China News Service, Hong Kong, February 24 (Reporter Suo Youwei) Stabilize the economy and relieve the people’s hardship. This is the "Government Budget for 2021-2022" submitted by the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government in the Legislative Council on February 24. "("Budget") Key words of key expression.
Hong Kong's tourism industry, which has been devastated by the new crown pneumonia epidemic and has been frozen for most of the last year, has seen the hope of "breaking the ice" and the dawn of recovery.
Chen Maobo said in the "Budget" that Hong Kong's tourism industry has come to a standstill as a result of the epidemic.
In addition to providing financial support of nearly 2.6 billion yuan (HK$, the same below) to the tourism industry, a total of 934 million yuan will be earmarked to enhance tourism resources, of which 169 million yuan will be used to continue to develop local cultural, historical sites and creative tourism projects. For example, "Yantian Catalpa Art Festival" and "City Scenery", etc., and will continue to improve the facilities of hiking trails to open up more green tourism resources and provide citizens and tourists with rich historical culture and tourism leisure experience.
In addition, the "Budget" proposes that 765 million yuan will also be set aside to support the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) in reviving the tourism industry.
The Tourism Board has successively launched promotion plans such as "Tourism in Hong Kong" and "360 HongKong Moments" to drive local atmosphere and consumption, promote and maintain exposure in source markets, and will promote sales when cross-border tourism resumes. Concessions attract tourists.
The Tourism Board is also comprehensively reviewing the long-term positioning of Hong Kong tourism under the new normal after the epidemic, and formulating appropriate strategies to promote the recovery of the tourism industry.
On the premise of safeguarding public health, the government will consider restoring relaxation of group gathering restrictions for local tour groups to help the tourism industry gain operating space.
The government will discuss and make arrangements for the "air travel bubble" in areas where Hong Kong has close economic and trade relations and relatively stable epidemics.
In addition to the above measures, the "Budget" proposes that additional resources will be allocated to improve country parks, upgrade recreational facilities, and optimize waterfronts. This will not only build a quality life for the public after the epidemic, but also help attract more tourists to Hong Kong. .
When the epidemic eases further, the government will launch large-scale publicity and promotion activities at home and abroad to showcase Hong Kong as a highly open and international city in the Greater Bay Area from multiple perspectives and the unique advantages of "One Country, Two Systems", attracting companies, Investors and talents come to Hong Kong for development.
The Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Dr. Peng Yaojia, welcomed the additional resources allocated to the Tourism Board in the new Budget. He said: "The epidemic has stopped global cross-border travel for up to a year. It can be expected that when the epidemic subsides, the region Tourism competition will be unprecedentedly fierce, so the HKTB needs to increase promotion to maintain Hong Kong’s competitiveness."
Pang Yaojia said that the HKTB has formulated short-to-medium-to-long-term strategic priorities. In addition to continuing to promote the local atmosphere and continuing to provide support to the industry, it also hopes to attract tourists to visit Hong Kong immediately when tourism restarts, and to reshape it in the long term. Hong Kong's tourism image attracts high-end customers.
As the government launches a large-scale vaccination plan, it is hoped that all walks of life can actively participate in the new crown vaccination, and I believe that the tourism industry will be able to get out of the "epidemic" as soon as possible.
Lu Rui'an, representative of the National People's Congress of Hong Kong and honorary chairman of the Hong Kong China Travel Service Co., Ltd., is pleased with the budget support for tourism. He believes that this will not only help the industry to recover, but also focus on the long-term development of the tourism industry.
But he also said that the epidemic has not yet dissipated, and the revitalization of tourism can only be discussed after the epidemic is eliminated.
"The vaccine has arrived in Hong Kong. I hope that everyone will actively vaccinate to create conditions for normal customs clearance at an early date. The government should also continue to strengthen anti-epidemic work and go out to promote Hong Kong tourism when conditions permit." Lu Ruian said: "One-way local tourism is Not enough, two-way is more important.” (End)