Expand Hong Kong's tourism appeal beyond the mainland market

Hong Kong should diversify both its sources of tourism and what it offers visitors, as it grapples with the dilemma of how to balance the economic benefits brought by the rising numbers of mainland tourists with the strain of accommodating them.

Tourism is one of the city's pillar industries, and mainland visitors have been its major driver over the past decade. The industry and related businesses contributed 15.2 per cent to Hong Kong's gross domestic product and generated some 463,000 jobs in 2011, according to data from the World Travel & Tourism Council.

Hong Kong's tourism and retail landscape have benefited much from mainland visitors. Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had in fact proposed in his election manifesto that the government should "enhance clearance efficiency at our border checkpoints to facilitate Pearl River Delta residents progressively changing the nature of their visit from occasional tourism to frequent visits for daily consumption spending".

But he made no mention of this idea in his maiden policy address in January. The reason is, of course, that the influx of mainland tourists has led to increasing resentment among locals who see the city's resources being overwhelmed.

Making matters worse, some individual visitors are parallel-goods traders, who buy goods in Hong Kong and resell them on the mainland, leading to shortages in goods such as baby formula, and skyrocketing shop rents.

Leung's idea is not new; day visitors who cross borders to shop are common in some other places, including Canada and Singapore. Thanks to lower prices and a strong Singapore dollar, Singaporean shoppers go to Malaysia to stock up on necessities, particularly during the holidays. And when the Canadian dollar is at par, or close to par, Canadians living near the US border make a day trip to Seattle for everything from bread and fuel to new vehicles.