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Hong Kong tourism
Hong KongEducation

University of Hong Kong has become a go-to photo spot for mainland Chinese tourists. Can guided trips control the crowds?

  • HKU chiefs say guided tours will be implemented in May, with more measures to follow
  • But students sceptical guided tours will help, although many of them and staff do not want campus closed off altogether

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The university has become a tourist hotspot in recent months, with articles on social media praising its atmosphere as that of a “prestigious, globally recognised institution”. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Jess Ma
It was an otherwise quiet morning at the University of Hong Kong’s campus in Pok Fu Lam as students and staff had mostly deserted the vast expanse of teaching buildings and libraries on the first day of the city’s Easter public holidays.

But, just before noon on Friday, dozens of tourists flocked to a red brick wall emblazoned with the university’s name and crest near an MTR station and gathered in front of a fence for a picture, talking loudly among themselves.

This was only a fraction of the tourist presence seen by students and staff in term time, which led the university to announce on Thursday it planned to impose crowd control measures on campus from May.

HKU said the changes, including guided tours, would be implemented in phases, and that more details would be revealed later.

However, the new policy has received a lukewarm response from students and visitors.

Students questioned its effectiveness and visitors said they wanted to tour the campus without limitations.

The century-old university has become a tourist hotspot in recent months as its campus has featured on the popular mainland Chinese Instagram-like Xiaohongshu platform as a walking tour destination.

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