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Adventurers could soon be flying high above the valleys of North Lantau on a 300-metre zipline if a British tour group has its way.
The Country and Marine Parks Board, an advisory committee for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, will today discuss the building of the Flying Fox tour attraction proposed for Lantau North Country Park near the Ngong Ping 360 cable car terminal.

But it is already expected to draw objections from green groups and hikers as it would "deprive the general public of a large area of natural habitats", roughly six hectares, a government paper showed.
The Tourism Commission, invited to a briefing session in mid-August, generally supported the building of the attraction.
It would comprise two sets of cross-valley parallel ziplines, each 300 metres long, linked by about a kilometre of connected hiking trails and a 50-metre-long suspension bridge over the Sham Wat Gorge.
Each tour would take about 60 to 90 minutes and accommodate 60 people an hour, or 480 a day. The attraction would create at least 20 local jobs, said the report.
But the Country and Marine Parks Authority paper said there was no precedent for allowing use of government land within a country park for fee-charging commercial activities.
It would also be controversial if access to this area was confined to visitors who had paid the fee, the paper said. "The potential benefits of the proposal in terms of tourism promotion might be offset by the impact on the environment and the need to handle the foreseeable objections from the general public and green or hiking groups," it said.
The paper also said the Ngong Ping cable car operator would be a partner in the project.
Flying Fox was willing to pay rental to the government and stressed the business was self-sustaining, without the need for government investment.
Green Power chief executive Man Chi-sum opposed the proposal, saying any activity which caused a potential threat to the environment and ecology should be avoided in country park areas.
Ken Ching, director of the Eco-education and Resources Centre, said construction work in Lantau North Country Park would affect the ecology of the eagle owl, of which there were fewer than 10 in Hong Kong, and the white-bellied eagle, a second class-protected species of which there were only about 15 to 20 in the city.
In its proposal, Flying Fox said Hong Kong needed to develop its eco-tourism infrastructure to compete with rival destinations in the region and to help show its conservation work to visitors.
It added that Hongkongers also needed a healthier lifestyle.
"It is an irony that Hong Kong's worldwide image is of an iconic urban landscape, when 70 per cent of the land is countryside and 43 per cent of the territory is designated country or marine parks," the proposal said.
Flying Fox, the trading name of British-registered Zip Adventures, was founded in 2007 by Jonathan Walter, who served with the British Army in Hong Kong, and Richard McCallum, who worked with Swire Group and Cathay Pacific in the city.
The company runs three zip-line tours in India, with a fourth under construction.


Proposed Flying Fox zipline attraction for North Lantau is discussed today

News

Hong Kong

Proposed adventure tour carrying hikers 300 metres over North Lantau, opposed by eco-campaigners, will be discussed today


Proposed Flying Fox zipline attraction for North Lantau is discussed today

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Proposed adventure tour carrying hikers 300 metres over North Lantau, opposed by eco-campaigners, will be discussed today

Proposed adventure tour carrying hikers 300 metres over North Lantau, opposed by eco-campaigners, will be discussed today