It's a herculean task, but one that may just work this time, says Rosa Ocampo. The fund has come about as some events targeted under the previous endeavour, Spotlight Hong Kong Towards the Millennium, failed to materialise due to the Asian economic downturn. Head of the newly-formed international event tourism, John Duffus, says the fund will help. Bringing events to Hong Kong, especially the bigger ones, is quite an expensive business.
Past experiences prove that special events are a huge tourist draw.
Working with events promoters, producers and tour agencies abroad to encourage them to package tours around special events is priority. So far, the International Event Fund has received five proposals for international events, largely from Hong Kong promoters. Countering complaints that Hong Kong lacks venues for special events, Duffus says while Singapore has only one concert hall with 900 seats, Hong Kong has about six concert halls and several theatres. Duffus concedes however that for big-scale pop concerts, there is no indoor venue at the moment apart from the Hong Kong Coloseum. But there are open-air possibilities for shows for up to 12,000 seats or more.