretches of spectacular beaches.

I am biased of course but I believe that as a tourist destination, Hong Kong really does have it all. My job as chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board is to see that we make the most of the tremendous amount we have to offer and promote them effectively overseas.

Before anything else, however, we must ensure that our reputation as a fair and favourable place to visit is not blackened by the actions of a unscrupulous few retailers and that alleged incidents like the ones reported last week are not repeated.

We are fast approaching the Labour Day Golden Week holiday. During that period we will be promoting our Quality Tourism Scheme that points visitors towards recognised and accredited traders and shops who will guarantee fairness and value.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors will come to Hong Kong during that holiday week. Let us hope every single one of them goes away feeling they have been treated fairly and honestly throughout their stay. And let us hope that at least some of them go away having experienced a side of Hong Kong that they never knew existed.