Is Hong Kong trying to hard to attract Tourists to visit?
This phrase nails it “too many cooks spoil the broth” !
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Is Hong Kong trying to hard to attract Tourists to visit?
This phrase nails it “too many cooks spoil the broth” !
Hong Kong Government heavyweights tasked with solving tourism issues 2025
© SCMP All rights resrved 2025 | click on the image to enlarge
Hong Kong unveils 9 projects featuring local brands, 4 peaks to draw more tourists all these projects have something in common.They have Hong Kong characteristics, they are novel, feature new experiences and are easy for selfies,’ senior official says
“Hong Kong authorities have identified nine projects involving big local industrial brands, four beautiful peaks and classic neighbourhoods to attract more tourists seeking in-depth trips to the city.
Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, who chairs the Working Group on Developing Tourist Hotspots, unveiled the list of projects on Tuesday after six months of preparation, saying the destinations were filled with Hong Kong characteristics and featured new experiences.
“All these projects have something in common. They have Hong Kong characteristics, they are novel, feature new experiences and are easy for selfies,” he said.
The projects had incorporated tourists’ different tastes and would be easy to integrate into different travel routes, which would not only allow visitors to have more fun but also bring about greater economic benefits to the city, Cheuk said.
“In addition to creating new attractions, we should integrate and enrich existing tourism resources, transforming them into highly appealing hotspots that visitors would genuinely regret missing,” he said.
At least four brands, including food seasoning company Lee Kam-kee, bakery giant Kee Wah, vinegar maker Pat Chun and probiotic drink company Yakult, confirmed that they would organise tours with travel agencies starting from the third quarter this year.”
Authorities also said they hoped to develop “four peaks” tourism, covering The Peak, Lantau Peak, Sai Kung Hoi and Tai Mo Shan, to showcase unique landscapes and cultures.
The selection leveraged the popularity of the documentary Four Trails, which focuses on the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge in 2021 and brought a trophy to director Robin Lee at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards.
The trails have been selected for tourists to complete in half a day, with the help of convenient transport access and facilities, according to the working group.
Measures to boost in-depth tourism will also cover two popular old neighbourhoods in Kowloon City and Central, with a focus on their local characteristics and history, “helping the business of surrounding restaurants and retailers”, Cheuk said.
The remaining projects include plans to open up the old Yau Ma Tei police station to visitors, organising trips to sites related to the city’s disciplined services and hosting regular themed bazaars at Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park.
They will also include planting pink trumpet trees at Tamar Park in Admiralty and revitalising a former freight yard pier in Hung Hom by early next year.
Cheuk said seven projects would be launched this year, while the Hung Hom pier and four peaks tourism initiatives would start in the second and fourth quarters of 2026, respectively.
He said that the government had not set key performance indicators for arrivals relating to the plan. He said he was “quite confident” that the nine projects would attract “a considerable number” of visitors to Hong Kong but conceded that quantifying their effect was difficult.
“Recent media reports showing tourists spending the night in fast-food restaurants are considered exaggerated. Overnight stays by tourists haven’t decreased, so don’t assume visitors aren’t spending money just because of a few isolated images,” he said.
Cheuk also said that he did not believe the roll-out of these projects was too slow. He noted that the working group’s purpose was to coordinate the various new hotspot projects, which extended beyond delegating work to relevant government departments.
“A lot of work is involved, we certainly don’t think that implementing these projects – as I mentioned seven of which will be rolled out by the end of this year- is too long [of] a time,” he said.
Dane Cheng Ting-yat, executive director of the Tourism Board, said that developing new attractions would help Hong Kong expand its in-depth tourism, given that 30 per cent of visitors were seeking experiences beyond shopping and sightseeing.
We’re beautifying and decorating the Central-Mid-Levels escalator system, while using it as a central axis to connect Hollywood Road, with the surrounding shops, bars, restaurants, historical sites and arts and cultural attractions. This will allow us to create richer, more diverse themed experience routes for visitors,” Cheng said.
Tommy Tam Kwong-shun, chairman of the Travel Industry Council, said that his organisation would unite the industry to fully support the new initiatives.
