Development of tourism products and projects
As regards the Administration’s initiative of enhancing the tourism characteristics of the Victoria Harbour and harbourfront promenades, Mr CHAN Chun-ying enquired about the Administration’s plans in instilling leisure-cum-tourism elements into more local promenades like the ones in Tsuen Wan and Kwun Tong in order to attract more tourists.
In response, SCED advised that this initiative was related to Strategy 2 of the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry (“the Blueprint”) proposed by the current-term Government. This strategy aimed to develop and explore tourism products and projects with local and international characteristics. Under this strategy, the Administration would strive to provide more choices to tourists and enhance their experience in Hong Kong by developing tourist attractions in different districts.
Mr CHAN Chun-ying opined that the lack of supporting facilities at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal (“KTCT”) had undermined its utilization. In this regard, he referred to the implementation goal outlined in the Administration’s paper on attracting cruise lines to deploy more ships to Hong Kong, and enquired about the details of the Administration’s measures to enhance the attractiveness of KTCT to the cruise lines by increasing the supporting facilities at KTCT.
Commissioner for Tourism (“C for T”) advised that the Administration had all along been making enhancements to the transport connectivity, transport services and facilities at KTCT. Specific efforts included the construction works of Road D3 in the Kai Tak Development which would connect KTCT and Kowloon Bay and would commence construction in mid-2018; a new bus route plying between Kowloon Tong MTR station and KTCT would be in operation in the first half of 2018; and improved road signs would be erected in the vicinity to facilitate the public who drove to KTCT. C for T added that an inter-departmental high-level tourism co-ordinating meeting had been convened by the Financial Secretary to coordinate such efforts amongst bureaux and departments. She further advised that the number of ship calls at KTCT was expected to reach 190 in 2017, meaning a 100% increase from 2016.