Tourism Board withholds fuel for Rockit's takeoff

Hong Kong's only outdoor music festival, Rockit, takes off again today but it's not getting much help from the Tourism Board.

Despite its three-day duration and line-up of international and local stars, the board's highlights calendar does not include Rockit - because it only promotes events with 'greatest tourism appeal'.

The board's website highlights such events as Ocean Park Halloween Bash, Parade by Picasso, New Vision Arts Festival and pop concerts by Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, Jay Chou and Kelly Chen Wai-lam. But Rockit is listed with about 90 other events in the October calendar.

The board said it supported the event, but singling out a small number for inclusion in the highlights was difficult, as there were up to 100 world-class events a month.

'We tend to choose those that we believe have the greatest tourism appeal,' a spokesman said. 'The scale, duration and theme of the event are also a consideration. We appreciate that not everyone will agree with our selection.'

Nimal Jayawardena, of Rockit organiser Matrix Entertainment Group, said the board had been asked for more support, 'but they said they wanted to wait and see the event more developed'.