This included organising tours to the hotspot projects, enabling industry representatives to personally experience their potential, and ultimately collaboratively developing more unique tourism products.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said that his administration would take advantage of the rise in tourism to the city to improve support measures for visitors and develop more attractions, hoping to boost interdepartmental coordination to identify popular spots, respond to changing trends and improve facilities.
During a meeting with Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui in April, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said he was deeply concerned about how the city could enhance its offerings for visitors.
Last year, the Beijing official urged the local administration to revitalise its tourism offerings amid “profound changes” in the market and treat every corner of the city as a potential spot that could entice visitors.”
So, the statement above published in the South China Morning Post on May 20th 2025 is the current thinking of the Hong Kong Government.
Hong Kong has a very competent Government and personally I think I live in one of the worlds great cities but over the decades going back to the 1970’s the Government seemingly reacts to issues and problems rather than thinking long term and coming up with ideas to be implemented years later and these days it takes one off the cuff remark from a senior Mainland Chinese Politician to send the Government into a tizz not knowing what to do
I am not quite sure what all the panic is about, the Government is trying too hard, they cannot be everything to everybody and they should be concerned that having 80% of your visitors coming from one location is not good policy, particularly if they are thinking that all ir will take to boost tourism and spending is promoting places to take selfies.
Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals from 2002 to 2023 with 45 million in 2024
click on the image to enlarge
Tourism arrivals to Hong Kong going all the way back to 2002, we had 65 million visitors in 2018 and post covid we had 45 million visitors in 2024 and yet quite a few times the mythical figure of 100 million visitors has been heard muttered in the corridors of power, figures that most cities and countries can only dream about
“In April 2025, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, said he was deeply concerned about how the city could enhance its offerings for visitors. Last year, the Beijing official urged the local administration to revitalise its tourism offerings amid “profound changes” in the market and treat every corner of the city as a potential spot that could entice visitors.”
So basically this action plan of brilliant ideas is simply because a high level official overseeing Hong Kong made basically a casual comment and no one seems to think of the effect this might have on the daily lives of Hong Kong residents.
Life does not work the way you want it to work, the Government is reacting to a comment without looking at the big picture, all their recent announcements (up until today) about tourism are long term projects measured in decades not years, most Governments of any major country would think that 45 million tourists in one year is great but our officials just look at the numbers and they have stated previously that 100 million visitors in a year would be just dandy.
I can only imagine what would happen if tens of thousands of ill equipped tourists flocked to remote Peaks to take selfies.
.... and the May day | week madness in Hong Kong recently only showed us what happens when you take mass tourism into the great outdoors, lots of crowds, not enough transport and thoroughly pissed off residents who like a bit of peace and quiet when they go out hiking and did I mention how dangerous hiking can be in Hong Kong?
If they want to see mass tourism quickly then they need to think out of the box with ideas with a 1, 2, 3 year timeline etc whilst continuing with decades long projects to have the mega wow factor.
Funny, just a couple of months ago all the talk was Panda Tourism in Hong Kong (we have 6 of the cuddly critters) it is all the Tourism Board and Senior Officials could talk about, that short lived buzz lasted about a month when it seems other more senior officials had bigger and better ideas.
I still think an easy win would be to get rid of the current Hong Kong Observation Wheel (see images below) and install one 3 times the size and hope it does not disrupt anyones views, I still think Formula 1 (petrol engines not electric) would be a big draw and they should look at looking at old projects that where scrapped a long time ago, in other words, a cable car to Victoria Peak or Lion Rock summit, something with a bloody wow factor (which I have written blog posts about)
.... oh and do something “mega” or “out of this world” at Hong Kong International Airport out Airport is clinically efficient but not a patch on Changi Airport in Singapdre
It also appears that they have embraced “Selfie tourism” as the next big thing, well you need the intangible wowfactor to fulfil that concept and there is no way of knowing what people find interesting when it comes to sociai media trends and by the way, have they considered that selfie tourists seem to lack any concept of personal safety, hanging of rocks one handed at 500m may look cool but if you fall they will be scraping you up for a week
Hopefully this new change of direction means less attention on inviting so called INFLUENCERS to Hong Kong, yes, social media people whose sole claim to fame is that they have 1 million + followers, well at least until someone cooler and better looking comes along. I completely understand the whole concept of how Social Media works, I knew about when it is was just thoughts in peoples heads and I have 3 adult sons who keep me informed.
