City's doors must remain open to tourists: Jack So
Government advisory body convenor wants to prepare HK to meet the many demands of its ever-increasing number of visitors
The annual number of tourists visiting Hong Kong could swell to 100 million in the next decade, says the convenor of a top government advisory body.
"If we project figures based on the recent rate of increase in tourists here, we could get to 100 million visitors by 2023," said Jack So Chak-kwong, who convenes the working group on convention and exhibition industries and tourism under the Economic Development Commission.
If we project figures based on the recent rate of increase in tourists here, we could get to 100 million visitors by 2023
So had earlier said Hong Kong should double its supply of hotel rooms in the next 10 years to accommodate the city's rapidly growing tourist crowd.
"I really wanted to sound a warning bell, because that estimate [of doubling hotel room supply] is already quite conservative," he told the South China Morning Post.
So's comment comes as the government conducts a cross-departmental study on the city's tourism capacity, including its immigration facilities, transport and accommodation.
Last year, Hong Kong welcomed a record 48.6 million visitors - a 16 per cent increase from 2011's 41.9 million. More than 70 per cent were from the mainland, and almost half of all the visitors stayed overnight.
In comparison, top tourist destinations France and the United States respectively received 83 million and 67 million international tourists last year, figures from the UN World Tourism Organisation showed.