Original title:

Hong Kong: the "City of Events" continues to burst with vitality

Wang Lingxi, reporter of People's Daily Overseas Edition

Cartoon dumplings, dragon boat races, blessing patterns... On June 10, a UAV performance themed on the Dragon Boat Festival was unveiled on the beach in Wanchai, Hong Kong, where citizens and tourists held up their mobile phones to take photos and freeze the wonderful moments. "There are a lot of people and the atmosphere is very lively. It seems that there is a sense of excitement in the air," Ms. Jiang, who came from Shenzhen to watch the performance, told reporters.

At the Star Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui, a number of summer food stalls were crowded, and the international trend IP launched a new Dragon Boat themed punch in hot spot... This year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Hong Kong welcomed tourists from all over the country with a variety of activities, and the tourism market was full of vitality, continuing to show the charm of "the city of events". Successive events have also driven the development of Hong Kong's tourism, hotel, catering, retail and other industries, bringing people and new business opportunities to the industry.

Create rich activities

Since this year, there have been many events in Hong Kong. "Hong Kong · Global Talent Summit", "Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival", "2024 Global Prosperity Summit", "International Medical and Health Week"... grand events "wave after wave", covering different fields such as culture, art and creativity, sports, exhibition, financial economy and innovation. Through the holding of a series of comprehensive events, Hong Kong has not only demonstrated the unique charm of an international metropolis to the world, but also successfully gathered international enterprises, talents and funds to inject diversified development impetus into the overall economy.

Statistics show that about 14.62 million tourists visited Hong Kong in the first four months of this year, doubling year-on-year. Hong Kong's GDP grew by 2.7% in the first quarter of this year. The Investment Promotion Department of the SAR Government assisted 150 overseas companies in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 46% over the same period last year. Huang Weilun, Deputy Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government, said that various events not only brought a happy atmosphere to the citizens and tourists, but also helped to consolidate and enhance Hong Kong's status as an international city. The SAR government has set aside HK $100 million to strengthen the publicity work of events in the next three years and strive for more events to be held in Hong Kong.

A few days ago, the Hong Kong SAR Government announced a chronology of Hong Kong's major events in the second half of 2024. The number of major events throughout the year increased to more than 210, an increase of more than 40%, including 42 conferences and exhibitions, 25 cultural, artistic and creative events, 15 sports events, etc., adding another "new fuel" to the prosperity of Hong Kong's "City of Events".

"This is equivalent to at least one grand event held in Hong Kong every two days. Rich and attractive activities will have a synergistic effect, allowing passengers to stay in Hong Kong longer and spend more." Li Jiachao, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, revealed that the grand event is expected to attract about 1.7 million passengers throughout the year, bringing about about 7.2 billion Hong Kong dollars in consumption for Hong Kong.

Optimize tourist experience

How to make the event realize the "long tail effect", from "attracting guests" to "staying guests"? Yang Runxiong, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, believes that on the one hand, we should fully explore Hong Kong's rich tourism resources and develop diversified tourism products; on the other hand, we should promote the spirit of hospitality, constantly improve the quality of service, and polish the gold lettered signboard of Hong Kong's "best tourist destination" more brightly.

"The Hong Kong tourism industry is planning in-depth tourism products with more 'Hong Kong flavor'. It is hoped that visitors to Hong Kong can not only experience food, shopping, and clocking in theme parks, but also get surprises every moment." Huang Jinda, honorary consultant of the Hong Kong Tourism Industry Council, said.

A few days ago, eight new cities in the mainland could issue "personal tourism endorsements" for qualified people to and from Hong Kong and Macao, including Taiyuan in Shanxi, Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, Harbin in Heilongjiang, Lhasa in Tibet, Lanzhou in Gansu, Xining in Qinghai, Yinchuan in Ningxia, and Urumqi in Xinjiang. "Adding 'personal tourism' cities can enhance exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong residents and promote the development of Hong Kong's tourism industry." Li Jiachao said that in order to meet these new tourists, the SAR government has made a series of arrangements, including distributing coupons, inviting tourism industry representatives and mainland media to Hong Kong to introduce features and the latest tourism product information.

The reporter learned that the Hong Kong Tourism Development Board will soon launch special tourism products and preferential measures covering air tickets, accommodation, scenic spots, transportation, shopping, catering, etc., in conjunction with the mainland social platform, Hong Kong tourism industry, airlines, etc., and work with the industry to promote Hong Kong events, culture and art, rural nature and other diversified experiences, So as to help Hong Kong's local economic growth.

Stimulate economic momentum

With the grand event "blossoming in many places", Hong Kong has made many new progress in various fields, and the momentum of development is vigorous.

According to the statistics released by the Statistics Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Hong Kong's GDP in the first quarter of this year rose 2.7% year on year. Subsequently, several foreign investment banks raised their GDP growth forecasts for Hong Kong this year. In the latest assessment of Hong Kong's economy released by Standard&Poor's in May, the rating outlook of Hong Kong was maintained as stable, mainly based on the fact that Hong Kong's economy will continue to recover steadily, the property market will stabilize, and the public finance will tend to balance in the next three years or so.

"The driving force of economic growth in the first quarter of this year is mainly from tourism in Hong Kong." Chen Maobo, Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR Government, said that the SAR government vigorously promotes the "grand event economy", which not only brings more people and a lively atmosphere, but also directly brings practical benefits to the city.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board estimates that the number of visitors to Hong Kong will reach 46 million in 2024, up 35% year on year. "It is generally estimated that every 1.5 million visitors to Hong Kong will bring about 0.1 percentage point of GDP growth for Hong Kong, so 46 million visitors will greatly boost Hong Kong's economy," said Li Jiachao.

In order to hold the event well, Hong Kong has actively improved various hardware and software facilities. The largest sports infrastructure project in Hong Kong, Kai Tak Sports Park, will be completed by the end of this year. The project has a 50000 seat main stadium and a 10000 seat stadium. Yang Runxiong said that the SAR government will look for and arrange activities and performance projects in the next two years, and strive to make full use of this large-scale facility, "not only to promote the development of cultural and sports tourism, but also to bring economic benefits to Hong Kong".