Speech by FS at Toast to Success: Hong Kong Top Travel Agent Awards Celebration & Gala Dinner of 2025 Wine and Dine Festival (English only) (with photos)
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Michael (Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong), Rosanna (Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law), Peter (Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Dr Peter Lam), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening.
A very warm welcome to the Tasting Room, and the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival, a world of fabulous dining and imbibing, day and night. I hope you brought your appetite. This gala evening features an eight-course dinner with splendid wine pairings, from Bordeaux and Xinjiang's Turpan Valley.
For that, and a great deal more, my thanks to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. As Peter noted, tonight is about more than fine wine and culinary magic. It's also a celebration of collaboration, of connection.
On this good evening, I'm pleased to welcome leaders from the financial and business sectors, as well as MICE (meetings, incentive travels, conventions and exhibitions) partners from around the world. Each of you shares a passion for excellence and the promise of partnership. That creates an ideal setting to make new friends, build lasting ties and look to Hong Kong for your future.
The momentum in our tourism sector is truly encouraging. In the first nine months of this year, we welcomed over 36 million visitors from around the world, up 12 per cent year on year. And the number of international visitors increased by 16 percent. MICE is the fastest recovering segment.
Visitors added more than HK$11 billion to our economy ΜΆ a clear testament to the value and impact of hosting business events here.
More than a pillar of the economy, tourism brings our city's story to dazzling life, life you can see and experience, first-hand, for yourself.
Hong Kong is the events capital of Asia for good reason. This year alone, our calendar is packed with more than 200 major events. We expect they will attract some 2.3 million visitors, generating over US$1 billion in spending.
Beyond business, our city features a wide and welcome range of arts and culture, sports, entertainment and other leisure events throughout the year. The Wine & Dine Festival is a prime example, a happy celebration of Hong Kong's unique East-meets-West culture. An enticing opportunity, too, to experience another side of Hong Kong – one that is festive, fun and full of delicious surprise.
We're working to create a continuing buzz, one great, city-wide festival that never ends. Our goal is simple - to give visitors reason after remarkable reason to stay longer, explore deeper, spend more and keep coming back.
And we're building for the future, locking in long-term partnerships to ensure that these signature events become an essential part of Hong Kong's story.
Our new, multi-year deal with LIV Golf, for example, brings the world's top golfers, and their fans, right here to our city.
We're also deepening our collaboration with Art Basel, reinforcing Hong Kong's role as the region's exclusive host city for the high-profile arts extravaganza.
It's also part of our "Tourism is Everywhere" drive, one we're bringing to bright life, leveraging the city's distinctive culture, creativity and energy to attract visitors from around the world. And each of you plays an important role in realising that ambitious goal.
I invite you to become our "Tourism Ambassadors", helping us share the authentic and inspiring story of Hong Kong.
Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is just a few minutes away. I wish you all a memorable evening and a delightful stay here in Hong Kong, Asia's World City and event capital. Culinary capital, too!
And for our local friends, please mark your diary for another event - the Legislative Council election on December 7. It is an important moment for our future.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Saturday, October 25, 2025
Issued at HKT 20:48
Issued at HKT 20:48
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