Sixth Position Paper on Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries
June 1997

1. In this the sixth position paper of the HKCSI on travel, tourism and hospitality, we wish to highlight the need to develop Hong Kong into a leading capital of international cultural and entertainment events.
2. Hong Kong's success as a highly successful international tourist destination is not matched by its facilities for international cultural and entertainment events. Although some internationally acclaimed performance such as Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Allegria were stage in Hong Kong in recent years, Hong Kong is still far from being a capital in Asia for these events. The major reason, in our view, is the lack of suitable venues.
3. Although venues of a range of different sizes and holding capacity do exist such as the Cultural Centre, the Hung Hom Colosium, the Hong Kong Stadium and the various city and town halls, all of these venues are controlled by the municipal councils which often have other priorities in mind when deciding their use. We fully understand the need for the Urban and Regional Councils to cater for their constituencies but the result is that the staging of long-running, high-profile cultural and entertainment shows has become impossible in UrbCo and RegCo venues. The only other alternative is the Lyrics Theatre of the Academy for Performing Arts which, again, is not primarily intended for these events. This situation is not satisfactory.
4. There are many advantages in making Hong Kong a capital for cultural and entertainment events. From the point of view of the tourism industry, the tourist who comes to see "Miss Saigon" or "Sunset Boulevard" will most likely also be a high-spending tourist. For the territory's residents, to have more high-quality international events will surely enhance their quality of life. More importantly, a strong local industry in cultural performance cannot be cultivated without full facilities being available. Apart from Hong Kong people watching "Nutcracker" over Christmas, we want also to see more tourists coming to watch "The Last Emperor", "I Have A Date With Spring" or "Snow Wolf Lake". The upgrading of Hong Kong's own repertoire companies relies on the ability to stage long running shows which is not possible without more quality venues.
5. In our view, therefore, there is a strong case for building more performance venues which should be run independently of the municipal councils. This will also introduce an element of competition among performing venues and hence improve the quality of service of these facilities.
6. In planning the development of such venues one fine model to follow is that of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Essentially, the government provides the land premium-free to a public but non-governmental organisation (in the case of the HKCEC, the Trade Development Council) which will then develop the site in conjunction with the private sector. In the present case, the Hong Kong Tourist Association would seem the most logical party for such an undertaking although other parties like the Arts Development Council and the HKCSI may also have a facilitating role. There will be an opportunity cost for government in the form of the land grant but we believe this will be more than offset by the benefits of having Hong Kong as the leading capital of cultural and entertainment venue. The investment is big but so is the return, tourism being the fastest-growing export industry of Hong Kong.
   As to siting of the venue we invite all parties to be open-minded. With the removal of the Kai Tak airport, the Kowloon Bay area appears a natural option especially if more land is to be created through reclamation. Alternatively, it may be possible to identify a site in the West Kowloon reclamation, particularly in the area zoned "open space". In either case, the site could be used for the Expo 2001 which is being planned by the Hong Kong Tourist Association, before the permanent venue is developed.

(ends)