The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government welcomes the joint promulgation of the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Plan) by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT), the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province. The Plan sets out the directions for the overall cultural and tourism development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area) and guides the development of the Greater Bay Area into an exchange hub for culture of the East and the West and a world-class tourism destination. It also helps strengthen the positions of Hong Kong as an international cultural metropolis and an international tourism hub.

     A Government spokesman today (January 4) said, “We express gratitude to the MoCT for according importance to the views raised by the HKSAR Government in the course of formulating the Plan. Based on the guiding directions of the Plan, the HKSAR Government will proactively integrate into the country’s overall development. It will also work hand in hand with the MoCT, the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and the culture and tourism authorities of the Greater Bay Area cities, to jointly implement the major work in the Plan to develop a world-class bay area for culture and leisure.”

     On culture, the spokesman said that the joint cultural development, exchange and building of the Greater Bay Area put forward in the “Jointly Developing a Cultured Bay Area” chapter in the Plan will further enhance the development, exchange and communication of arts and culture performances and audience amongst the cities in the Greater Bay Area. This will also create opportunities for arts and culture organisations in the Greater Bay Area to explore the international market together. The broader performing arts market in the Greater Bay Area will also enhance the quality of productions of the arts and culture sector in Hong Kong. In the long run, this will help achieve the goal of building the Greater Bay Area into a quality living circle for living, working and travelling, as mentioned in the Plan.

     At the same time, the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) in Hong Kong provides several world-class performance and arts exhibition venues.  Xiqu Centre, the first performing arts venue in WKCD, was commissioned in 2019. M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Palace Museum will also be commissioned in the coming years. These world-class culture facilities will raise the profile of Hong Kong as an international culture hub and provide strong support for the development of the Greater Bay Area in the cultural dimension.  Separately, the HKSAR Government will continue to encourage the youth in Hong Kong to participate in cultural exchange in the Greater Bay Area to deepen their understanding about the rich historical and cultural background of the Greater Bay Area. This will prepare them to take part in the cultural development in the Greater Bay Area and the country in the future.

     On tourism, the HKSAR Government fully supports the various measures taking forward the tourism development of the Greater Bay Area in the “Building a Bay Area for Leisure” chapter of the Plan, including developing more distinctive Greater Bay Area tourism products and itineraries, jointly promoting Greater Bay Area multi-destination tourism, driving the tourism development of cruise and yacht, strengthening the co-operation of tourism market regulation of the Greater Bay Area as well as nurturing of tourism talents.  Implementation of these measures will attract more overseas tourists to the Greater Bay Area and promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry of the area as well as construct a world-class bay area for travelling.

     The spokesman pointed out that both the Plan and the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area promulgated in February 2019 expressly support Hong Kong in developing into an international tourism hub and a core demonstration zone for multi-destination tourism. When the pandemic is over, the HKSAR Government will continue to leverage Hong Kong’s strengths as the Asia’s world city and best utilise Hong Kong’s well-established marine, land and air connections as well as its rich tourism resources, to attract overseas tourists to embark on Greater Bay Area multi-destination journeys via Hong Kong.

     The Hong Kong Tourism Board will jointly promote the Greater Bay Area tourism brand and feature Hong Kong as a star destination for multi-destination tourism with Guangdong Province and Macao in due course.  They will jointly cultivate the international visitor source market and develop the Greater Bay Area as a world-class tourism destination.

     The full text of the Plan is available at the MoCT's website (www.mct.gov.cn) (Chinese only).

Ends/Monday, January 4, 2021
Issued at HKT 21:51

NNNN