Tourism development is very important in Hong Kong. It has benefitted Hong Kong’s economy and employment throughout the years. Tourism currently rates second among the four key industries in Hong Kong. It contributes to the employment of other industries like retail trade, food and beverage, accommodation and transportation. Currently, Hong Kong Tourism Commission, which is a Government department, plays a part in supporting the development of new attractions and events.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board, which is a Government-subverted body, aims to promote Hong Kong as a leading international city in Asia and a world-class tourist destination. These two tourism organizations in Hong Kong work hand in hand to boost tourism. Hong Kong has put a lot of effort in setting up policies and tourist attractions to support tourism development. In 2003, SARS broke out in Hong Kong and tourism development was adversely affected. The individual visit scheme (IVS) was launched in late 2003 in order to attract mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong.
Other policies like Quality Tourism Scheme and multi-destination itinerary help to promote Hong Kong. Tourists’ attractions like Ocean Park and Disneyland have equipped with new facilities and events. With all these great improvements on tourism, Hong Kong has gained various awards and positive feedbacks from visitors all over the world. In January 2007, Hong Kong won the “ Best Business City”, and was ranked the third “ Best Tourism Destination” in the Global Traveller Awards. She has even gained the reputation of being the “ Gourmet Paradise” and “ Shopping Paradise”.
Although tourism development can bring lots of positive impacts on Hong Kong, some negative impacts are also associated with the tourism development of Hong Kong. For example, some tourists who joined the individual visit scheme committed crimes in Hong Kong. With easier access, some pregnant women from mainland china came to Hong Kong to give birth which occupies many hospital beds. Having the IVS carried out for about ten years, we believe that it is time to investigate the development of tourism. In this project, we would first present some major events related to the tourism development from 2003 to 2010.
However due to limitation in availability of data, some analysis may only focus on particular years within this period. Characteristics of tourists will then be introduced in order to have better understanding on the tourists. Some supporting facilities including hotels and theme parks will be analysed to see whether the development of current supporting facilities is enough to support the tourism development. Then, positive and negative impacts of tourism development on Hong Kong will be studied. Lastly, we would end our project with a brief summary and recommendation on how to improve tourism development.
