Hong Kong urged to protect Sai Kung islands from overtourism, ecological damage

Greenpeace has called for the Hong Kong government to put in place conservation-driven measures to protect the Sai Kung outlying islands from ecological damage caused by overtourism.

The green group raised the alarm on Friday after it found a large number of visitors trampling corals and excessively digging up coastal organisms in the city’s Unesco Global Geopark region.

A site inspection by Greenpeace found that 4,062 people landed on Sharp Island, also known as Kiu Tsui Chau, on Wednesday, the first day of the National Day “golden week” holiday. The site is a key location within the geopark.

The group pointed out that the number surpassed the 2,000 visitors recorded by the government at the High Island Reservoir East Dam on the same day, putting the ecologically sensitive environment at risk.

The geopark became a tourist hotspot after it received hype on popular Chinese social media platform RedNote, with many users sharing pictures and selfies of themselves visiting the island.

Sharp Island North is a critical coral distribution area in Hong Kong, with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department’s (AFCD) 2024 survey reporting a coral coverage rate of 71.3 per cent – the second highest in the city, the group said.