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DEC 31 '85 17:46 GIS HK
30.12.85
9.35 10.45 a.M.
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Date:
Time:
Reporter:
RG/3
P.3...
In the hotel and tourism sector, our hotels, unlike many places in Asia, our hotels are full almost all the time, and I would see tourism and travel through Hong Kong, to the region and to China, continuing to increase. And in order to cope with that our hotel industry and our hotel development industry, has on its books plans which will take the present number of hotel rooms in Hong Kong, from something like 18,000 up to about 28,000, in five
years time.
So we should have an adequate supply of both first, of five-star, and hotels of lower rating, to cope with this enormous increase in travel through Hong Kong to the region, and also to China.
And the development of travel with
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and particularly this last year, when I should think, something like 20 million people will have travelled from Hong Kong to China.
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And despite the down-turn in the
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various parts of the industrial economy; nevertheless Hong Kong continues to enjoy pretty well full-employment.
But looking at the year ahead, we
do have problems. We have problems with protectionism, we have the
multi-fibre agreement arrangement coming up for review, and we have,
as the Director of Trade has said this morning, the beginning of
discussion about a review of the GATT.
LEGCO too, in the Legislative Council,
And
turning away from trade and industry and the economy, but looking at
the Legislative Council, which when I spoke to you last time, hadn't
yet convened in its new chamber, and there was some doubt among some
of you that we would in fact open the chamber on time. In fact it was opened on time and has now completed a couple of months of work.
kind of style which has developed, and no
doubt will develop, over the next few months, and years. meeting once a week now. Questions are being asked weekly so that there is much more relevance of the questions which can and will be asked
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we can see now
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the
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