Hong Kong’s ‘Super March’ has brought in 12% more visitors: finance chief Hong Kong’s “Super March” campaign has brought in 12 per cent more visitors so far this month and filled more tourist beds, the finance chief has said, noting that some overseas VIPs have observed that the city has recovered its old vibrancy and vitality. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said in his weekly blog on Sunday that the city was packed with visitors from finance and investment circles, the wealth management industry, family office owners and managers, artists, art lovers, sport elites and spectators for a spate of business summits and sporting and cultural events. He said the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament had pushed the vibrant atmosphere to a peak on Sunday, the last day of the three-day event, at the new 50,000-seat stadium at Kai Tak Sports Park. As of Friday, the city had welcomed 3.4 million visitors in March, a 12 per cent year-on-year increase, including 960,000 people from locations other than mainland China, with hotel occupancy in busy districts hitting about 90 per cent, Chan said. “When interacting with these international guests, one piece of feedback I received was very consistent. That is, they believe that Hong Kong has regained its former vibrancy and vitality, and their views on Hong Kong have become increasingly positive,” he wrote. “They also hope to use Hong Kong as a platform to explore more investment opportunities on the mainland and the region.” Chan promised to promote the “event economy” by organising mega-events, summits and exhibitions with distinctive themes, to attract more high-value-added business tourists to Hong Kong and bring more business opportunities to various related industries. For the first time, Hong Kong sold its Super March campaign by branding it as a group of large-scale events such as the World Snooker Grand Prix, the LIV Golf Hong Kong competition, Hong Kong Sevens, ComplexCon pop culture festival, Art Basel and Art Central. Financial conferences such as the government’s Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit, the HSBC Global Investment Summit and the second Milken Institute Global Investors’ Symposium Hong Kong were also part of the events line-up. “These events successfully attracted thousands of participants from industrial, commercial and financial enterprises, family offices, international institutions and academia from different locations,” said Chan, who gave keynote speeches and had conversations with participants at several events. “Through deeper interactions, international guests can better understand the latest developments in Hong Kong, as well as the economic situation and development direction of the mainland, and also allow us to better understand their perspectives, ideas and concerns.” Chan added that many financial leaders had told him they looked forward to watching the rugby matches and viewing art shows. The Sevens broke records by attracting about 140,000 attendees, with 60 corporate suites taken up, he said. The number of visitors at the five-day Art Basel, which ended on Sunday, jumped by 21 per cent to 91,000 compared with last year’s 75,000, the organiser said. Among the 240 galleries at the show were some joining for the first time from Europe, Australia, Central America and Africa. Chan said: “Some galleries said some artworks were sold out during VIP viewing sessions [before they were open to the public].” Art Central, a six-day art fair at the Central Harbourfront, ended on Sunday with an almost 5 per cent year-on-year increase in visitors, at 43,000, the organiser said. The three-day ComplexCon festival saw 35,000 attendees, 16 per cent more than a year ago, and generated HK$87 million (US$11.2 million) in sales. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3304457/hong-kongs-super-march-attracts-12-cent-more-visitors-year-year-finance-chief  (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post