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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Economic Services, Mr Stephen Ip, at the 13th International Travel Expo today (Thursday):

Mr Chu, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning and welcome to Hong Kong. I am very pleased to officiate at the opening ceremony of the 13th International Travel Expo (ITE).

This year's International Travel Expo has a very special meaning as we are preparing to welcome the arrival of the new millennium. Over the past decade, it has evolved into one of the largest and most established travel and tourism exhibition in Asia, covering a wide range of tourist products for leisure, corporate, meeting and incentive travel. We are delighted to see about 500 exhibitors from more than 50 countries and regions all over the world taking part in this exciting event today.

The dawning of the new millennium is a major event for the whole world. Many countries and cities have already rolled out their millennium celebration programmes. Hong Kong, of course, will also organise many spectacular events to welcome the new millennium.

Our programme for millennium celebrations will include elements of sports, culture, conservation, education, entertainment, heritage and many more. These events and projects will prove to be unique attractions for tourists and increase the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a tourist destination.

To establish an international focus on the future of tourism development of Hong Kong in the Asia Pacific region, we shall host the 16th Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Tourism Working Group meeting and the 1st APEC Tourism Forum in April 2000. The latter forum will bring together ministers responsible for tourism and industry leaders in the APEC economies to exchange views on major issues that affect tourism in the region. This will be a splendid opportunity for us to focus on our vision for the future with the formulation of a Tourism Charter as our ultimate goal.

The new millennium not only promises joy and festivity. It also offers challenges. With the new era fast approaching and competition from other tourism destinations intensifying, we need to reinforce our strongholds and establish new market niches to strengthen Hong Kong's position as a premier tourist destination.

To this end, the Government will continue to work very closely with the Hong Kong Tourist Association and the tourist industry to promote the long-term development of tourism in Hong Kong. We have recently appointed the first Commissioner for Tourism of Hong Kong, Mr Mike Rowse who is also with us today on the stage, to spearhead our efforts in further developing and promoting tourism. On this score, Mr Rowse and his team has adopted a three-pronged strategy to enable Hong Kong to ride on the millennium tides for achieving new heights. The strategy takes the form of pro-actively promoting Hong Kong to tourists, enhancing Hong Kong's attractiveness as a tourist destination and facilitating the entry of our visitors.

On promotion, I am glad to say that since the launching of the "Hong Kong - City of Life" campaign in March 1998, the rating of Hong Kong in Japan as the "preferred" destination rose from 40 per cent to 62 per cent. In Singapore, the figure rose from 24 per cent to 33 per cent; and in Taiwan, from 8 per cent to 19 per cent. We have more recently launched a "Discover Hong Kong" marketing initiative to further play up the notion that Hong Kong is an interesting city with a wide spectrum of tourist experiences in terms of shopping, dining and sightseeing, etc.

Secondly, we have attached considerable emphasis to enhancing Hong Kong's many attractions. New attractions under study or in the pipeline include a scenic cable car system on Lantau Island, an international wetland park, an aquatic centre and a fisherman's wharf. We have also made available a $500 million loan to Ocean Park for its lowland redevelopment to put in place new and more attractive facilities. And of course, you are all aware of the intensive negotiations with Walt Disney for bringing a world-class theme park to Hong Kong. We hope, by providing a wide range of tourism facilities and infrastructures, we will broaden Hong Kong's appeal to visitors.

Apart from working on improving our hardware, we are also mindful of developing our software. Our efforts include new products and facilities for tourists as well as attractive international events. We are working proactively to promote heritage tourism in Hong Kong and to enable visitors to have a better appreciation of the cultural heritage of Hong Kong. A tourist district enhancement pilot scheme in the Central and Western District will be launched shortly.

In addition, we are working to make Hong Kong one of the most eventful and festive 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. We are also planning for a world-class, state-of-the-art new performance venue at West Kowloon Reclamation. Our vision is to make Hong Kong the Events Capital of Asia.

Another important element is the quality of service. To promote good service to visitors, we are running a "Be a Good Host" campaign. We 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 counties and territories to enter Hong Kong visa-free. To facilitate immigration clearance for frequent visitors to Hong Kong, a Travel Pass Pilot Scheme was introduced in 1998 to enable faster immigration clearance for frequent visitors. We also streamlined the entry requirements for visitors from the Mainland and Taiwan last year. We will continue to move in this direction.

What I've just said spells out our tourism development blueprint, while travel expositions like this bring out the best in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is not only an exciting, eventful and friendly destination, we are also a viable venue for hosting prestigious conventions and exhibitions like ITE. Added to that, Hong Kong is also "THE" gateway to the Mainland of China. We are and will continue to be the crossroads of the East and the West where visitors from all over the world come for trade and travel.

And in this connection, we are particularly delighted to see the prominent presence of the China National Tourism Administration in the Expo today. In fact, the ITE is the only travel trade show in Hong Kong which has been chosen by CNTA to stage a Chinese Pavilion. This reveals the considerable potential of the inbound and outbound tourist markets in the Mainland of China. It also signifies "THE" gateway position which Hong Kong duly commands in relation to this vast and fast-developing market.

I know that many of you come to Hong Kong this time for business. Nonetheless, don't just confine yourself to the Hong Kong Pavilion. Do treat yourselves as tourists while you are here. I hope you will find time to do some shopping and sightseeing here before recommending Hong Kong to your clients.

Finally, I wish you all a most successful and rewarding event and I look forward to welcoming you back again to join us in celebrating the millennium.

Thank you.

End/Thursday, June 10, 1999

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