Hong Kong should promote its uniqueness, come up with more cultural events to draw in tourists, experts say

Hong Kong should promote its local uniqueness and “make noise” by coming up with more cultural activities as mega events alone are not enough to sustain tourism in the long run, an economist and a tour operator have said.

Their calls were made on Thursday after the city welcomed “Chubby Hearts”, an art installation of giant floating balloons by British fashion designer Anya Hindmarch, in Central’s Statue Square Garden and other pop-up locations across the city on Valentine’s Day.

The installation was the first project to receive government funds for bringing in mega arts and cultural events to boost tourism.

Paul Chan Chi-yuen, co-founder of Walk in Hong Kong, which specialises in local walking tours, urged the government and the tourism industry to capture the momentum of Chubby Hearts and come up with ways to retain tourists beyond “check-in spots” for holidaymakers.

“If we only rely on tourists coming to take pictures at different places in the city, it will not be a sustainable plan,” he told a radio programme.

“We have to connect tourists with the cultural elements of this place, and work on bringing in the community experience and interesting bits of the local lives to them.”

Chan said the global trend in tourism had shifted to in-depth tours, but Hong Kong had been particularly behind in developing this kind of unique and local experience with its traditional architecture and stores being demolished one after another for new development projects.