Expansions to the scheme have been debated over the years, with past officials citing concerns over sufficient infrastructure and potential disturbances to Hongkongers’ daily lives because of an uptick in visitors. The scheme has not added any new cities since 2007.
“It has been 16 years since we last expanded the scheme, and the population of the cities that are currently covered only accounts for 30.1 per cent of the country’s overall population,” Chan said. “We have not tapped into the individual travel market yet.”
The 26 cities serviced by daily flights and trains would add an extra 10.6 per cent of the country’s population to the scheme, he said.
Separately, lawmaker Edward Lau Kwok-fan agreed the individual travel scheme should be expanded to more major cities such as Harbin, as its further distance meant visitors were likely to spend more days in Hong Kong if they came.
“Visitors from the mainland remain our main source of tourists,” he said at a Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) press conference on Monday.
“Whether they choose to stay overnight or leave the same day, we believe they still have spending power. We should take advantage of that and continue to improve our connectivity with the mainland,” he said
He added now was the “right time” to reintroduce the multiple-entry visa scheme for Shenzhen residents, which was halted in 2015 due to overcrowding and parallel trading issues, with the goal of eventually expanding it to the rest of the Greater Bay Area and Guangdong province.
Hong Kong welcomed 34 million visitors last year, with the figure from the Tourism Board for December reaching 65 per cent of the pre-pandemic level.
Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu said he did not foresee parallel trading problems, which were observed in previous years when the visa was still in place, returning.
“The spending habits of mainland tourists have changed and shopping here is not as attractive,” he said. “If it was still a problem, we would have seen hints of it by now.”
Chinese University economist Terence Chong Tai-leung agreed, saying: “That was nearly 10 years ago. They can easily find duty-free shopping in other places like Hainan Island 1705338149.”
Both welcomed expanding the individual travel scheme to more cities as well, noting the city’s slower-than-expected tourism recovery.
Hong Kong Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat said recently that it would be unrealistic to expect the number of tourists to reach a record 65 million recorded in 2018, which would “affect tourism experience and push up prices”.
Hong Kong officials too ‘passive’ in efforts to attract mainland visitors: CY Leung
Hong Kong officials too ‘passive’ in efforts to attract mainland visitors: CY Leung
The city’s largest source of tourists in 2023 was still the mainland, which accounted for more than 26.7 million. The fastest recovering markets were in Southeast Asia.
The number of travellers from the Philippines and Thailand in December were at 116 per cent and 106 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, respectively.
Half of all visitors last year chose to stay overnight, which was higher than before the pandemic.
Chan said the city had enough hotel rooms and border checkpoints to handle a larger number of individual visitors from the mainland.
“Sixteen years ago, there were not enough hotel rooms,” he said. “We have 92,000 hotel rooms now and more than 100,000 rooms including guest houses. Last year, there were an average of 17,000 unoccupied hotel rooms per day, which is enough to…
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