The Chairman and Executive Committee members of the Hong Kong Hotels Association (HKHA) hosted a welcome luncheon on February 25 for Miss Rosanna Law, JP, Secretary for Culture, Sports, and Tourism (SCST), and Mrs. Angelina Cheung, JP, Commissioner for Tourism (CT). This gathering strengthened connections and facilitated meaningful discussions.
During the luncheon, we addressed four key topics: (i) Quality Tourism Development, (ii) Talent Development, (iii) Smart Tourism Development, and (iv) Mega Event Promotion.
(i) Quality Tourism: HKHA is set to launch a territory-wide staff award for the hotel sector. The award aims to enhance the culture of hospitality in Hong Kong and encourage everyone to become tourism ambassadors.
(ii) Talent Development: HKHA urged the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB) to improve the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) to align more closely with our industry needs, further review the Vocational Professionals Admission Scheme (VPAS), and broaden its scope to include the Vocational Training Council’s (VTC) hospitality and tourism curricula starting in the Academic Year 2025/2026.
(iii) Smart Tourism Development: HKHA emphasised the critical importance of an efficient, universal Wi-Fi system in strengthening Hong Kong’s appeal as a smart, tourist-friendly city and advocated for the global promotion of the “iAM Smart” mobile app, which integrates visitor data to enhance the overall experience.
(iv) Mega Event Promotion: HKHA outlined two primary challenges in promoting mega-events: insufficient lead time and the absence of a centralised ticketing system.
In response, SCST strongly supported HKHA’s initiative to recognise exemplary hotel staff and maintain high service standards. Regarding VPAS, she undertook to initiate a review with the LWB. In the realm of Smart Tourism Development, SCST encouraged collaboration between HKHA and HKTB. Addressing the challenges of mega-event promotion, she indicated her intention to explore the development of a pilot platform to facilitate promotional activities for hotel associations and further extend these efforts to individual hotels.
