Since the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao people are fully recovering, the Hong Kong tourism industry in all parties to support the steady recovery, and tourism enthusiasm continues to rise. The Hong Kong Tourism Board recently released data showing that in the first quarter of this year, Hong Kong welcomed 4.41 million visitors, 2.45 million in March alone, a monthly increase of 77.3%.
In April, the first "Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival" opened, leading the audience to revisit the classic works of Hong Kong pop culture's golden period. The festival will last until the end of this year and will successively launch pop concerts, thematic exhibitions, film screenings, and about 20 other activities to highlight the multicultural characteristics of Hong Kong to bring the audience a rich artistic experience. After a three-year absence, the Chinese opera festival will return to Hong Kong from June to October. During this period, many outstanding opera troupes will bring to the audience high-level opera programs covering several genres, including Beijing opera, Cantonese opera, and Kunqu opera, and there will be artist talks, exhibitions, and opera film appreciation activities, which are expected to attract a large number of opera lovers to Hong Kong to watch the performances.
Hong Kong's tourism industry experts say that the rich arts and cultural activities have attracted many mainland and overseas tourists to Hong Kong, boosting the consumption of related industries such as catering, hotels, and transportation. At the same time, related activities will also become a new business card of Hong Kong's cultural tourism, attracting more tourists to plan a trip to Hong Kong specifically for this purpose. Long-awaited reunion new experience "Past travel to Hong Kong is mainly shopping consumption, this long-awaited reunion, found a lot of new experience."
Director of Hong Kong Tourism Board, Mainland China, Ms. Zoe Lu, said that during the past three years, Hong Kong has continued to upgrade its urban development and tourism industry, and many new cultural and artistic landmarks have landed in Hong Kong. In addition to completing new arts and cultural landmarks, many classic attractions continue to be upgraded, with revitalized historic districts and buildings giving new meaning to traditions.
Lu Zhaoyi said that in the future, Hong Kong would continue to play the role of a center of cultural and artistic exchanges between China and foreign countries and actively promote the integration of cultural tourism, the introduction of more creative tourism projects with local cultural characteristics, to bring a new experience for most tourists.
Market Road has flourished with confidence this year the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao since the full resumption of customs clearance, Hong Kong's major scenic spots, merchants and hotels, and the rapid growth in passenger traffic.
According to the Immigration Department of the Hong Kong SAR, the number of mainland visitors entering Hong Kong during this year's "May Day" holiday reached 625,500, recovering to 60% in 2019, with long queues at popular tourist attractions such as Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The rapid rebound in tourism has driven consumption growth in Hong Kong and boosted economic recovery. The Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government, Mr. Paul Chan, introduced that in the first quarter of this year, the total revenue of Hong Kong restaurants increased by 82% year-on-year to HK$27.5 billion, the highest level in more than three years, and the value of retail sales in the same period also rose by 24% year-on-year.
The Hong Kong tourism industry expects that, with the joint efforts of many parties, Hong Kong's tourism industry will recover faster than previously estimated and is expected to fully recover to the pre-epidemic level by the second quarter of next year.