Wine and Dine Festival to move to Kai Tak due to Occupy Central protests
The Tourism Board will waive the entrance fee to its annual wine festival as it relocates from Central to Kai Tak because of the Occupy movement.
The Tourism Board will waive the entrance fee to its annual wine festival as it relocates from Central to Kai Tak because of the Occupy movement.
Overseas exhibitors including French chateaus confirmed they would continue to take part in the consumer wine fair. It remains unclear if any local wine merchants will withdraw.
"We will cut their rent by 40 per cent," the board's executive director, Anthony Lau Chun-hon, said.
Although public transportation to Kai Tak is limited, the tourism body will arrange free shuttle buses. The HK$30 entrance fee from last year will be waived but visitors will be required to buy coupons for wine tasting.
"The scenery there is nice … it's also a new place to promote Hong Kong," said board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok.
The board has received dozens of tourist complaints over Occupy Central.
Travel Industry Council chairman Michael Wu Siu-ieng said mainland authorities had advised tour agencies against organising tours to Hong Kong and stopped processing group visas from October 1 to 7. Some provinces have resumed issuing permits but not all.
Group tours to Hong Kong have dropped by a third since October 8.
Although the number of mainland visitors increased by 6.8 per cent to 1.09 million during the National Day "golden week" holiday, Wu said the situation could get worse if overseas tour agencies stopped promoting Hong Kong due to the protests.
About 30 per cent of hotel bookings come from group tours, said the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners' executive director Michael Li Hon-shing.
Hong Kong Hotels Association chairman Victor Chan said some visitors to the Hong Kong Electronics Fair had cancelled their trips and hotel bookings.
The annual charity fundraiser, the Central Rat Race, is at risk of being scrapped if barriers are not removed from Chater Road in time for the October 19 event.
Organisers told participants that if race officials could not get race equipment on the route, which is currently occupied, then the race could be cancelled.
