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Following is a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, to a question by the Hon Paul Tse Wai-chun in the Legislative Council today (April 21):
Question:
Both Chile and Taiwan, which have recently been hit by serious earthquakes, are not included in the list of 60 "countries" covered by the "Outbound Travel Alert System"("OTAS") of the Security Bureau, and Taiwan in particular is a popular tourist destination for Hong Kong people. Some members of the public in Hong Kong who have joined package tours to Taiwan have relayed to me that they approached the travel agents to request for withdrawal from the tours after the earthquake, but encountered various hindrances; later these people sought assistance from the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong and the Security Bureau but to no avail, as they both shirked their responsibilities. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the criteria based on which the Security Bureau determines the coverage of OTAS;
(b) of the reasons for not including Chile and Taiwan in the coverage of OTAS; and when these two popular tourist destinations for Hong Kong people will be included; and
(c) whether it will expeditiously review OTAS again and include in the system as far as practicable all tourist "destinations" and "countries" which Hong Kong people may visit?
Reply:
President,
Security Bureau (SB) launched the Outbound Travel Alert (OTA) System in October 2009. The OTA uses Amber, Red and Black to represent three levels of threat, so as to facilitate residents to better understand the possible risk to their personal safety when travelling overseas. Before launching the OTA, SB had exchanged views with the trades, including the travel industry, so that they could formulate corresponding measures in line with the launching of the system.
Our replies to the questions raised by Hon Tse are as follows:
(a) The OTA covers 60 countries that are more popular destinations for Hong Kong residents for travel, business or visiting relatives. We had made reference to the views of the travel industry when determining the coverage of the OTA.
(b) and (c) The OTA does not cover Mainland, Macao and Taiwan. This is similar to the arrangement in other places, where travel alert will not be issued for different areas within a country. However, the OTA webpage has hyperlinks to facilitate Hong Kong residents to access to the travel risk information database compiled by the National Tourism Administration, which covers the Mainland, Macao and Taiwan. Our webpage also has hyperlinks to the databases compiled by the governments of Australia, Canada and UK, to facilitate Hong Kong residents to obtain the travel risk information for overseas countries not covered by the OTA.
The OTA has been in place for just six months. We will review the arrangements (including the coverage) in light of actual experience.
The SAR Government will endeavor to provide appropriate assistance to Hong Kong residents in distress outside Hong Kong regardless of whether they are at a place covered by OTA.
Ends/Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:06
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