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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So, to a question by the Hon Albert Ho in the Legislative Council today (February 26):
Question:
According to the Assessment Report on Hong Kong's Capacity to Receive Tourists released by the Government last month, there has been a continuous growth in the overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in the past 10 years, and the percentage of Mainland visitors in the annual overall figure has increased from about 50 per cent when the Individual Visit Scheme was introduced to over 70 per cent at present. In addition, it is projected that visitor arrivals in 2023 will surpass 100 million. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective overall spendings in Hong Kong by (i) overnight visitors and (ii) same-day visitors from the Mainland in 2012 and 2013;
(2) of the respective numbers of jobs created by Mainland visitors' spendings in Hong Kong last year for the (i) retail, (ii) catering, (iii) hotel, (iv) transport and (v) tourism industries, with a breakdown by monthly salary band (as set out in Table 1) of such jobs; and
(3) of the (i) highest daily visitor arrivals in 2013, (ii) average daily visitor arrivals in 2013, and (iii) the projected year by which the handling capacity will be saturated, at the land boundary control points in Hong Kong, with a breakdown by name of boundary control point as set out in Table 2?
Reply:
President,
In response to the public concern about the impact of the continuous growth in visitor arrivals on the livelihood of the community, the HKSAR Government has comprehensively assessed Hong Kong's capacity to receive tourists. The areas taken into account include the handling capacity of control points, capacity of tourism attractions, receiving capacity of hotels, carrying capacity of public transport network, impact on the livelihood of the community, and economic impact, etc. The Assessment Report on Hong Kong's Capacity to Receive Tourists (Assessment Report) was completed at the end of last year.
Our replies to the questions raised by Hon Albert Ho are as follows:
(1) According to the Assessment Report, the total spending of Mainland overnight and same-day visitors in Hong Kong in 2012 is set out in Table 3.
As it takes time to analyse the data, the breakdown of the total spending of Mainland visitors in Hong Kong in 2013 is not yet available at this stage.
(2) According to the Assessment Report, the spending of visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2012 has created over 110 000 jobs, accounting for 3.1 per cent of total employment. The number of jobs created by IVS visitors' spending in 2012 for various related sectors is set out in Table 4.
We did not analyse relevant data on number of jobs by monthly salary.
(3) According to the latest information provided by the Immigration Department (ImmD), the daily highest and daily average visitor arrivals of various land boundary control points from January to December 2013 are set out in Table 5.
The ImmD has no information on the projected year by which the handling capacity of individual control points will be saturated. The ImmD will continue to improve efficiency through various means, such as improving the control points' facilities, making use of information technology, etc.
Ends/Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Issued at HKT 13:30
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