Tourism Sector Important to HK: Financial SecretaryThe tourism sector is of major and growing importance to Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan are viewed to be two most important source markets, said Hong Kong Financial Secretary Antony Leung at a symposium on Tourism held Saturday.The Hong Kong Tourism Symposium 2001, jointly organized by the Tourism Commission and the Hong Kong Tourism Board, aimed to assess the state of tourism, identify both the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. Leung said three areas should be pursued to achieve these goals, namely, enhancing the range of products on offer, devising a focused marketing strategy, and improving quality of service. He also said the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan are two most important source markets that should be focused, especially after the September 11 attacks which caused sharp decrease of visitors from America and the Europe. We need to develop attractions and packages which will appeal to visitors from these two areas and encourage longer stays, he added. Tourism industry accounts for some 5 percent of GDP of Hong Kong, with over 300,000 people employed directly in the industry and tourist arrivals totaled 13 million in the year of 2000. |
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