The group arrived on Sunday on a five-day, four-night itinerary and will visit various attractions including the Central Market, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, Hong Kong Palace Museum and M+.
They were here as part of an expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme, in which residents from Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lhasa, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan and Urumqi will be allowed from June 3 to visit Hong Kong as solo travellers without needing to join a tour group.
Welcoming the representatives at the Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point and Hong Kong International Airport, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said he hoped they would experience “the extraordinary charm of Hong Kong as an international metropolis and a culinary capital through this exchange”.
Yeung explained that the government had arranged the trip to allow the group to experience “‘tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong’ first-hand” through an “in-depth exploration” of the city.
“Tourism is everywhere” was a reference to a concept earlier suggested by Xia Baolong, Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong affairs.
At a meeting with Yeung in Beijing last month, Xia, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, urged the local administration to revitalise Hong Kong’s tourism offerings amid “profound changes” in the market and treat every corner of the city as a potential spot to lure visitors.
Yeung on Sunday said the authorities would work continuously with the trade industry to provide visitors with a “diversified travel experience and high-quality service” so that travellers from different cities could “feel at home” in Hong Kong.
“We hope that they will bring this fruitful and high-quality travel experience back to their eight cities, share and promote it among the local residents,” he said of representatives on the junket.
“This will enhance the two-way tourism exchange between the eight cities and Hong Kong.”
Industry leaders also recently urged local airlines to actively respond to Beijing’s favourable measures to boost the local economy by launching more non-stop flights to the eight mainland cities.
Of these, only four – Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Yinchuan and Urumqi – currently offer direct flights to Hong Kong.
Passengers from Xining and Hohhot have to transfer once before arriving in the city, while those from Harbin and Lhasa have to take up to two connecting flights.