Bid to attract more overnight visitors to Hong Kong and develop high-quality tourism proposed by Chief Executive John Lee in Beijing

John Lee says ‘high-quality development’ of tourism a priority for his administration as city bounces back from Covid-19 restrictions
He tells senior mainland Chinese officials that city’s tourism industry has made a fast recovery

Hong Kong economy

Natalie Wongin Beijing

Published: 10:03pm, 19 Dec 2023

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Attracting more overnight visitors and boosting their spending in Hong Kong will be among the top priorities for the city government, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said as he briefed mainland Chinese ministries on the financial hub’s development.

Lee on Tuesday told a senior mainland official that the development of high-quality visitor experiences was a main focus for the city.

“Coming priorities of the Hong Kong government include attracting more high value-added overnight visitors by tapping into new source markets, stimulating visitors’ spending, and promoting the high-quality development of tourism,” Lee said.

During a closed-door meeting, he told Sun Yeli, party secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, that Hong Kong’s tourism industry had made a fast recovery after the last Covid-related travel restrictions were lifted earlier this year.

Lee added that the number of visitors to the city in the third quarter of the year had hit about 70 per cent of the figures for the same period in 2017 and 2018.

Chief Executive John Lee (second left) discusses more cross-border science and technology cooperation with Yin Hejun (second right), the mainland science and technology minister, at a meeting in Beijing. Photo: Handout

Details of the talks were released by the city’s government.

Lee was speaking as he visited two ministries in Beijing – the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Science and Technology – a day after he updated state leaders on Hong Kong’s political and economic development.

He pledged that the city administration would continue to leverage Hong Kong’s role as an international tourism hub and as a showcase for multi-destination tourism.

Lee earlier met Yin Hejun, the science and technology minister, and thanked the ministry for signing a cross-border agreement with the Hong Kong government in March that “signified a new chapter for science and technology cooperation”.

Lee also told mainland officials that his administration was “moving full steam ahead” with the development of the Northern Metropolis and that he looked forward to more cooperation in innovation and technology.

The government release said Lee pledged to develop Hong Kong into a collaborative innovation centre, with a view to “pooling global innovation resources”.

Lee is expected to visit the National Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday and return to Hong Kong later in the day.

President Xi Jinping on Monday praised Lee for safeguarding national security and steering the district council system back onto the right track.

The country’s leader called on Lee’s administration to unite society and boost the city’s development by seizing the “historic opportunities” offered by national development.