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Travel and Tourism

Hospitality initiatives

Hospitality is essential to sustaining tourism. The Government runs a 'Hong Kong Young Ambassador Scheme' to train young people to be polite and helpful to visitors and to develop a strong hospitality culture in schools and in the community. More than 2,400 young people have joined the programme so far, rendering more than 200,000 hours of ambassadorial service.

Easier Entry for Visitors

Hong Kong is one of the world's most immigration-friendly cities. Travellers from some 170 countries and territories enjoy visa-free access to the city for stays of between seven and 180 days.

The Mainland's Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) permits citizens of 49 designated Mainland cities to visit Hong Kong on their own instead of in tour groups. More than 23 million Mainlanders visited Hong Kong under the scheme in 2012, representing about 66 per cent of all Mainland arrivals. In 2012, 9.83 million Shenzhen residents visited Hong Kong using the one-year multiple-entry IVS endorsement for Shenzhen permanent residents.

Protection of Travellers

Travel agents must obtain a licence from the Government and be members of the TIC to carry out travel business. The TIC investigates complaints against travel agents and takes disciplinary action against agents who do not observe its rules. There were 1,671 licensed travel agents at the end of 2012.

The Travel Industry Compensation Fund (TICF) provides ex gratia payments of up to 90 per cent of the loss of tour fares to outbound travellers in the event of a travel agent default. In 2012, $33,000 was paid to 82 travellers affected by three cases of default in the previous two years. The TICF also provides emergency financial assistance to outbound travellers injured or killed in accidents in the course of an activity arranged by a travel agent. Ex gratia payments amounting to $77,000 were made in 2012 for two accidents in 2011.

Travel agents have to assign accredited tourist guides to receive inbound visitors. There were 6,748 accredited tourist guides in Hong Kong at the end of 2012.

New Regulatory Framework for the Tourism Sector

Following a review of the tourism sector's regulatory framework in 2011, the Government has decided to set up an independent statutory body to regulate travel agents, tourist guides and tour escorts. The Government has commenced the drafting of the new legislation and other relevant work for the establishment of the statutory body. It is expected that the draft legislation could be introduced into the Legislative Council around mid-2014.

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