All of this will result in plenty of career opportunities for those with the right training.

'In the post-second world war years, Hong Kong was clearly positioned as a low-cost regional destination, with most visitors coming from Singapore, Japan and Taiwan,' said David Ahlstrom, a professor in the management department of the Faculty of Business Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

'They were attracted by the hotels, food and shopping - all of which were cheap.'

Prices started rising dramatically in the late 1980s, culminating in the Asian economic crisis, which swept the region in 1997.

'This turned Hong Kong into a moderate to high-priced destination,' Professor Ahlstrom said.

'People no longer thought of Hong Kong as a cheap place. They thought of it more as a centre for fashion - along the lines of London or New York.'

The tourism sector should provide a lot of what Professor Ahlstrom calls 'good entry level jobs' in the years to come. Hotels, restaurants, and retail establishments catering to tourists will all need qualified staff.

'Quite a lot of chefs will be needed, and they will not necessarily need to be university educated,' he said, adding that the city's commercial sector was also undergoing a significant transformation.

Despite all the talk about Hong Kong's economic transformation in recent years, Professor Ahlstrom believes the city is simply getting back to what it has always done best: serving as a middleman between China and the rest of the world.

That role was interrupted in the post-war years when, as a British colony, Hong Kong became a centre of light manufacturing, producing items such as plastic flowers, low-cost watches, and inexpensive garments. Now that most manufacturers have moved their operations across the border and the mainland's economy is booming, Hong Kong's time-honoured role is being resurrected.

'Hong Kong is now rediscovering its traditional role as a middleman,' Professor Ahlstrom said.

'That was its role before the second world war, when it served as an entrepot for both China and Britain.

'It played this role very successfully in the past. It wasn't always a centre of light manufacturing.'

But Helen Lange, MBA programme director at Singapore-based Universitas 21Global, believes that Hong Kong should not overplay the China card.

'It has been very myopic with respect to China, treating it as its key market,' she said.

'There are other markets out there, and other parts of China could surpass Hong Kong if it's only looking one way.'