2017 Policy Address by Chief Executive (2)

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Convention and Exhibition and Tourism

25. A consultancy study has found that by 2028 there will be a shortfall of about 130 000 square metres of convention and exhibition venues in Hong Kong at peak periods. We must have well-conceived medium and long-term extension planning and ensure that shortage of venues will not pose constraints to our convention and exhibition business.

26. Last year, we highlighted Hong Kong's diversified and high value-added travelling experiences, as well as our gourmet culture and cultural and creative tourism. We successfully staged a number of mega events including the Formula E motor race and the large-scale Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival.

27. These strategies have delivered results. Although total visitor arrivals have dropped, the decline has become milder in recent months. In particular, the number of visitors from Southeast Asia increased year-on-year while non-Mainland overnight visitors increased by 3.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year.

28. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the Motherland, the Government and the Hong Kong Tourism Board will hold a number of mega events, including summits, heritage exhibitions, large-scale sports events and light shows, to attract more high-yield overnight visitors.

29. The number of ship calls at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal grew by 70% year-on-year in 2016. This year the Government will invite a tender for the Kai Tak Tourism Node in the vicinity of the cruise terminal to develop a world-class tourist attraction.

Creative Industries

30. Cultural and creative industries contribute value added of over $100 billion year-on-year. From 2005 to 2015, the value added in nominal terms increased at an average annual rate of 7.6%.

31. Hong Kong should entrench its position as a creative hub and as a prime market for investors and buyers. In collaboration with the industry, the Government will continue to facilitate market development, nurture talent and promote cross-sector and cross-territory co-operation.

32. The Government strongly encourages creative industries such as film and design as well as animation and comics to unleash their IPR potentials and attain cross-sector synergy, paving the way to move up the value chain and pursue diversified development. The Government will expand the business matching platform to encourage more interaction among local creators, designers and brand licensors as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

33. The film industry is a key creative industry that reflects Hong Kong's cultural soft power. In the face of competition from all around, Hong Kong has to nurture more film talent. In the coming two to three years, the Government will collaborate with the film industry to run training programmes regularly with a total of 200 places to provide practical training or internship opportunities for frontline talent in the production and post-production sectors of the film industry. Moreover, the Government will support 10 practitioners in the post-production sector in each of the next three years to further their studies or undertake internships overseas.

34. In addition to our continuous efforts to expand markets for local films, the Government will, from this year, organise Belt and Road promotional tours to countries with market potential, such as Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, with a view to attracting film producers to come to Hong Kong for post-production and location filming and production facilitation services.

Transportation and Logistics Industries

35. The Government plans to introduce a bill into the LegCo this year to amend the Inland Revenue Ordinance to offer tax concession so as to attract companies to develop aircraft leasing business in Hong Kong.

36. Upon commissioning of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), it will take only 65 minutes to transport goods from Zhuhai to the Kwai Tsing Container Terminals (KTCTs), instead of about 3.5 hours at present. Meanwhile, the journey time between the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and Zhuhai will be reduced from 4 hours to 45 minutes, thereby greatly increasing business opportunities for the modern logistics sector in Hong Kong. It is estimated that upon full commissioning of the Three-Runway System, HKIA will have the capacity to handle air traffic demand at least up to 2030. Lantau Island will become the geographical converging point of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, providing new opportunities for the next stage of Hong Kong's development as a regional hub.

37. With established maritime heritage and unique institutional advantages, Hong Kong has a vibrant maritime cluster of more than 800 companies providing an array of quality maritime services including ship management, ship broking and chartering, marine insurance, ship finance, maritime law and arbitration, etc. Last year, the Government set up the Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board. A focus of the Board is to step up promotional efforts to encourage key maritime enterprises to set up in Hong Kong, overseas and in the Mainland with a view to strengthening our maritime cluster, and to encourage the use of our commercial and high value-added maritime services, to develop Hong Kong as a premier maritime services hub in the region.

Trade and Investment Environment

38. The HKSAR Government is negotiating a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. As regards investment agreements, we have already signed 19.

39. The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. Invest Hong Kong and our Economic and Trade Offices (ETOs) in Europe will actively promote the strengths of Hong Kong to attract European businesses.

Improving Economic and Trade Office Network

40. The Government established an ETO in Jakarta last year and preparations to open one in Seoul are underway. We are commencing preliminary work to set up ETOs in five other countries, namely India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. The current-term Government has been taking forward the establishment of seven new ETOs, with the aim of taking the total number of ETOs from 11 to 18, an increase of over 60%.

41. The Government has also been expanding the network of our offices in the Mainland and enhancing their functions. There is currently an office in each of the five Mainland regions, i.e. eastern, southern, western, northern and central. Over the past five years, we have established under these offices liaison units in Liaoning, Shandong, Hunan and Henan. By the middle of this year, we plan to set up liaison units in Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangxi and Shaanxi, bringing the total number of liaison units to 11, compared with three before the current-term Government took office.

(To be continued)

Ends/Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Issued at HKT 11:28

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