Cultural tourism polices welcomed by stakeholders
Travel Industry representatives on Thursday described the tourism-related measures set out in this week's Policy Address as "comprehensive", but said more needs to be done to ease a manpower crunch in the sector.  In his policy blueprint, Chief Executive John Lee announced a series of plans to revitalise tourism, including developing Sha Tau Kok into a cultural tourism zone and setting up a "blue and green" tourism circle in the Northern Metropolis to showcase its natural resources.    "The Policy Address encourages the travel trade to develop more thematic tours, enhance cruise tourism development, promote smart tourism and establish the Sha Tau Kok cultural tourism zone, which will help further enrich Hong Kong’s tourism assets and reinforce the city’s status as a world-class tourism destination," Tourism Board chairman Pang Yiu-kai said in a statement. Dennis Wong, a hospitality expert from the Vocational Training Council, said the measures focusing on cultural tourism cater to a change in tourist habits.  "Apparently we can see that nowadays, in particular for mainland tourists, their spending pattern is more on experience. They pay for experiences instead of products in Hong Kong... So this will be something that will suit their taste when they are travelling," he told RTHK.  Fanny Yeung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council, said transport arrangements should be put in place to make the "blue and green" tourism circle – comprising of Robin's Nest, Sha Tau Kok and Yan Tong Chau – more accessible for tour groups.  "For visiting these places, it will be an in-depth tour kind of model. So I think we will attract more tour groups instead of big groups... Of course, going to these places you need to have the ferry service, so we may need the government's help as well for shuttle ferry services between these places," she said.  Yeung also voiced concern about a long-term staff shortage in the travel industry, especially among licensed tour guides.  "Manpower in our tourism industry is still a very critical issue for us. So we would like to see long-term strategies to help us regain our manpower. Maybe we will have to start during the secondary or university education, that we have to provide this kind of opportunities for people who would like to come into tourism sector, and how to attract these young people to join the tourism industry."  The CE said the government will consult the trade and come up with a development blueprint for tourism which will be published next year.