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Work needed to sell Hongkongers ‘Greater Bay Area’ dream as study finds 54 per cent did not set foot in project’s mainland Chinese cities in past year

  • Three biggest deterrents were food safety, law and order and transport
  • Professor urges officials to step up promotion of opportunities

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A man in Hong Kong looks across Deep Bay towards Shenzhen, one of nine Guangdong cities included in the ‘Greater Bay Area’ project. Photo: AFP
Most Hongkongers are not interested in leaving for mainland Chinese cities included in the “Greater Bay Area” project, a survey has found, despite government efforts to sell the grand plan to turn the region into an innovation powerhouse to rival Silicon Valley.
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Only one in 13 Hongkongers currently work in a mainland city included in the integration drive, and 42.5 per cent of people said a fear of losing government benefits would stop them leaving Hong Kong.

The study, released on Tuesday, was a joint project between Hong Kong’s Lingnan University and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. It showed 54 per cent of Hongkongers had not set foot in a bay area city outside Hong Kong and Macau in the past year.

The three biggest deterrents were “food safety”, “law and order”, and “transport”.

Carried out between August 15 and 27, the poll interviewed 1,033 Hongkongers on their perceptions of the bay area project.

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The development strategy is said to be the brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping, and seeks to transform Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an integrated financial and technology hub.

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