Tourism to Hong Kong

Introduction
Hong Kong is one of the most important tourism destinations in the Pacific Asia region for its unique landscape and shopping convenience. According to statistics, a total number of 41921310 people visited Hong Kong in 2011, that is 16. 4% more compared to 2010 (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). Total tourism expenditure was 263142. 71 million HK dollars and shopping accounts for most of them because it is the main purpose for individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012).
Therefore, to sustain tourism prosperity while seeking development in the city, it is necessary to understand its unique geographical features and precisely examine the tourism trends. Meanwhile, analysing factors that have influenced tourism development will also contribute to the study. Besides, eco-tourism and climate issues are discussed as implications for the future

Findings
Physical and human geography
Location Hong Kong is a mountainous citylocatednearShenzhen, China.
There are four main areas in the city, including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New territories and Outlying islands, and their area add up to 1100 square kilometres (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). For the reason of its unique landscape, approximately 40% of Hong Kong is built up as country parks (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003).
Demography
The city enjoys of a population of 6. 7 million, and it is growing at a rate of one million every ten years (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003).
Political status
For over 150 years before 1997, Hong Kong had been governed by the British administration, and it became a part of People’s Republic of Chinaonce again on July 1st, 1997 (Cullinane&Cullinane, 2003). This reunification has brought opportunities and enormous changes in Hong Kong.
Pattern of tourism
Visitor arrivals
Figure 1Visitor Arrivals 2007 – 2011 (‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, 2010, 2012) Figure 1 shows the total number of visitors to Hong Kong in every single year from 2007 to 2011.
Visitors are divided into three categories, including overnight visitors, same-day in-town visitors, and Cruise-in/Cruise-out Passengers. It is indicated in the figure that overnight visitors occupied most of the visitors. Table 1Visitor Arrivals Details by Country/Territory of Residence 2007 – 2011 (Overnight Visitors – ‘000) Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Table 1 shows that Mainland China has the most visitors to Hong Kong in the past five years, with an annual growth rate of approximately 15%.
Besides, Taiwan, Japan, the USA and South Korea are also generating a large number of tourists to Hong Kong, leading to tourism prosperity of the city. 2. 2. 2 Total tourism expenditure Figure 2Total Tourism Expenditure Associated to Inbound Tourism Source: (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012) Figure 2 shows total tourism expenditure from 2007 to 2011 and the line chart presents an increasing trend. The growth rate is rather high in 2010 and 2011 as a result of the tourist boom in those years.
Factors that have influenced tourism in Hong Kong
Outbursts of infectious diseases
In 2003, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) attacked the city of Hong Kong and led to the devastation of Hong Kong tourism. Originated in southern China, SARS was a mystery to the rest of the world until several people were infected in a hotel in Hong Kong and brought the disease back to their home country. Before understanding the danger and risk that would have been brought by SARS, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a recommendation to the world that Asia, especially areas of Hong Kong, Singapore, Mainland China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan, were not advisable destinations for tourism (McKercher& Chon 2004; Kuo et al. 008). This unprecedented announcement caused significant panic in the world, tourists were quarantined for no reason after returning to their country, breeding industry was interrupted for disinfection on chicken farms, and Asians were restricted from traveling elsewhere. The mess finally led to the crackdown of tourism in Asia, with Hong Kong suffering the most (McKercher& Chon 2004). This outburst of SARS uncovered huge hidden dangers in the world tourism system.
The governments’ over-reaction tounclear threat was nothing but rational (Mao, Ding & Lee 2010). The crisis was a lesson for the world on the relationship between tourism and crisis management, the government should act more judicious so that diseases could be effectively controlled and meanwhile, tourism does not suffer to a great extent.
Construction of city infrastructure
Since the accelerated development of infrastructure in Hong Kong in the 1990s, the number of tourists has experienced a continued increase (Poon, Yu & Ng 2001).
Tourist infrastructure mainly includes apartments or hotels for accommodation and transportation infrastructure, and the latter consists of facilities for planes, trains, ships and other modes of transportation (Gossling 2002; Khadaroo 2007, 2008). Researchers have found that the ability of a city to attract tourists is largely determined by the level of traffic infrastructure in the city (Khadaroo 2007), for the reason that rational city planningand well construction of ports could provide convenience for tourists, which leads to smooth trips.
Successful travellers are willing to recommend their tourism destinations to their friends, and this will further lead to lasting prosperity of that destination. Although most facilities in Hong Kong are relatively complete, there remain some incompletion. An example is medical facilities needed for medical tourism. Hospitals in Hong Kong provide high level healthcare services, and the government attempts to boost medical tourism in the city (Heung, Kucukusta& Song 2011). However, the lack of medical resources ends up to be the barrier which prevents tourists with medical needs from cutting edge technologies in Hong Kong.
As a result, Hong Kong failed to build its reputation as a medical tourism destination.
Outbreaks of financial crises
