Hong Kong must learn to be a real 'tourist city'
Tag will remain meaningless until Hongkongers shed their superiority complex and prejudices
Just what was on the mind of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying when he said, on a number of occasions, that Hong Kong needed to strengthen its image as a "tourist city"? Is there any real substance to the term? Or is it just another vainglorious idea designed to sell Hong Kong to the world, as empty and meaningless as slogans such as Asia's World City or Events Capital of Asia?
This is no idle question. Tourism and hospitality are among pillars of the local economy on which the livelihoods of many people depend. If we want to position ourselves as a favourite travel destination, we'd better think long and hard about what "tourist city" actually means.
There is no doubt we should welcome with open arms visitors from all over the world, not least mainland Chinese tourists. But if we do so solely because of their deep pockets, spending power and potential contribution to our gross domestic product, this becomes economically motivated hospitality, which will be contrived and self-serving at heart.
We may go to extraordinary lengths to make our visitors feel at home. Yet, no matter how hard we try, we are just providing a kind of service and, if you will, emotional labour. We are not doing what comes naturally and from the heart, like the way we treat our friends.
That is the heart of the matter. The Chinese classic is not by default the book that springs to mind when we talk about tourism. But it gives genuine insight into what makes a tourist city tick. When the Master asks, rhetorically, "is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters", he is putting into our hands the key to becoming an authentic tourist city. It is such a delight to receive friends from afar because, as Confucius famously says, "in a party of three, there must be one whom I can learn from".
Yes, he has spoken in a different context. But the - its Chinese title literally meaning Edited Conversations - are no more than a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to the great philosopher. It is up to us to draw connections among these ideas and interpret them in a way that will be most useful.
Tourism can be a tool for social, cultural and spiritual enlightenment. Like travelling or studying abroad, welcoming visitors with not just open arms but an open mind de-provincialises us and turns us into more effective learning individuals.
The first thing, therefore, that Hongkongers have to do before Hong Kong can become a tourist city is to shake off their prejudice against mainlanders and the tendency to regard them as moral inferiors.
And unless Hongkongers can overcome their superiority complex and treat tourists not just as customers but friends from distant quarters whom they can learn from, Hong Kong must content itself with being merely a city with tourist attractions, not a tourist city.
