Hong Kong is boosted by record number of visitors in first week of October
Nearly 400,000 visitors, a record high, arrived in Hong Kong in the first week of October underlining the revival of the city's tourism industry after the Sars outbreak, a minister said yesterday.
Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan said the tourism revival was evident from recent figures, with August and last month each recording about 1.5 million arrivals.
'The first week of October had a new record of nearly 400,000 arrivals, representing 6 per cent growth compared with the same period last year,' he told the Hong Kong Luncheon for World Tourism Organisation delegates in Beijing.
Mr Ip said the relaxation of restrictions on individual mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong was the most important development which helped the city's tourism revival.
'Since the introduction of the individual visit scheme in July, over 460,000 mainland visitors have applied for individual travel permits and over 200,000 visitors have visited Hong Kong on an individual basis,' he said.
Residents from eight cities in Guangdong have been allowed to visit Hong Kong on an individual basis since July 28 and the scheme was extended to cover Shanghai and Beijing residents last month. The scheme will be extended to Guangdong province in May.
Meanwhile, Airport Authority chief executive David Pang Ding-jung said last month's passenger flow was 2.62 million, more than 95 per cent of pre-Sars levels and he expected the figure to increase.
Mr Pang said there was no time frame for privatising the authority, although preparation work was continuing.
'We are studying with financial and legal consultants as to how the authority should be converted into a private company,' he said.
Mr Pang said he believed people would be willing to invest in the authority if they could maintain their earning power.
'I think we already have very good hardware, but what we have to do is to improve the software - that is the quality of our services,' he said yesterday.
Mr Pang said the authority was in discussions with airport authorities in Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen and Zhuhai on other forms of co-operation.
