The filthy air is probably the first thing visitors notice when they arrive in Hong Kong - usually before their plane has hit the ground. As someone who researches and writes the guidebooks many of these people will be carrying, it's an issue that is impossible to ignore.
It's the job of the guidebook writer to arm visitors with the sort of knowledge that will both forewarn them and enhance their stay, so issues like traffic congestion and the relatively high price of eating, drinking and sleeping will also get a mention.
This is the point of most travel guidebooks - to tell it like it is, which means listing the negatives along with the positives.
Of course, organisations like the Hong Kong Tourism Board will do their best to try to make the city look as good as it possibly can.
Such organisations are known to hand out free rooms in expensive hotels in a (sometimes successful) effort to make travel writers talk up the town as a whole, although I have never asked for or been offered a free room by the board.
But even this ploy is ultimately destined for failure. Unless they were given a windowless cell in Chungking Mansions, any writer with even the vaguest semblance of self-respect couldn't help but notice - and comment on - Hong Kong's pollution.
