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The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (June 13) urged all members of the community to help spread the news that Hong Kong is safe to visit by sending special "Hello from Hong Kong" postcards and e-cards to their family, friends and business contacts around the world.
The "Hello from Hong Kong" postcard campaign is the latest of the many initiatives taken to enhance international awareness of the fact that both the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have lifted their travel advisories on Hong Kong.
To convey the message that the SARS outbreak has been contained, the Government is undertaking a number of international outreach efforts as part of the Economic Relaunch programme. Advertisements have been placed in major newspapers throughout Asia, Europe, Australia and, most recently, the US to highlight the removal of the travel advisories.
At today's launch of the postcard campaign, Mr Tung was joined by representatives of various sectors of the public. He said such support demonstrated once again that the unity of the community, as evident in our fight against SARS.
The postcards feature the Hong Kong skyline, faces of Hong Kong people and the campaign theme "Hello from Hong Kong" on the front. The back of the card carries the message that the travel advisories have been lifted and Hong Kong remains vigilant in its efforts to keep the community safe.
The postcards are postage pre-paid and will available at 39 philatelic offices and Discovery Bay Post Office of Hongkong Post and all District Offices from tomorrow (June 14).
New versions of the e-card carrying the "Hello from Hong Kong" theme with different images are available on the Hong Kong Looking Ahead website (www.HKLookingAhead.gov.hk) from today.
Attending the launch ceremony at the General Post Office were Mr Antony Leung, Financial Secretary; Mr Stephen Ip, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour; Mrs Selina Chow, Chairperson of the Hong Kong Tourism Board; Mr Philip Wong, Vice-chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce; Mr Jun Yokota, Consul General of Japan; Mr Paul Woodward, Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce; Ms Shelley Lee, Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs; Mr Chow Yick-hay, Chairman of Kwai Tsing District Council; Miss Kelly Chan, movie star and pop singer; and Mr Chung Kin-man, the first Hong Kong mountaineer to scale the highest peaks on all seven continents.
To symbolise the official launch of the campaign, guests signed a giant version of the postcard, which formed the backdrop for the event. The giant postcard also bore the image of a special self-adhesive airmail sticker that Hongkong Post has created for this campaign - a red "Hello from Hong Kong" sticker in both Chinese and English. Members of the public can obtain this sticker from any branch of Hongkong Post.
In addition, Hongkong Post's sorting system in the Air Mail Centre will print "Hong Kong Looking Ahead" on all outgoing air letters posted at air mail post boxes at 129 branches of Hongkong Post.
To support the international outreach efforts, Hong Kong's fixed and mobile telephone network operators have agreed to provide every registered customer with one free five-minute international direct dial (IDD) phone call to 12 destinations between 00:00 and 23:59 hours on Sunday, June 15. The companies are CM Tel (HK) Ltd, CSL, New World Mobility, PCCW Limited, PEOPLES and Sunday.
End/Friday, June 13, 2003
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