A new guided history tour, organised by a local cultural enterprise, takes visitors through the fortifications and battle-scarred landscapes near Wong Nai Chung Gap, focusing on Hong Kong’s defence during the second world war against Japanese forces, as the city reinvents its tourism offerings.
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Created by Walk in Hong Kong, the tour aims to leverage wartime history as a form of “war relic tourism” to deepen appreciation of the city’s heritage.
“Most people in Hong Kong learn about the Japanese Occupation from school textbooks. We tend to think of it as a bitter, hard fight, and while we read about the details, there is not much known content about it,” said Walk in Hong Kong co-founder and chief executive officer Paul Chan Chi-yuen, explaining the purpose of designing this tour.
He also said many places around the world highlighted their war relics as a form of tourism, noting that he believed Hong Kong could do the same.
During his latest policy address in September, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu pledged to develop a variety of new visitor attractions, including an initiative called “Chinese Cultural Celebrities Rescue”, as part of the government’s efforts to promote “red tourism”.
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Red tourism refers to tourism products or themes significant to communism.