Speech at Council meeting– Oral Question: Q2 Re-establishing Hong Kong’s good reputation as an “events capital”

Re-establishing Hong Kong’s good reputation as an “events capital”

Mr. Chan Chun-ying:

Thank you, President.  There is now world-class cultural infrastructure in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, and the performance of our athletes is getting better and better.  In order to build up our image, instead of funding these cultural events and the “M” Mark sports events separately, can the Government consider organizing the Hong Kong cultural, sports and tourism month in summer every year, so that these cultural and sports events can be combined, which will not only promote our tourism and economic development, but also tell a good Hong Kong story together to the outside world?  Will the Government consider this proposal?  Thank you.

SECRETARY FOR CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM:

Thank you, President.  As I said in my reply to Mr YIU’s question just now, some events are time-specific and beyond our control.  However, for example, during the peak travel periods or summer holidays, more people will go out for travelling.  How do we attract these people to Hong Kong instead of going elsewhere?  In this regard, we have to showcase Hong Kong’s diverse tourist attractions to foreign visitors in order to attract them to come here.  For example, we have green tourism, cultural and heritage tourism, a great variety of events, and excellent food and beverage, so we need to showcase all these features to others.  As for the Member’s enquiry of whether we will do some special cultural and sports activities in summer, we can go back to think about this again and look at the schedule for the whole year.  Thank you, President.