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SCMP Reporter

Q How should Disneyland be tailored to Hong Kong tastes?

When will Hong Kong realise that mainland tourists should not be the sole focus of the Hong Kong Tourist Association and Hong Kong Disneyland. Yes, I agree that mainland Chinese will probably form the majority of visitors to the theme park and so dim sum and Chinese cuisine is probably appropriate. It should not, however, be the only choice available.

Hong Kong has always tried to position itself as a world city. However, it seems that we are only trying to market Hong Kong Disneyland to mainland tourists. Hong Kong Disneyland should cater to tourists from other populous Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India as well.

If Hong Kong is to be a world city then we should provide a larger choice of cuisines.

Sarika Jhunjhnuwala, Pokfulam

On other matters ...

I am writing with reference to a letter published in Talkback on July 2, concerning the filling in of health declaration forms at Hong Kong International Airport.

The Department of Health has investigated the incident by liaising with the relevant management body and the Immigration Department. The incident was probably caused by one of our contract staff who was newly recruited and had no experience in handling such situations.

To prevent it from happening again, the management has already provided guidance and briefing to the staff concerned and all other staff members on the proper way of handling such situations.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and would like to thank Andrew Lee and other travellers for their co-operation.  Dr P. L. Ma, Chief Port Health Officer, Department of Health

With reference to Paul Pratt's letter on July 1, Oxfam Hong Kong would like to make a few clarifications. But first, we would like to express our utmost appreciation for Just Java's commitment to sell fair-trade coffee in Hong Kong. Their efforts will certainly help spread the message of fair trade and at the same time help many poor farmers in developing countries.

It is true that various procedures are needed to ensure products are produced and sold under fair-trade conditions. However, a national initiative is not the only way that allows the sale of fair-trade products. If wholesalers and retailers want to sell fair-trade products, they can buy these from existing suppliers (www.fairtrade.org.uk/retprod.htm lists fair-trade product suppliers). In the case of Oxfam Hong Kong, we sell coffee sourced from Oxfam Belgium, which is a licensee of Max Havelaar. Through this arrangement, there is no need to register with a national initiative.

However, if a wholesaler would like to import directly from producing countries and would like to have their own brand, they need to register with either a national initiative or the Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO). FLO is an international organisation, which gives fair-trade certification to products. It is an umbrella organisation of national initiatives like Transfair. Oxfam's 'Make Coffee Trade Fair' campaign aims to promote the awareness of existing unfair trading practices and the concept of fair trade. We do have information on fair-trade labelling, products, and sources and are happy to share this information with organisations and companies who are interested in selling fair-trade products in Hong Kong.  Oxfam is very happy to see more people/organisations involved in promoting fair trade.

Lot Felizco, Policy and Campaigns Co-ordinator Oxfam Hong Kong

One of the reasons New York City has always been a great tourist destination is the availability of public viewing platforms atop the Empire State building and the late and much-lamented World Trade Centre.

I had been looking forward to taking future visitors to Hong Kong up to the top of Two IFC to show them the city from the best vantage point. I had assumed that no planning authority would allow such a vast intrusion onto our skyline without reciprocal public access.

I was greatly surprised to read in your interview with David Dumigan (July 2) that the public will not have access to Two IFC because 'Bankers, who pay top dollar for the top floors, wouldn't want to get mixed up with the public coming to take a look'.

Some people need a reality check. The Monetary Authority has not only paid 'top dollar', it has paid way over the odds for the top 12 floors. Moreover, the occupants are not bankers but public servants paid by the public's tax dollars to invest our monetary reserves wisely.

Their new ivory tower will, however, give them a platform to look down on that public who pays for their extravagance.

Vivianne Hogan, The Peak

Again and again we have heard how people are robbed in the country parks, but so far the Hong Kong police have not come up with any effective measure to curb such crimes.

Of course we are glad that there are a lot of police officers searching for the thugs (presumably illegal immigrants) whenever such crimes happen. However, if such habitual actions result in no arrests, then something must be done in order to keep hikers safe. The police may say they have the so-called rural patrol squad, but obviously the thugs do not fear them.

This reminds me of the auxiliary police. I seldom see them now on the streets but sometimes I have seen them in country parks. They seem like they  would be happy to work more to prevent crime.  May I suggest that more auxiliary police officers be deployed to patrol the hills. Our countryside is beautiful and should be enjoyed, but it is far from safe.

Lawrence Choi, Mid-Levels



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