I am amazed that our Government seems to think (or used to think) that influencers are good for tourism and I often wonder how they figure our just how exactly does an appearance of an influencer contribute to the economy? I bet they have no hard figures at all.
As for selfies, well it could be something as weird as manhole covers or boundary stones or a particular rock at the top of Tai Mo Shan that gets people raving, there is NO logic to what is popular and NO way to predict the next big thing
and why not send a team to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and all major cities in Japan and Korea etc to see how they use the wow factor to attract tourists.
The other side of the coin? Well at least they are doing something positive I just don‛t think their current ideas are going to have the desired effect that they so crave.
The Four Peaks of Hong Kong the Government wants to put on the tourism map (bearing in mind Victoria Peak gets from 7 - 10 million visitors a year)
click on the image to enlarge
So these are the 4 Peaks that our working group of officials is going to promote in the remainder of 2025, they clearly mention all can be done in half a day which made laugh, perhaps walking up to Victoria Peak from the 88 floor building (IFC) in the Central Business DIstrict might only take 3 hours, but the rest will probably take a lot longer and that is for fit, regular hikers not chubby tourists in flip flops, t shirts and shorts with just a smart phone to carry (for selfies you see)
There are 6 ways of walking up to Victoria Peak, I have had 3 falls (coming down) in the past couple of years because the trail down which is concrete was covered in a slimy wet moss and leaves mixture, the Peak looks benign but it is 552m in height and walking up is just plain horrific. I always have to laugh at Travel Bloggers stating it is an easy one hour hike, maybe if you run and are supremely fit but the average person will curse in 18 languages when walking up Old Peak Road on the way to the summit of Victoria Peak.
As far as the other 3 peaks go, well, you need all the gear and lots of supplies and you are walking on trails NOT a paved road, our emergency service hero’s helicopters and all are called out every single week to rescue lost and stranded hikers.
I should also point out that excluding Victoria Peak which is Hong Kong Island (!) the other 3 Peaks are in the middle of nowhere and quite remote, for example Lantau Peak on Lantau Island near to the Big Buddha, well you will spend 3 - 4 hours just to get there and back, not including hiking to the summit and then back down, how does that fit into half a day? … and I would love to know they came to this conclusion on timing.
To be honest it is easy to sit around a table and come up with a whole raft of ideas but before speaking to the press you should really do you research, in other words, send out a team of average Hong Kong Government employees and armed with a stop watch, time exactly how long it takes to get to and from each of the Peaks and back to town using public transport, they are going to be in for a rude shock and bear in mind, their target audience of Mainland Chinese Tourists, well half of them are here for just the day before going home and I should point out that the scenery in the Chinese countryside just over the border is remarkably like Hong Kong’s!
In a nutshell, our amazing hiking trails can be treacherous even for experienced and fit hikers and yet they are promoting mass tourism to these places to take selfies, that does not make much sense to me at all.
Selfie consequences at Victoria Peak Hong Kong
Behind the sign that says “ do non climb" there a large rock that has become beloved by selfie addicts, if you fall it is about a thousand feet straight down, oh and Police cones and tape really spoil the ambience of the trail
click on the image to enlarge
Before visitors go trekking off into the wilderness they should really view the video below which won awards and hightlights how supremely fit athletes struggled with hilly terrain which Hong Kong has in abundance and is quite similar to the 4 Peaks our tourism officials would like you to visit!
click on the link to view video
I wrote a scathing blog post about the Hong Kong Observation Wheel which is located on prime real estate near the Star Ferry in Central on Hong Kong Island, it is just 60m in height which is not even close to acceptable, the one in Abu Dhabi is 250m in height by contrast and people rave about it.
I think this is an easy fix for the Hong Kong Government, build a new one of 250m and it will have mega wow factor!
click on the image to enlarge
Hong Kong International Airport as mentioned is clinically efficient but it does NOT have The Jewel Rain Vortex at ChangI Airport in Singapore, stunning by day and by night, welcome to Singapore!
Changi Airport is a marvel compared to our Airport which visitors love because it is efficient but there is not much do or see within the airport if you have long layover, again they should send a team there and take notes.
click on the image to enlarge
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