2024 Greater Bay Area Tourism Plan Meeting Highlights Progress and Future Initiatives in Hong Kong

2024 implementation meeting of Culture and Tourism Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area convened in Hong Kong

The 2024 implementation meeting of the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Plan) was held in Hong Kong today (November 18) to summarise the progress made in the implementation of the Plan in 2023 and to discuss the key tasks for the upcoming year. The 2024 implementation meeting was co-ordinated and organised by the Tourism Commission of the Culture, Sport, and Tourism Bureau, with representatives of central ministries from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council; the National Development and Reform Commission; the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region. Representatives from the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR), the culture and tourism departments of the Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities, the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen Municipality; the Economic Development Bureau of the Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences also attended.

The Commissioner for Tourism, Mrs Angelina Cheung, stated during the meeting that based on the Plan's principle of shaping tourism with cultural activities and promoting culture through tourism, the HKSAR Government, by optimising Hong Kong's rich tourism resources such as its coastline and outlying islands, and integrating them with its cultural and artistic heritage, will fully leverage Hong Kong's positioning as an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchanges under the National 14th Five-Year Plan, and to develop Hong Kong into an international tourism hub and a core demonstration zone for multidestination tourism. She noted that the meeting concluded with fruitful results, and the HKSAR Government will fully support and implement the key tasks of the Plan, closely collaborating with the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, as well as other culture and tourism departments of GBA cities to deepen tourism co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, with a view to enhancing Hong Kong's role in national tourism development and contributing to achieving the goal of developing a world-class bay area for leisure, as set out in the Plan.

The Chief of Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR Government, Ms Ku Mei-leng, stated at the meeting that as of early November 2024, the number of visitors to Macao has surpassed 30 million, recovering to 87 per cent of the levels seen in 2019.The development trend of Macao's tourism industry continues to be positive. The Macao SAR Government will strive to leverage the "culture plus tourism" synergistic effect by making good use of policies and cultural and tourism co-operation mechanisms and continue to strengthen co-operation with the GBA's partner cities, complementing each other's strengths to jointly build a cultured Bay Area, and a Bay Area for leisure .

Level I Bureau Rank Official of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province Mr Zhang Yimin stated that the Department will work under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to collaborate with Hong Kong and Macao to pragmatically advance and co-create brands to further promote the prosperous development of the cultural and tourism industry in the GBA. This includes accelerating the joint development of the cultured Bay Area, fostering cultural prosperity, enriching the supply of tourism products, enhancing cultural and tourism brands, and increasing the cultural and tourism influence of the GBA in order to jointly make the GBA a world-class tourism destination.

The Deputy Director of the Department of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Mr Kong Lun, stated at the meeting that the Plan has been implemented in an orderly manner and achieved with significant results over the past year. For the way forward, he mentioned three suggestions, including (i) to further co-ordinate and integrate resources in creating popular multidestination tourism products for inbound travelers and promote synergistic development of inbound tourism marketing to attract more international visitors to the GBA; (ii) to continue making efforts in jointly creating high-quality cultural products, improving public cultural services as well as the cultural and creative industries and carrying out high-standard cultural exchange activities in order to promote Chinese culture to the world; and (iii) to seize new trends and demands in the cultural and tourism market in cultivating new business trends to enhance service quality towards cultural and tourism consumption, establishing a "golden brand" for the GBA's culture and tourism through driving high-quality development with innovative thinking.

The Plan was jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (the Leading Group) and the People's Government of Guangdong Province on December 24, 2020, to further implement the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Under the framework of the Leading Group, the related departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will continue to enhance co-ordination and communication to establish an implementation and daily communication mechanism, with a view to jointly taking forward the implementation of the Plan. The 2025 meeting for the Plan will be hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on the Mainland.

2024 implementation meeting of Culture and Tourism Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area convened in Hong Kong Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

2024 implementation meeting of Culture and Tourism Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area convened in Hong Kong Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases

LegCo to consider Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Bill

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

The Legislative Council (LegCo) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (November 20) at 11 am in the Chamber of the LegCo Complex. During the meeting, the Second Reading debate on the Advance Decision on Life-sustaining Treatment Bill will resume. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

The Second Reading debate on the Waste Disposal (Amendment) Bill 2024 will also resume. If the Bill is supported by Members and receives its Second Reading, it will stand committed to the committee of the whole Council. After the committee of the whole Council has completed consideration of the Bill and its report is adopted by the Council, the Bill will be set down for the Third Reading.

In addition, the Stamp Duty Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2024 will be introduced into the Council for the First Reading and the Second Reading. The Second Reading debate on the Bill will be adjourned.

On Members' motions, Dr Hoey Simon Lee will move a motion on expeditiously kick-starting the construction of a carbon inclusive market. The motion is set out in Appendix 1. Dr Starry Lee and Mr Yim Kong will move separate amendments to Dr Hoey Simon Lee's motion.

Professor William Wong will move a motion on formulating an AI Plus strategy. The motion is set out in Appendix 2. Dr Chow Man-kong, Ms Carmen Kan, Ms Yung Hoi-yan, Mr Tang Fei, Dr Tan Yueheng and Dr So Cheung-wing will move separate amendments to Professor Wong's motion.

Dr Chan Han-pan will move a proposed resolution under section 34(4) of the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance to extend the period for amending a subsidiary legislation. The proposed resolution is set out in Appendix 3.

Members will also ask the Government 22 questions on various policy areas, six of which require oral replies.

The agenda of the above meeting can be obtained via the LegCo Website (www.legco.gov.hk). Members of the public can watch or listen to the meeting via the "Webcast" system on the LegCo Website. To observe the proceedings of the meeting at the LegCo Complex, members of the public may call 3919 3399 during office hours to reserve seats.