Remarks by STL at media session
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Reporter: You mentioned that the Christmas and New Year period is around the corner. We just want to know that do you have any specific plans to offer those high-spending or overnight tourists to stay in Hong Kong and spend their holiday here? In the long term, how do you envision this transport scheme as a booster for Hong Kong's tourism and economy?
Secretary for Transport and Logistics: Today is the formal launch of the Southbound Travel for Guangdong Vehicles (Entry into Urban Area). It is a policy breakthrough, which involves close collaboration between the Guangdong and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authorities. It involves close partnership of system integration as well as procedural integration. We are very pleased and delighted to welcome the first batch of such kind of vehicles from Guangdong. We can visualise them passing through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which is a world-class transport infrastructure. A few of the visitors coming to Hong Kong today told me that they enjoy driving their own cars through this piece of important transport infrastructure. We expect such kind of visitors to stay overnight in Hong Kong, shopping, eating, having business meetings as well as visiting various theme parks. I know that some of them have already booked hotels in Hong Kong, and we are very encouraged by the positive response from various industry stakeholders, including CLPe, which provides charging facilities for southbound-travel Guangdong vehicles.
We are also encouraged to see that the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners has enlisted the support of more than 20 hotels to participate in this scheme, in which concessionary packages are offered to these visitors. I look forward to an even more positive response from various industry stakeholders. Christmas and New Year are coming around, and we will soon be celebrating the Chinese New Year in February next year. We will gather all the important information about the celebratory activities, as well as business conferences, sports and cultural events, and concerts. Such information is to be included on the Transport Department's dedicated webpage to provide one-stop shop information. We have also contacted platforms like Amap or Baidu, which will provide all the essential information in their apps, so that when Guangdong visitors switch on their apps, they can easily get information about the road conditions and essential transport facilities in Hong Kong. Thank you.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Ends/Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Issued at HKT 16:10
Issued at HKT 16:10
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