Tourism

Viewpoints

Legco finance committee chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing said: '...And then there's the cable car. I don't know what's going on there. It opened late. It doesn't seem to be working very well, it's just another sad saga.'

Jake van der Kamp, South China Morning Post columnist: 'We have lots of things to show them and we are going to make sure that travel agents in the mainland know it. Good effort, but I think it may be as much of an uphill struggle as climbing the hill to the Ngong Ping zoo rather than taking the new Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride. There is one thing the Tourism Board forgets and it is causing considerable ructions in the travel market at the moment. It is called 'zero-fee tours'.'

Tourism Board chairman Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee said: 'Tourism investment over the years has been [led] by Disneyland. Even Ocean Park is gearing up for the competition. I think the Hong Kong government is doing much more than other governments [in tourism promotion].'

Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan said: 'We had the Disneyland opening last September, the largest wetland park in Asia opened [in May] and the Ngong Ping 360 cable line [has also been launched]. We can see that Hong Kong tourism is very competitive.'

Factbox: Coming Attractions

2006 SkyPlaza Shopping Centre

2007 Nine-hole golf course

2009 Hong Kong Convention

and Exhibition Centre upgrade

2010 Ocean Park expansion ends

2011 Cruise ship terminal

2011 West Kowloon Cultural Hub

Unconfirmed Hong Kong Disneyland Phase 2 Expansion

Discussion

Do you think the government is putting too many resources into building new tourist attractions?

Enquiries

How many new tourist attractions have you visited so far? Which one do you like most?

Compare the tourism statistics in the past three years. Do you think the new attractions are appealing to more tourists?

What else can the SAR government do to attract more visitors?