************************************************************
The Commissioner for Tourism, Mr Philip Yung, attended the 19th Session of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly held in Gyeongju, Korea, yesterday and today (October 10 and 11).
The General Assembly, held every two years, is the most important gathering of tourism authorities, academics and relevant stakeholders from all over the world for discussing the sustainable development of tourism. It also serves as a global forum for international tourism issues.
At the Ministerial Roundtable meeting held on October 10, Mr Yung updated the participants on Hong Kong's latest performance in tourism and how the city leveraged its strengths to attract visitors. At the General Assembly today, Mr Yung spoke on the latest developments in cruise and green tourism in Hong Kong, as well as Hong Kong's recent marketing efforts. He said the cruise terminal project at Kai Tak is moving ahead in full swing, with its terminal building and the first berth to come into operation in mid-2013.
Mr Yung said that the construction of a new cruise terminal in Hong Kong, coupled with the development of neighbouring ports, would greatly enhance the cruise tourism appeal of Asia as a whole, and thus attract more ship deployments and facilitate multi-destination itinerary development.
To foster collaboration with Hong Kong's regional partners, Mr Yung also met tourism officials from Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Korea in bilateral settings. The bilateral meetings, among others, offered the opportunity to exchange views on tourism co-operation issues such as developing multi-destination itineraries, MICE (meetings, incentive travels, conventions and exhibitions) tourism and cruise tourism.
Mr Yung will return to Hong Kong tomorrow (October 12).
Ends/Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:12
NNNN