Hong Kong has experienced two major financial crises during past two decades, the Asian financial crisis burst out in 1997 and the world financial crisis in 2008 (Song & Lin 2010). This report mainly focuses on consequences that were brought to tourism in Hong Kong by the latter crisis. Table 1 shows that the USA, UK, Japan and Singapore are among the source markets that generate most tourists to Hong Kong.
The high market share of long-haul markets indicates that Hong Kong tourism is vulnerable to world economy and thus would be negatively influenced if something went wrong. In 2008, tourists from long-haul markets such as the USA and European countries declined by 10% and hotel rooms were less occupied than ever before (Song et al. 2011). If the tourists increasing rate before the crisis is taken into consideration, conclusions could be drawn that the financial crisis really affected tourism in Hong Kong to a great extent.
Fortunately, tourists from Mainland China were not greatly influenced by this enormous crisis and visitors continued to travel to Hong Kong. This prevented the city from tremendous losses. Nevertheless, the overall expenditures dropped in 2009 which leads to the conclusion that financial crises could impose great threats to tourism in Hong Kong (Song & Lin 2010).
Adjustments of policies towards
Mainland China After introducing the Individual Visit Scheme on July 28, 2003, citizens of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdongare allowed to apply for visas and visit Hong Kong on anindividual basis (Wu, Li & Song 2012).
The scheme was implemented forthe acceleration of tourism development in two special administrative regions in China, and it is successful according to statistical results. Statistics show that the number of tourists from the source market of Mainland China increased by 24% in 2003 compared to that of 2002, and most of the growth was contributed by individual visitors (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012). As a matter of fact, thousands of Mainlanders have boosted into Hong Kong for the purpose of shopping and Hong Kong has become the paradise for shopping in the eyes of Mainlanders ever since (Wu, Li & Song 2012).
In order to guarantee long-term prosperity of businesses, merchants targeting Mainlanders have made adjustments regarding to shopping customs of Chinese consumers and the crucial point of the efforts is to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation (Wu, Li & Song 2012). Since tourists from Mainland China occupy approximately 60% of total tourists every year, it is important that policies towards Mainland China remain mild in the coming years to sustain tourism prosperity in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012).
Implications for the future of tourism
Sustainable tourism practices
Experience has shown that it is almost impossible to develop tourism while maintaining a clean environment at the same time. However, people have been making efforts to seek some extent of harmony and unity between the two. Hong Kong is a perfect city for the development of eco-tourism for it has a spectacular landscape, including mountains, valleys, coasts and islands (Ng & Li 2000). Hong Kong government has been successful protecting the city’s natural resources, it had the highest percentage of the park area in the worldin 2000 (Ng & Li 2000).
Besides, Hong Kong enjoys a large variety of both animal and plant species, some of which cannot be found elsewhere in the world (Ng & Li 2000). Enchanting as the scenery is in Hong Kong, eco-tourism is not a main form of tourism there. The following factors may account for this result. First of all, Hong Kong is in the sub-tropical zone, and the typical summer is so hot that people will feel uncomfortable to visit popular attractions (Ng & Li 2000). Second of all, eco-tourism destinations are usually sensitive to the number of visitors, thus, they normally have a low capacity (Ng & Li 2000).
Rational management regulations should be made to balance tourism satisfaction and the necessary visitor limitationneeded for scenic spots. Finally, more experts in guidance have to be trained to provide information of spots (Ng & Li 2000). It seems that there is still a long way to go before eventually launching a successful eco-tourism plan in Hong Kong.
Climate change
How climate change will affect the pattern of tourism has long been studied. Studies have shown that as climate change will either directly or indirectly influence tourism (Chan & Lai 2012).
One of the main results of climate change is the rise in temperature. According to statistics, Hong Kong’s temperature has been surging during the past 15 years, and it is almost 5 degrees Celsius higher than 10 years ago (Chan & Lai 2012). The high temperature will definitely bring uncomforting experiences to tourists,. Thus, it is likely that potential visitors will change their destinations elsewhere. Besides, although some tourists might not consider the temperature increase itself as a crucial factor in determining their destinations, the change due to this phenomenon, such as increased travel expenses, will affect tourism ehaviour to a great extent (Chan & Lai 2012). While efforts have been made towards lowering the speed of temperature increase, the results turn out not assuring. Although climate change does not affect tourism in Hong Kong as much as that in tourism-oriented island cities, people should deal will this issue seriously before it is too late.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although Hong Kong has been through some hard times, the city remains potential as a tourism destination.
This report discusses the city of Hong Kong from tourism aspect. As an important city in the Pacific Asia region, Hong Kong has enjoyed a fine reputation among tourists. Its unique landscape and special location have attracted and are still attracting visitors in large scales. During the past two decades, several financial crises have imposed danger on tourism in the city to a great extent, but a few policy adjustments, especially the policy of opening up to Mainland China individual visitors, saved the industry from collapsing.
Eco-tourism could be further developed to balance economic development and environment protection, but several issues need to be solved before concrete implementation. Climate change is also a challenge that needs early planning, thus, effective efforts demand immediate attention. ?
References

