MPI
4
5
6
7
No 8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
P 17
S
18
Y 19
20
21
22
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
NB31
232
Fap 33
34
35
36
economic development. Last year, Hong Kong had a good year in tourism, with a record number of 4.5 million visitors, spending an estimated $25,000 million. Tourism is a major and expanding service industry for Hong Kong, with increasing visitor traffic expected to rise this year to about five 5 million. The Financial Secretary has recog- nised the importance of supporting the tourist industry by reducing the air passenger depart- ure tax from $120 to $100 for an adult, and from $60 to $50 for a child. However, the tourist industry would have preferred the tax reduced even further and I hope that the tax will be reviewed again next year when the visitor traffic will have expanded even more. To further encourage transit visitors who would be departing from Kai Tak airport on the same day to go sightseeing and shopping, it has been suggested that the Financial Secretary
introduces a dawn-to-evening transit tax
How-
of $50 for an adult and $25 for a child. ever, administratively this suggestion could be difficult to implement, and I would urge Government to allow transit passengers who would. normally have to wait in the airport transit lounge to be permitted to come out for shop- ping or sightseeing or other legitimate purposes without having to pay any departure tax at all providing they leave on the same day. In his Budget speech, the Financial SEC- retary stated that the reduction in the airport departure tax will cost the treasury $120 million in 1988/89. The hotel industry is under the impression that the Government is seeking to recoup this amount by steep