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Following is the full text of the speech (English only) by the Secretary for Economic Services, Mr Stephen Ip, at the Eighth World Federation of Tourist Guide Convention 1999 today (Monday):

Miss Loizides, Mr Lee, Mrs Chan, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Morning, I am very glad to be here this morning with so many tourist guides from all over the world. First of all, let me extend a warm welcome to all the participants today who come from different part of the world. I would also like to congratulate the Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Coordinators on organizing this convention for the first time in Hong Kong.

Tour coordinators are like "supermen or super-women" as you need to possess a whole range of different skills to meet the needs of your clients. The service of tour coordinators forms an important part of the tourists' experience. Tour coordinators need to take good care of their tour groups and make all logistical arrangements. They are like a walking dictionary through which visitors see and get to know the places they visit. Tour coordinators are also the "goodwill ambassadors" of their respective cities and countries through whom visitors experience the hospitality of the places they visit. I notice that the Convention this year will focus on the different skills of being tour coordinators. I am sure this will be important in enhancing the professionalism of tour coordinators.

Like many of you, tourism development is a subject dear to my heart. Indeed, tourism has always been a very important sector of our economy. It is one of our largest foreign exchange earners. It also employs directly and indirectly some 10 per cent of Hong Kong's workforce.

For almost a decade or so, our tourist industry has enjoyed an almost continuous growth averaging 11 per cent annually. Like many other destinations in Asia, however, Hong Kong suffered a downturn in inbound tourism in the past two years. Visitor arrivals in 1998 were down by 8 per cent as compared with 1997.

Given the importance of tourism, we need to do a lot to help rejuvenate our tourism industry. To this end, we have put in place a strategy with short term and long term measures. We will focus on three main areas; firstly by promoting Hong Kong to visitors, secondly, enhancing Hong Kong's attractiveness as a tourist destination, and thirdly, facilitating entry of visitors.

The promotion work is mainly done by the Hong Kong Tourist Association. Their $173 million worldwide New Destination Campaign entitled "We are Hong Kong - City of Life" launched last year is to restimulate visitors' interest to come here. This campaign refocus Hong Kong as the unique international metropolis where the East meets the West, as a dynamic city with variety and excitement. I will not elaborate as you will be able to experience this for yourselves during your stay in Hong Kong.

In addition, we also invite representatives of the international travel industry and overseas media to come to Hong Kong to see for themselves what Hong Kong is like after the Handover. We also encourage more international conventions to be held in Hong Kong, and have stepped up co-operation with the Mainland authorities in promoting multi-destination travel covering both Hong Kong and Mainland destinations.

Our second area of action is to enhance our attractiveness by improving our hardware and software. On hardware, we will continue to upgrade and enhance Hong Kong's attractions. These include a cable car system on Lantau and a world-class, state-of-the-art, performance venue at West Kowloon Reclamation. We are also exploring the feasibility of an aquatic centre, resort hotel development, an international wetland park, a fisherman's wharf, as well as additional convention and exhibition facilities.

Apart from physical attractions, we are also mindful of developing our software. These include new tourist products and facilities as well as attractive international events. We have installed 100 interactive computer information kiosks at major tourist spots where tourist information can be obtained easily. We will implement pilot schemes of visitor signage improvement and tourist district enhancement. A Heritage Tourism Task Force has also been set up to promote heritage tourism in Hong Kong and to provide visitors with a more diversified experience about the more traditional side of Hong Kong.

In addition, we are working to make Hong Kong one of the most eventful cities in the world. We have set up a $100 million - International Events Fund to support the staging of some 50 international events in Hong Kong in five years' time. We have also granted the former Tamar site to the Hong Kong Tourist Association for two years to stage tourism and entertainment related events. Our vision is to make Hong Kong the Events Capital of Asia.

Another important element is the quality of service. I am sure no one knows better than all of you the importance of service quality. To promote good services to visitors, the Hong Kong Tourist Association has been running a "Be a Good Host" campaign. It will also launch a "Quality Tourism Services" scheme to ensure the quality of service at participating shops and restaurants.

Our third area of action is to facilitate the entry of visitors. Hong Kong has a liberal visa regime which enables visitors from over 170 countries and territories to enter Hong Kong visa-free. To facilitate the immigration clearance of frequent visitors to Hong Kong, a Travel Pass Pilot Scheme was introduced last year to enable faster immigration clearance for frequent visitors. Last year we also streamlined the entry requirements for visitors from the Mainland and Taiwan. This has brought positive results. We have also recently introduced a fast-track service to facilitate Russian tour groups traveling in the Mainland to visit Hong Kong.

Our efforts have started to bear fruit. Around five million visitors came to Hong Kong in the second half of 1998 which represented a 7.5 per cent rise over the same time last year. Hotel occupancy levels also gradually picked up from 67 per cent in January 1998 to 81 per cent in December 1998. These are really encouraging signs.

There is of course no room for complacency and we will continue to do our best to help promote tourism. To this end, Government will appoint a Commissioner for Tourism to give dedicated attention to the development of tourism.

No doubt your profession has been playing an important role in contributing to the development of tourism in your home countries. I hope that through exchanges of views and experience in interactive forum like this one, professionalism can be further enhanced.

Thank you again for giving me the chance to speak to you today and may I take this opportunity to wish you all a most successful conference and an enjoyable stay in Hong Kong. I hope you'll change your role whilst in Hong Kong. Treat yourselves as tourists and not tourist guides here and enjoy shopping and sightseeing in Hong Kong. Thank you.

End/Monday, February 1, 1999

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