Chan, GKY & Lai, MTH 2012, Understanding Climate Change, Carbon-offsetting and their Impacts on Travel Behaviour, viewed 24 November 2012, . Cullinane, S , K 2003, ‘Hong Kong City Profile’, Cities, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 279-288.
Gossling, S 2002, ‘Global environmental consequences of tourism’, Global Environmental Change, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 283-302. Heung, Vincent CS , Kucukusta, D & Song, H 2011, ‘Medical tourism development in Hong Kong: An assessment of the barriers’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 995–1005.
Hong Kong Tourism Board 2008, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2007, viewed 21 November 2008, ; http://partnernet. hktb. com/filemanager/publication/143330/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2010, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2009, viewed 21 November 2010, ; http://partnernet. ktb. com/filemanager/publication/143332/Default. html;. Hong Kong Tourism Board 2012, A Statistical Review of Hong Kong Tourism 2011, viewed 21 November 2012, .
Khadaroo, J , B 2007, ‘Transport infrastructure and tourism development’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 1021–1032. Kuo, HI, Chen, CC, Tseng, WC, Ju, LF & Huang, BW 2008, ‘Assessing impacts of SARS and Avian Flu on international tourism demand to Asia Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 917-928.
Mao, CK, Ding, CG & Lee, HY 2010, ‘Post-SARS tourist arrival recovery patterns: An analysis based on a catastrophe theory Original Research Article’, Tourism Management, Vol. 31,
No. 6, pp. 855-861. McKercher, B & Chon, K 2004, ‘The Over-Reaction to SARS and the Collapse of Asian Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 716–719. Ng, CN & Li, Y 2000, Eco-tourism in Hong Kong: its potentials and limitations, Kiskeya Alternative, viewed 23 November 2012, .
Poon, CS, Yu, ATW & Ng, LH 2001,‘On-site sorting of construction and demolition waste in Hong Kong’, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 157–172. Song, H, Lin, S 2010,
‘Impacts of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Tourism in Asia’, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 16-30. Song, H, Lin, S, Witt, SF & Zhang, X 2011,
‘Impact of financial/economic crisis on demand for hotel rooms in Hong Kong’, Tourism Management, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 172–186. Wu, DC, Li, G & Song, H 2012,
‘Economic Analysis of Tourism Consumption Dynamics: A Time-varying Parameter Demand System Approach’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 667–685.

