Tourism gauntlet thrown down
Tourism industry election candidate Freddy Yip Hing-ning yesterday threw down the gauntlet to rival Howard Young, saying he had the sector's long-time representative outnumbered.
Mr Yip, a travel agency executive, said he had a much bigger potential support base than Mr Young, an airline executive, because 1,300 travel agencies were eligible to vote in the functional constituency against just 74 airlines.
The Electoral Affairs Commission said 964 voting bodies were registered, indicating some eligible companies had not registered.
Mr Yip, who was speaking after filing his nomination papers, started his career as a tour guide 30 years ago and is now managing director of Goldjoy Holidays and general sales agent for EgyptAir.
'My friends said to me that the competition in the tourism sector should be made more intense,' he said. 'They also want someone who has first-hand experience in travel agencies as this will be very important for tackling crises like the 9/11 terrorist attack and Sars.'
Apart from Mr Young, he is up against lawyer Paul Tse Wai-chun.
Independent Tuen Mun district councillor Au Chi-yuen yesterday signed up for the district council seat to compete with the Liberal Party's Lau Wong-fat and democrat Thomas Kwong Kwok-chuen.
Chan Kwok-keung, now independent of any trade unions, registered for the labour sector yesterday. His opponents are the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions' Wong Kwok-hing and Kwok Chi-kin, as well as Li Fung-ying of the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions.
Meanwhile, Lillian Wong Sin-yin, the dean of hotel, service and tourism at the Institute of Vocational Training, completed her registration yesterday to stand in the catering industry after renouncing her British passport.
