The Government announced today (June 8) that to further enhance the support for the travel industry, the Green Lifestyle Local Tour Incentive Scheme will be enhanced and the Training Programme Subsidy Scheme for tourist guides will be extended.

     At the end of December 2019, the Government announced the introduction of the Green Lifestyle Local Tour Incentive Scheme, under which each travel agent can obtain a cash incentive of $100 for each Hong Kong resident for whom it arranges an eligible green lifestyle local tour. Nonetheless, in the past few months the scheme could not achieve the desired effect of supporting the trade, which has been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic. As the epidemic has been subsiding, the Government has decided to increase the commitment for this scheme from the original $50 million to $100 million, and will discuss with the trade details of further enhancing the scheme.

     Furthermore, since the end of October 2019, the Government has been subsidising, through the Training Programme Subsidy Scheme implemented by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC), tourist guides with a maximum of $1,000 each in completing the Continuing Professional Development Scheme for renewing Tourist Guide Passes until October 27, 2020. In view of the suspension of training courses caused by the epidemic early this year, the Government has decided to extend the subsidy initiative for six months until April 27, 2021, to enable tourist guides to complete courses within a longer time frame in order to obtain subsidies. More than 5 000 accredited tourist guides are expected to benefit from the initiative. For any enquiries, please contact the TIC (Tel: 2969 8155 or 2969 8162).

Ends/Monday, June 8, 2020
Issued at HKT 18:55

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