Calculate the price
Make an order in advance and get the best price
Pages (550 words)
$0.00
*Price with a welcome 15% discount applied.
Pro tip: If you want to save more money and pay the lowest price, you need to set a more extended deadline.
We know how difficult it is to be a student these days. That's why our prices are one of the most affordable on the market, and there are no hidden fees.

Instead, we offer bonuses, discounts, and free services to make your experience outstanding.
How it works
Receive a 100% original paper that will pass Turnitin from a top essay writing service
step 1
Upload your instructions
Fill out the order form and provide paper details. You can even attach screenshots or add additional instructions later. If something is not clear or missing, the writer will contact you for clarification.
Pro service tips
How to get the most out of your experience with MyhomeworkGeeks
One writer throughout the entire course
If you like the writer, you can hire them again. Just copy & paste their ID on the order form ("Preferred Writer's ID" field). This way, your vocabulary will be uniform, and the writer will be aware of your needs.
The same paper from different writers
You can order essay or any other work from two different writers to choose the best one or give another version to a friend. This can be done through the add-on "Same paper from another writer."
Copy of sources used by the writer
Our college essay writers work with ScienceDirect and other databases. They can send you articles or materials used in PDF or through screenshots. Just tick the "Copy of sources" field on the order form.
Testimonials
See why 20k+ students have chosen us as their sole writing assistance provider
Check out the latest reviews and opinions submitted by real customers worldwide and make an informed decision.
Sociology
THANK YOUUUUU
Customer 452591, March 18th, 2021
Nursing
I just need some minor alterations. Thanks.
Customer 452547, February 10th, 2021
Social Work and Human Services
Although it took 2 revisions I am satisfied but I did receive it late because of that.
Customer 452603, March 25th, 2021
Business and administrative studies
perfect
Customer 452773, February 23rd, 2023
Business and administrative studies
excellent job thank you Your Score 166.25/ 175- A 1. Current Culture 15% of total grade 18.37 Criterion "1. Current Culture" has textual feedback Criterion Feedback I see interesting points, though, in general they are not about the culture.
Customer 452773, June 4th, 2023
FIN571
excellent work
Customer 452773, March 1st, 2024
Business Studies
Thank you very much for a good job done and a quick turn around time.
Customer 452615, March 31st, 2021
LEADERSHIP
excellent job
Customer 452773, August 12th, 2023
Leadership Studies
excellent job
Customer 452773, August 26th, 2023
Business and administrative studies
looks good thank you
Customer 452773, March 3rd, 2023
Psychology
Thank you!
Customer 452545, February 6th, 2021
BUSINESSADMINECO535
excellent work
Customer 452773, October 6th, 2023
11,595
Customer reviews in total
96%
Current satisfaction rate
3 pages
Average paper length
37%
Customers referred by a friend
OUR GIFT TO YOU
15% OFF your first order
Use a coupon FIRST15 and enjoy expert help with any task at the most affordable price.
Claim my 15% OFF Order in Chat
Close

Sometimes it is hard to do all the work on your own

Let us help you get a good grade on your paper. Get professional help and free up your time for more important courses. Let us handle your;

  • Dissertations and Thesis
  • Essays
  • All Assignments

  • Research papers
  • Terms Papers
  • Online Classes
Live ChatWhatsApp