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The following is the text of the intervention by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, at the Ministerial Round Table of the Boao Forum for Asia today (July 15):
Mr Lung, Chairman, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is delighted to have the honour of hosting this Conference. On behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government, I want to thank the World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the Boao Forum for Asia for giving us this opportunity.
POST-SARS
Now that SARS is under control, we have rolled out a nine-month campaign to bring visitors back to Hong Kong. Events include a two-month shopping and dining festival, an international fireworks competition, a spectacular harbour lighting show, and a series of world-class business, sport, entertainment and cultural events.
We are also working with tourism authorities in other major Asian destinations to launch joint promotional campaigns overseas.
As the Chief Executive Mr Tung (Chee Hwa) said yesterday, we encourage private businesses to participate in the expansion of tourism in Hong Kong. Public-private sector partnership is already well established in our economy. We believe it's perfectly suited to tourism projects as well.
In terms of regional co-operation, last month Hong Kong tourism officials met with their counterparts from Guangdong and Macau, and agreed on a number of initiatives to boost regional tourism. We would like to have more joint promotions overseas with our partners here.
The Breakout Sessions
I would like to share with you some of the lessons we have learned in the past three months. It is clear that the SARS epidemic has shown how vulnerable we all are to events outside our control.
Yesterday we heard from many distinguished speakers how important it is for Governments to work closely with the private sector to help support industry by providing the environment in which they can thrive.
We also heard how Governments and the industry must cooperate among themselves to work together when confronted with crises that transcend national boundaries.
Hong Kong's experience with SARS clearly demonstrates this. Throughout the crisis Hong Kong stuck firmly to certain key principles.
Communication
At all times the public, the World Health Organisation and our international contacts had access to detailed information on the number of people affected, the measures being taken to combat it, developments in identifying the source and the measures people could take to protect themselves.
Transparency helped reassure the public. On the whole, people in Hong Kong went about their daily lives calmly.
Cooperation
Beyond our open communications policy, we also worked very closely from the earliest days of the crisis with industry to help them develop guidelines for dealing with the health situation as it affected their staff, patrons and business. These guidelines have now been codified and applied consistently in all sectors.
The government also worked hard to facilitate an ongoing dialogue among the tourism trade and key government departments responsible for dealing with the crisis. This helped ensure that knowledge was shared, misunderstanding averted and questions answered by those in the best and most authoritative position to do so.
The lessons
The SARS crisis also showed that Government must not only communicate locally but also must build up trust and confidence externally.
I hope that when the next crisis comes - be it in the form of another health pandemic, threat of terrorism or an economic onslaught - governments in Asia will be able to respond rapidly and in concert to ensure that Asia and Asians are always well prepared for challenges and swift-footed on the path of recovery.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is an old saying that "no man is an island". I believe that none of us can afford to exist in isolation. We must build bridges between us, we must communicate and support each other. If we do this now, we will be better able to respond to the next challenge.
Thank you very much.
End/Tuesday, July 15, 2003
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