Residents welcome decision to drop property measures
Most Hongkongers on Wednesday welcomed Financial Secretary Paul Chan’s decision to drop all property-cooling measures.  One woman surnamed Ng told RTHK it was about time that the government made this move. "It came a little late, but that is ok because these measures have been in place for such a long time. It really should have been removed earlier rather than waiting for the [budget] to come out," she said. "People who wanted to buy property before might not because of these measures, but they might consider it now. In fact, property prices are relatively low now." There were mixed reactions, however, to other measures, including a rise in tobacco tax by almost 32 percent. A man surnamed Lai told RTHK it would not stop people from smoking. "If senior officials really look at the streets, they will see that there are a lot of smokers. But they need to think about where the source of these tobacco products come from? People who smoke will not suddenly stop," he said. As for the government's decision to push mega events to attract tourists to Hong Kong, one woman who gave her name as Chung said the government should promote existing cultural attractions instead of spending money on events like fireworks shows. "The government shouldn’t organise so-called 'innovative' events that are pretty common and can be seen anywhere. Drone shows are everywhere in the world. Why would people come to Hong Kong for these shows? It’s pointless. I saw foreigners going to the Man Mo Temple. The government should promote Hong Kong traditional culture and street food to attract tourists," she said. One measure from last year that was not included in the latest budget was the government's consumption vouchers. "If the government can, they should give out consumption vouchers to grassroots citizens. But the government might have another idea of using their money to attract people from other countries to come to Hong Kong to spend money. That could also be a strategy," a man surnamed Yu said.