The Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong (TIC) welcomes the Financial Secretary’s proposal announced in his Budget Speech 2019-20 today (27 February) that additional funding will be allocated to the TIC in order for the travel trade to develop more thematic tourism products about the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the “Belt and Road” (B&R) Initiative, support the trade to promote business cooperation abroad, and provide training subsidies for practitioners, so as to enhance the overall service quality of the trade. The TIC is very much encouraged by the Government’s strong support for the development of the tourism industry.

The proposed additional funding allocated to the TIC in the Budget will enable the TIC to enhance the functions and contents of its web-based B&R and GBA tourism resource platform, which is under development now, to better meet the needs of the trade and travellers. It will also enable the TIC to promote business cooperation of Hong Kong’s tourism industry with B&R related countries and regions and GBA cities through trade forums or exchange visits, as well as to enhance the service quality of the travel trade through training initiatives, with a view to fostering the industry’s development.

Mr Jason Wong, Chairman of the TIC, remarked, “The TIC greatly welcomes the Government’s additional funding, which will enable Hong Kong’s travel trade to enhance its ties and cooperation with B&R related countries and regions and GBA cities while improving the service quality of travel practitioners through the web-based tourism resource platform, exchange activities and training initiatives. The TIC will formulate details of these initiatives in discussion with the Government, in order to help the industry seize the development opportunities and develop more multi-destination tourism products.”

The TIC was granted funding by the Government last year for kicking off the development of its web-based tourism resource platform, as well as organising three large-scale GBA delegations, which allowed Hong Kong trade members to meet and exchange with the officials and industry practitioners in the other 10 cities of the GBA to discuss business cooperation and explore tourism business opportunities.