Hong Kong urged to fully exploit potential of islands and coastline for tourism

Hong Kong should exploit the full potential of its outlying islands and coastline resources as part of its drive to boost tourism in accordance with appeals by Beijing’s point man on local affairs, a district councillor and an industry representative have said.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, last week told 29 tycoons in a closed-door meeting in Shenzhen to enhance the city’s tourism attractions by making good use of its 263 islands and 1,180km of coastline.

Responding to his remarks, Islands district councillor Yip Pui-kei on Wednesday said Hong Kong’s outlying islands had a lot of potential to be further developed as destinations for wellness tourism.

“Lantau Island has mountains and the sea with beautiful scenery. They have fishing village culture, the Big Buddha, a beautiful coastline and in-depth blue tourism which involve water-related activities,” he told a radio show.

He suggested the government look at the whole picture when developing tourism for outlying islands, rather than consider them as discrete and separate areas.

Xia had urged Hong Kong not to only depend on its traditional advantages “by relying on just one trick”, adding that the city should be “determined to reform and take the initiative to open up a new world”.