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The Tourism Commission (TC) hosted a joint press conference today (September 18), with various government departments and representatives of the tourism industry, to announce a series of measures to prepare for the possible surge of visitors during the National Day Golden Week.

Speaking at the press conference, the Commissioner for Tourism, Ms Eva Cheng, said, "We expect Hong Kong to be a popular destination for Mainland tourists, both for tour groups and individual travellers during the National Day Golden Week. We need to make the best possible preparations to receive our visitors. We have therefore set up an inter-departmental working group to coordinate and draw up measures to enhance the flow of visitors through boundary control points, increase the capacity of transportation facilities, and step up promotion and information dissemination to visitors on consumer protection and health issues. We are also working closely with our tourism trade partners, including Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Coordinators, Hong Kong Hotels Association and the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners to ensure that our visitors can enjoy high quality tourism services during their stay here.

"The objective of the exercise is to ensure that Hong Kong is well prepared in all respects to receive our visitors and enhance their travel experience in Hong Kong," she added.

"Individual visitors are advised to plan their trips early and book transportation and hotel accommodation in advance, especially during the peak season," Ms Cheng said.

The measures cover the following areas -

(1) Arrangements for immigration clearance at Boundary Control Points;

(2) Arrangement of facilities;

(3) Promotions for Individual Visit Scheme;

(4) Information dissemination;

(5) Visitors' information service;

(6) Consumer protection;

(7) Protection of visitors' health; and

(8) Coordination with Guangdong Province

Details of the measures to prepare for the National Day Golden Week are attached. (PDF format)

End/Thursday, September 18, 2003

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( Floor / Cantonese / Putonghua / English )