HK tourism chief recommends rural stargazing to tourists

Hong Kong’s tourism chief Kevin Yeung said tourists should explore rural areas for stargazing and visit bars, while refraining from mentioning whether the government intends to promote local overnight activities such as massage and karaoke singing.

This comes as lawmaker Kitson Yang said the government should promote midnight activities to tourists such as watching movies, massaging, singing karaoke, and visiting food stalls and morning bazaars.

In response, secretary for culture, sports and tourism Kevin Yeung said in a written reply, that the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) introduced a series of nightlife hotspots to visitors coming to Hong Kong, including visiting photogenic bars, late-night shopping and stargazing.

However, Yeung didn’t respond directly to Yang’s suggestions of promoting activities such as massage and singing karaoke, to visitors.

As to whether merchants will extend the operating hours, Yeung said it was their commercial decision. He added that it had been a usual practice for some local cinemas located in busy districts to schedule screenings until 3 am during major festive holidays. 

In terms of staging large-scale events, Yeung said the organisers needed to consider factors such as the estimated number of participants, their experiences, noise concerns from nearby residents and transportation arrangements.

“As commercial organisations will, in particular, consider the cost-effectiveness of the staging of events, the event organisers will be prudent when deciding on the staging of overnight events,” Yeung said.

In terms of overnight activities launched by theme parks, Yeung said the government has long been encouraging theme parks including Ocean Park Hong Kong and Hong Kong Disneyland to actively formulate and launch various events, including night events with extended opening hours.

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Apart from midnight activities, another lawmaker Regina Ip said some concert organisers had no plan to come to Hong Kong as they considered that Hong Kong lacks major venues. She questioned whether the government would proactively liaise with the industry and relevant stakeholders to jointly formulate plans on promoting the use of the Kai Tak Sports Park as a major performance venue. 

In response, Yeung said that Kai Tak Sports Park (KTSPL) was required to organise sports events on a certain number of days every year according to the conditions of contract and operating requirements. As for the remaining calendar of the year, the venues can be used to host different large-scale events such as concerts to cater to the needs of different sectors. 

“The KTSPL has to actively promote the sports park to the sports sector and entertainment industry both locally and internationally, with a view to introducing more diversified events into the Sports Park and promoting the venue as an international sports and entertainment destination of choice,” Yeung said.

Photo courtesy: HKTB's official website

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