Letters | Cruise, not medical, tourism the key for Hong Kong

Readers discuss where the focus of the city’s attempts to boost tourism should lie, and preparations for the Asian Winter Games in Harbin

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The international luxury cruise ship Silver Nova makes its first visit to Hong Kong and berths at Ocean Terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui in October 2024. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 2:32pm, 5 Feb 2025Updated: 6:01pm, 5 Feb 2025

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I refer to the letter, “Medical tourism may alleviate some of Hong Kong’s woes” (January 23). While the ageing population does present a business opportunity, medical tourism could hardly be promoted in Hong Kong.

Unlike India and Thailand, which are popular destinations for medical tourism, the city has quite high medication and living costs. This alone would discourage elderly tourists from receiving medical care in Hong Kong. Quite a number of our Hong Kong senior citizens have begun opting to see doctors or dentists on the mainland for the same reason.

While medical tourism is not feasible, Hong Kong should really promote cruise tourism and lure more elderly tourists. I recently went on a cruise trip from Shanghai to Japan, which attracted a raft of seniors. The cruise had designed many entertainment programmes catering to their needs, such as square dancing, and karaoke featuring old songs and musicals.

Entertainment aside, the cruise’s duty free shops sold a variety of supplements and elderly care products, and organised a few healthcare seminars. The elderly tourists with high purchasing power spent a lot during the shore excursions, mostly operated by local travel agencies.

Hong Kong, with its world-class cruise port, shops selling authentic goods and many great sightseeing spots suitable for the elderly, has an edge in developing cruise tourism aimed at elderly visitors.

Anson Chan, Guangzhou