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Following is the speech (English only) by the Financial Secretary, Mr John C Tsang, at the launch ceremony of "Mobil Travel Guide: Hong Kong & Macao" this evening (November 6):
Shane, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good evening.
I am delighted to welcome you all to Hong Kong - or perhaps more accurately in most cases - back to Hong Kong, Asia's world city.
It's a great pleasure for me to join you all tonight in celebrating the arrival of your latest bible for travellers, the Mobil Travel Guide: Hong Kong & Macau. It is a huge vote of confidence in the tourism sectors of both cities. And coming shortly after the publication of the first Beijing edition of the guide, it is an additional "thumbs up" for our nation as a tourist destination.
In the case of Hong Kong and Macau - as with many cities that are friendly neighbours - we both compete with and complement each other, raising standards and giving tourists and business travellers more reasons to come for a visit.
I wish to congratulate the four spectacular hotels in Hong Kong, which have been awarded the prestigious Mobil five-star rating. Only New York City has so many hotels with a Mobil five-star rating, so this is not only a boost for us, it will also motivate us to do even better.
We share a common passion with the Mobil Travel Guide, and that is to give travellers the best possible experience, whether they are on holiday, on business or just passing through. This requires a commitment, not only to providing the finest facilities, but also the warmest hospitality and the highest level of service.
We are fortunate to have a hard-working, well-educated and dynamic workforce, be they workers in hotels, theme parks and other tourist attractions, travel agencies, restaurants and the retail sector. Last year, more than 28 million visitors came to Hong Kong. That was a record for our city and four times the total local population.
Tourism is one of our pillar industries and a priority sector for the Government. It is a long-standing policy of ours not to pick winners; we prefer to leave that to the market. However, we do work hard to provide the best conditions for the tourism industry to flourish.
In my Budget earlier this year, I removed the hotel accommodation tax with a view to giving our visitors a little extra spending power, or encouraging them to stay an extra night or two longer with us. I also reduced duty on wine and beer to zero to help establish Hong Kong as a wine hub in Asia. As you can imagine, this decision has gone down well with restaurateurs, exhibition organisers and other tourism-related professionals and also drinkers in our city.
Next week we will be setting up the Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong office to provide one-stop support for event organizers, and promote the city as an ideal location for MICE travel (Meetings Incentives Conventions and Exhibitions).
We all have to work a little extra hard these days as the global financial crisis impacts on Asia. It is a good opportunity to take a long hard look at where our strengths lie, and how we want to position ourselves going forward. I am confident that we will keep the Mobil Travel Guide researchers busy with future updates on new and exciting experiences for our tourists, as well as raising the bar for service quality.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this Mobil Travel Guide describes Hong Kong as "a one-of-a-kind place", and I for one could not agree more. I am confident that this comprehensive publication will entice even more visitors to sample the unique taste of our part of the world.
I wish the Mobil Travel Guide every success and to you all, happy travelling.
Thank you.
Ends/Thursday, November 6, 2008
Issued at HKT 20:09
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