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Hong Kong travel agencies are capitalising on the National Games by offering package tours for mainland Chinese visitors to attend sporting events in the city this month, with golf and rugby proving most popular. Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said tour groups organised by his company were generally smaller in scale, with mainland visitors representing a “more mature” travel demographic with greater spending power. This year marks the first time Hong Kong will host the National Games in a tripartite arrangement alongside Guangdong and Macau. Local authorities expect the event to bring around 100,000 visitors to the city. Fencing, track cycling, rugby sevens, golf, triathlon, beach volleyball, men’s handball and the under-22 men’s basketball tournament will all take place in Hong Kong. Chui said some agencies, including his own, were making use of the Games by launching package tours that would allow visitors to attend sporting events and take part in other activities in the city. “Two sporting events have generated particular interest for our package tours – golf and rugby sevens,” he told the Post on Thursday. Chui noted that golf’s appeal stemmed not only from the sport’s popularity on the mainland but also from the prestige and quality of Hong Kong’s courses, which visitors were eager to experience. He added that events such as the sevens attracted interest because of a “mature and highly organised fan culture on the mainland”. The itineraries typically include overnight stays at four- to five-star hotels on both sides of Victoria Harbour and chartered transport, costing about HK$2,000 (US$257) per person per day. However, industry insiders said they believed that tour group visitors would be in the minority, with most tourists attending the Games likely to travel independently. Fanny Yeung Shuk-fun, executive director of the Travel Industry Council, said this was because organisers required spectators to register their own names when buying tickets, which made it difficult for agencies to arrange tours unless they had secured clients in advance. She said a small number of tours were expected, but these would mostly consist of private groups. “We believe that with the fervent sporting atmosphere, Hong Kong will be able to attract tourists to feel the vibrant atmosphere in the city,” she said. “We also predict that the visitors drawn to Hong Kong will help boost the business of the food and beverage sector, as well as the hotel sector. Combined with the souvenirs that are limited to the National Games period, I believe that there will be a higher spending amount per person.” Frankie Lam Tat-man, managing director of Kamwai Holiday, said his company had not seen an increase in tour group bookings due to the Games, though it had assisted some visitors with transport and accommodation arrangements. “The National Games require spectators to register with their own names, so a lot of customers will be able to buy their own tickets online,” he said. “With that in mind, it is also very easy for people to buy their own travel products online too, so there is not really a need for tourists to use our travel agency or other traditional travel agencies to make arrangements.” Still, Lam considered the Games a net positive for Hong Kong’s economy, noting that it would bring business to sectors such as food and beverage and hospitality. While large-scale events like the Games were to be welcomed, economist Simon Lee Siu-po cautioned that the overall economic benefits for Hong Kong might be limited. He said the tripartite hosting arrangement with Guangdong and Macau represented a form of division of labour and cost-sharing. “Mega sports events can bring lots of economic benefits, provided that we have world-class facilities; our tennis courts, for example, could be better,” he said. Like concertgoers, Lee added, many mainland visitors could choose not to stay overnight in Hong Kong due to high accommodation costs, which would limit the economic boost. He suggested that Hong Kong should diversify by actively pursuing more international sporting events, such as major football matches. “Macau has NBA and these events have lots of economic benefits,” he said, referring to the recent return of the NBA China Games after a six-year hiatus, which the city’s tourism industry lauded as a big boost for the economy.
