Tourism | HK partners with Guangdong, MSAR to boost visitor arrivals

The Hong Kong Tourism Board has outlined its plan to collaborate with Guangdong and Macau to attract overseas visitors to the HKSAR as the US-China trade war intensifies.

Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Peter Lam warned that Hong Kong’s tourism sector recovery in the Pearl River Delta region could be short-
lived due to the depreciation of the yuan, as cited in a report issued by the South China Morning Post.

The tourism chief proposed that the SAR set aside competition and work with mainland China, Guangdong and Macau to bolster tourist numbers from overseas in the Greater Bay Area.

Although in June there was a 12.8 percent year-on-
year increase in tourist arrivals in Hong Kong – amounting to 4.74 million – 3.63 million of these were mainland Chinese visitors. Lam noted that June arrivals demonstrated “some decline.”

He then disclosed that a delegation led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam would visit Japan in November – one of the key projects of the plan.
“If the yuan situation and the trade war drag on, the city’s tourism will be affected,” he said. “We hope the new infrastructure – the bridge and high-speed rail services – [will help us] encourage visitors to stay longer in the city and make excursions to neighboring areas across the border,” he added.

The China Foreign Exchange Trade System shows that the yuan deteriorated 8.6 percent to 86.85 percent per HKD100 on Tuesday from April 2. During this time period, the exchange rate of the RMB weakened, as it currently sits at RMB6.81 per USD1. Some economists believe that the depreciation of RMB will continue as the trade war intensifies, noting the proposed punitive tariffs of the U.S. target $50 billion worth of Chinese imports.

Brokerage firm CLSA predicts that the currency would reach RMB7 per $1 at the end of this year.

“By the end of the third quarter or early fourth quarter, we will begin to see the impact of yuan and the trade war,” Tourism Board executive director Anthony Lau said.

The Tourism Board has negotiated with airlines in the region for discounted packages to bring in more tourists from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand as part of its short-term measure.

Greater bay area league

THE HONG Kong Football Association (HKFA) last week announced that that mainland football authorities are considering launching a Greater Bay Area league. Although the idea is still at a preliminary stage, HKFA chairman Brian Leung said that the plan is to establish a professional regional league, noting that Hong Kong is finding it challenging to sustain a professional league on its own. As cited in a report issued by RTHK, the plan was revealed at a Legislative Council meeting where the government’s sponsorship arrangements for the association were discussed.