Lawmakers accuse Hong Kong tourism chief of poor handling of Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, including inadequate transport links, underused facilities
- ‘I think you have handled the entire cruise terminal and the facilities around it quite poorly since you took office,’ lawmaker Starry Lee says
- Tourism minister Kevin Yeung says issues will be addressed in action plan set for first half of 2024
Lawmakers slammed Hong Kong’s tourism chief on Monday and accused him of mismanagement of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal as they highlighted its poor transport links and underused facilities.
But Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said the government would set out an action plan in the first half of 2024 to “elaborate a little more” on future arrangements for the Kai Tak district.
“I think you have handled the entire cruise terminal and the facilities around it quite poorly since you took office,” lawmaker Starry Lee Wai-king said at a Legislative Council panel meeting on economic development.
“The government has not made good use of the overall resources,” she said. “Taxpayers invested a lot of money into the terminal … but Hong Kong people rarely go there because of the inconvenient transport and the closed shopping malls. Why?”
City authorities and port operator Worldwide Cruise Terminals faced criticism earlier this year over chaotic transport arrangements when Royal Caribbean International ship Spectrum of the Seas returned to Hong Kong for the first time in more than a year.
Tourists who arrived in the city on August 4 complained of long waits for taxis and other modes of public transport, sparking immediate improvements such as temporary extra bus routes and incentives for taxi drivers following an urgent meeting between government departments, the Tourism Board and the operator of the cruise terminal.
But the fiasco also led to further examination and criticism of urban planning in the wider Kai Tak area, including the district’s overall transport system, why there was only one road leading to and from the port, and its underused facilities.
Tourism-sector lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung also questioned the minister about three pieces of unused land near the terminal.
“How and when will they be used? Is there a timetable for development? Right now, they are just sitting there, basking in the sun.” he said.
Michael Leung Chung-lap, project manager of the Civil Engineering and Development Department, said land-use planning was “subject to property market conditions”.
He added: “The government will monitor the situation of the property market and the supply in the local area to help promote related development.”
Lee also said there were only four bus routes to and from Kai Tak, which caused a daily “collapse” during the evening rush hour because of “the large number of working people living there”.
“Can the Transport Department promise to improve the situation immediately in the short term?” she asked.
Chow Bing-kay, the assistant commissioner for transport, said a green minibus operated in the area and an additional 20X bus route to Tsim Sha Tsui was in the pipeline.
“We will continue to pay attention to the transport needs in that area and extend the system step by step,” he said.
Spectrum of the Seas has returned to Hong Kong three more times since August.
Cruise ships scheduled to dock at Kai Tak for the rest of the year include Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess, Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Solstice and Resorts World Cruises’ Resorts World One.
