We are always delighted to receive ideas from Hong Kong residents on how to make visitors feel more welcome when they arrive, so it was a great pleasure to read the constructive suggestions put forward by Patrick Lau (Sunday Morning Post, April 14).
We do already work closely with the Airport Authority to provide welcoming messages and facilities and are actively exploring further possible areas of cooperation both with the authority and with the Government's Information Services Department, which is in charge of the Brand Hong Kong programme.
Current initiatives at the airport include posters in the airbridges to welcome passengers when they disembark and visitor information and services counters in both buffer halls (between luggage reclaim and the public greeting area). We also mount special displays for major events and festivals such as Chinese New Year. In addition, when large international conferences, exhibitions or corporate meetings are being held in Hong Kong, we use an electronic display board and posters in the pre-immigration hall to welcome delegates, and help the organisers set up reception desks in the buffer halls.
In the vicinity of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, meanwhile, we help international event organisers obtain permission to mount lamp-post displays. Various government departments are also making extensive use of lamp-post banners to advertise local and cultural events, as well as for general promotion of Hong Kong as 'Asia's world city' and more specific international events with which Brand Hong Kong is associated, such as the Rugby Sevens.
At present, however, there are no lamp-post displays along the highway from the airport to the city centre. Mr Lau's suggestion of mounting welcome banners in different languages is an interesting one that we shall certainly explore with the relevant bodies.
DONNA MONGAN