Disney Park Helps Boost Tourism in Hong Kong

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. October 14, 2008

By Jerry W. Jackson, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

ORLANDO, FL, December 7, 2005. Hong Kong Tourism Board representatives were in Orlando on Tuesday to tout the Chinese territory and promote a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that starts next year.

Among the pluses: Gross domestic product surged by 8.2 percent in the third quarter, boosted by the new Hong Kong Disneyland, hotels and development. That followed a 7.3 percent growth rate in the second quarter, revised upward from 6.8 percent.

Tourism increased 5.9 percent in September compared with the same month a year ago, and 7.6 percent to 16.9 million people for the first nine months of the year.

But Hong Kong faces challenges as well, with calls for more democracy filling the streets with protesters, and preparations for the possibility of a bird flu pandemic that could smash the golden egg of tourism.

"The protests were peaceful. It's another example of how Hong Kong really is working very well" since the handoff of full control from Great Britain to China eight years ago, said Jeffrey Shubert, regional director of the Americas for the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Shubert said China has afforded Hong Kong considerable self-control, with no media censorship and the ability to start businesses and enjoy other freedoms. "People see that things have not changed for the worse," as many feared, said Shubert, who lived in Hong Kong for three years in the mid-1980s.

As for the threat from bird flu, Hong Kong is perhaps better prepared than any major city in the world because of its experience with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, Shubert said. SARS brought international travel to a virtual halt in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia in 2003, when the mystery disease struck with little warning.

"They learned their lesson," Shubert said. "Hong Kong is much more aware of the realities of what can happen. They have taken major steps not only to prevent this [bird flu] but to prepare for it. They monitor everything that crosses the border, and they are obsessed with doing everything possible to deal with it."

SARS infected 1,755 in Hong Kong and killed 299 there before fizzling out for unexplained reasons.

Bird flu so far is mainly a killer of fowl, but scientists fear it might develop human-to-human transmission and kill millions of people. Some researchers say that still is unlikely, however, and the longstanding scientific thinking that pandemics occur with regularity has now been largely discarded.

Lillibeth Bishop, another Hong Kong Tourism Board representative from Los Angeles, said Hong Kong has more to offer than many world travelers might think, beyond the shopping and dining for which the city-island of 6.8 million people is best known. The recent opening of Disneyland grabbed headlines, but other new attractions and infrastructure have been added or are in the works, she said.

"Hong Kong is the only city in Asia in the top 10 world destinations for tourism," she said, and a new television ad campaign featuring Hong Kong is now running in cable-TV markets in key U.S. markets, including the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. "Florida is very important to us, especially South Florida," Bishop said.

Among the new features in Hong Kong is the Ngong Ping 360, a cable-car-style "skyrail journey" attraction that opens in early 2006. It will give visitors a stunning view of the green mountain scenery of Lantau Island and access to the Po Lin Monastery and the Giant Buddha.

The new Hong Kong Wetland Park, near the Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve, offers bird watchers a chance to see some of the more than 300 species that frequent the area.

---|--

To see more of The Orlando Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.