Transcript of remarks of press conference on announcing calendar of mega events in Hong Kong (second half of 2024) (21.5.2024)
21.5.2024

The Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong, the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Kevin Yeung, and the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Mr Dane Cheng, held a press conference today announcing the calendar of mega events in Hong Kong (second half of 2024). Following is the transcript of remarks: Reporter: Can you recap in English how will the mega events in the second half of this year attract more visitors to visit Hong Kong compared to the first half of this year? And also will the Government consider inviting any sport star or famous singer to come to Hong Kong to visit despite Messi's no-show earlier this year? Also, Mr Yeung has been in the film festival in France, witnessing that our movie "Kowloon Walled City" has actually gained a lot of support from the foreigners. So how will the Government consider incorporating this film into the mega events? Deputy Financial Secretary: I will take the first and third questions, and Kevin will take the second one. With regard to events, if you look at the number of events taking place in the first half of this year, it is actually more or less similar to the number of events taking place in the second half. But in terms of scale, we noticed that some of the events in the second half have a much larger capacity in terms of attracting visitors. Therefore, we believe that the number of visitors coming to Hong Kong for those mega events will be more than those in the first half. But in terms of the spread of the different categories of events, the distribution in the first half and second half is more or less similar. So that's the first question. The third question with regard to the set used in the movie "Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In", discussions are taking place. The set has been dismantled, but it is still there. They have been keeping it in rather good conditions. Discussions are ongoing as to whether they can let us have some part of the set, and it will be put up for display at a suitable location in Hong Kong. Once those discussions conclude, we will let you know. The second question I will refer to Kevin. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism: It is always our intention to attract mega events, be it sports events or concerts or other entertainment, it is always our target to attract these mega events to come to Hong Kong, so as to provide entertainment for local residents as well as to attract tourists. In attracting these events, if there are some very famous sports stars or singers, of course it will also raise the profile of these events and may also attract some of their fans to come along. No matter what happened in the past, it will not stop us from trying to bid for more events to come to Hong Kong. For the football game in which Messi did not play, as we explained on many occasions, the organiser as well as the football player should come out to explain why he did not play. I do not believe that it is a very common phenomenon that some of the stars or players do not play when they have promised to appear in those games. We are still trying very hard to attract more events to come to Hong Kong. Reporter: So far, how do you review the performance of mega events on retail sales, visitor arrivals and GDP etc? And also, actually what is the parameter of mega events? Because it seems now everything falls into this category, and how do you define it? And the last question is, do you have any KPIs for yourself? Deputy Financial Secretary: In terms of numbers, I will repeat it in English. This year’s mega events will attract about 1.7 million visitors. They will bring to Hong Kong, in terms of the amount of money they spend in Hong Kong, about HK$7.2 billion, and value-added of about HK$4.3 billion to the Hong Kong economy. Looking at the benefits from mega events, it is important that we do not just look at the figures. The figures are very positive. They show us that what we have been doing are worth our efforts. But I think for these mega events, they are also important to reflect Hong Kong’s status as an international city. In my first press conference (on promoting mega event economy in January this year), I said very clearly that one of the values of these events is that they attract people to come to Hong Kong so that they can see with their own eyes what has been happening in Hong Kong, how vibrant we are, how proactive we are, how friendly our people are, and how safe our streets are. Those values cannot be measured simply in monetary terms, and also these events make life in Hong Kong much more enjoyable. Do not forget that the mega events are not just for visitors. The mega events are there for our own people, for Hong Kong people as well, and if you look at the participation for most of the events, actually the majority of participants are Hong Kong people. In terms of KPIs (key performance indicators), again I said in the first press conference that we are looking to have some KPIs regarding the number of mega events that will take place in Hong Kong in a certain time period. But if I just use the current figures, it will not be that fair, because those events have already been arranged. And I said that we are looking forward to having some concrete KPIs in 2025. So in a year's time, when we have more experience about the operation of our mega events, their arrangement and setup, we will have those KPIs. (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) Ends/Tuesday, May 21, 2024 Issued at HKT 19:55 NNNN