TRAVEL AND TOURISM
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more about traditional arts such as tai chi, kung fu, tea-making and fung shui under expert tuition. Visitors can also attend jade, pearl and antiques appreciation classes or sail through the harbour in an authentic Chinese junk.
Convention and Exhibition Travel
Hong Kong is widely recognised as the convention and exhibition capital of Asia. The HKTB provides comprehensive support services to organisations planning to stage major events here. China's accession to the World Trade Organisation has further increased Hong Kong's reputation as the ideal meeting place for Mainland and international companies that wish to showcase their products or services and meet new business partners.
In 2002, Hong Kong staged 255 international conventions and exhibitions, attracting over 379 560 visitors. In addition, it played host to some 1 559 corporate events, which brought in another 111 725 visitors.
Prominent events
events staged during the year included the Unicity Network International Conference, the 41st Orient and South-East Asian Lions Forum, the 16th World Congress of Accountants and the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Telecom Asia 2002.
Cruise Travel
Hong Kong is becoming an increasingly popular centre for cruise travel. Two luxury cruise liners, the SuperStar Leo and Star Pisces, now use Hong Kong as their home base, providing the opportunity for the HKTB and its trade partners to market Hong Kong as a fly-cruise centre. In addition, 37 international cruise liners made stopovers in Hong Kong during 2002.
The HKTB commissioned an independent study in mid-2002 and this concluded that Hong Kong is well placed to develop as the primary hub for cruising in South China waters and the Far East, and estimated that the economic benefit to the HKSAR could reach as much as $3.3 billion a year by 2010.
Protection for Travellers
Travel agents engaged in outbound travel services from Hong Kong are regulated under the Travel Agents Ordinance. The scope of the ordinance was expanded, upon the implementation of the Travel Agents (Amendment) Ordinance 2002 on November 1, to control and regulate travel agents providing inbound travel services to tourists. The aim of the ordinance is to minimise the occurrence of fraud and loss to travellers in the event of default of outbound travel agents, and to protect the interests of visitors by enhancing the service standards of inbound travel agents. The present regulatory system is made up of two components: a licensing system and a self-regulatory mechanism.
The licensing function is carried out by the Registrar of Travel Agents appointed under the ordinance. All travel agents providing outbound or inbound travel services must be licensed under the ordinance. This requirement provides the first line of protection for travellers and visitors against default and malpractice. It aims to enable the public to identify bona fide travel agents and to prevent undesirable persons from operating as travel agents. Under the ordinance, the Registrar may, after investigation, suspend or revoke the licence of a travel agent found to be operating