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Following is the question by the Hon Howard Young and a written reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (June 28):
Question
Will the Government inform this Council whether tour guides are offered free admissions to fee charging tourist attractions of which the Government is a shareholder, or which are managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department at present, such as the Hong Kong Wetland Park, the Hong Kong Disneyland and other exhibition galleries, so that they can take care of the visitors in their tour groups; if so, of the tourist attractions which offer and those which do not offer such concession; if not, the reasons for that and whether it will study the feasibility of offering such concession?
Reply
Madam President,
For fee charging tourist attractions of which the Government is a shareholder or which are managed by Government departments, it is the general practice that free admission is given to tourist guides accompanying a group of visitors subject to meeting certain criteria. The practice may vary from facility to facility having regard to factors such as the nature of operation and promotion strategy. Generally, free admission is given if-
(a) the group of visitors is organised by a travel agent and has reached a prescribed number of visitors set by the attraction concerned; and/or
(b) the tourist guide accompanying the group is in possession of a valid Tourist Guide Pass issued by the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong or is a member of the Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Co-ordinators.
At present, the following attractions offer free admission to tourist guides subject to the above-mentioned criteria-
(a) Hong Kong Disneyland;
(b) Ocean Park; and
(c) facilities operated by Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) (*LCSD administers 14 museums of which only 6 have admission charges. The other eight do not have any admission charge. Admission to parks and playgrounds under LCSD, for example, the Hong Kong Park and Victoria Park, is free of charge)-
(i) Hong Kong Museum of Art;
(ii) Hong Kong Museum of History;
(iii) Hong Kong Heritage Museum;
(iv) Hong Kong Science Museum;
(v) Hong Kong Space Museum; and
(vi) Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence.
In addition, the Hong Kong Wetland Park and Ngong Ping 360 are planning to offer free admission to tourist guides.
Ends/Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:02
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