Hong Kong has been welcoming tourists from around the world to join a plethora of festive and eclectic events during the Hong Kong Super March campaign, as the city hosts a packed schedule of exciting mega sports contests and intriguing music, arts and cultural events and shows.

International travelers can dive into a wide array of mega events, including the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. Global financial and economic summits are also set to be held to inject vibrancy into finance and investment businesses in the city this month.

It is paramount that Hong Kong can entice high-end international travelers with cruise and yacht tourism. Hopefully the central government can expand multientry permits for Shenzhen residents to more mainland cities. As an international metropolis with a mix of East and West cultural diversity, Hong Kong has been a world-class tourist destination for visitors from around the world. 

Hong Kong can enrich the travel experience of global tourists through the Super March campaign, generating tremendous economic benefits. Early this month, tens of thousands of golf fans and tourists from about 40 countries packed into the Hong Kong Golf Club in Sheung Shui for the LIV Golf Hong Kong event, which starred top golf professionals.

With a fun vibe in upcoming sports and cultural events, such as the Hong Kong Sevens, which will be held in the 50,000-seat main stadium of the newly-opened Kai Tak Sports Park, Art Basel Hong Kong, and Art Central at Central Harbourfront later this month, the government estimates that over 400,000 overseas visitors will visit the city.

Tourists can cheer for their beloved rugby teams in the Hong Kong Sevens and delve into renowned artworks from premier galleries across Asia and beyond in Art Basel Hong Kong.

As there will be more events and concerts, including a gig by UK rock band Coldplay, between April and June, over 840,000 tourists are expected to flock to Hong Kong in the first half of this year with estimated spending likely to be more than HK$3.3 billion ($424 million).

Also, Hong Kong can further enhance its standing as a world-leading financial and wealth management hub with renowned business and investment summits to be held during Super March.

In its third edition, the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit, to be hosted by the SAR government (March 26), along with the Global Investors’ Symposium Hong Kong, organized by the California-based economic think tank Milken Institute today, and the Bloomberg Family Office Summit (March 27), will be staged this week.

The Wealth for Good summit signifies the government’s efforts to elevate the city to engage in asset and wealth management businesses.

Global business leaders, family offices, investors and entrepreneurs will join these forums and tap into new investment opportunities, injecting impetus in financial and wealth management businesses in the city. There are over 2,700 single-family offices in Hong Kong, more than half of which hold assets exceeding US$50 million.

Meanwhile, the SAR government should step up efforts to lure more high-end tourists to the city. During Super March, 17 international cruises will make port calls in Hong Kong bringing with them around 5,400 tourists from some 30 countries.

The government can foster the development of cruise tourism by wooing multinational cruise companies to arrange ships to visit Hong Kong and leveraging the city as a starting point for cruise trips.

Hong Kong can also be a port call for cruises departing from the Chinese mainland, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries. Last year, around 150 cruises docked in the city’s terminals, bringing in about 480,000 cruise passengers from various countries.

Apart from cruise tourism, the government has strived to boost yacht tourism as highlighted in the chief executive’s 2024 Policy Address. The government has planned to develop the waterfront area near Hung Hom station into a commercial and residential zone with a new yacht club, and a development plan is expected to be available by midyear. With its long coastline, Hong Kong is poised to leverage yacht tourism to entice more high-end travelers.

Furthermore, the central government is expected to expand the multiple-entry permit arrangement to further mainland cities, encouraging more mainland visitors to Hong Kong.

The central government earlier raised the tax-free limit for mainland visitors shopping in Hong Kong from 5,000 yuan ($689) to 12,000 yuan per person. At present, Shenzhen residents can apply for a multiple-entry permit for an unlimited number of trips to Hong Kong within a one-year period, with each visit capped at seven days.

So far there is no overflow of visitors to Hong Kong. The expansion of the multiple-entry permit arrangement to more mainland cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, would encourage more mainland residents to visit Hong Kong.

The SAR government should focus on enhancing diverse and bespoke travel experiences for mainland visitors, who now prefer immersive travel experiences over shopping. Mainland visitors increasingly favor cultural tours and off-the-beaten-path travel experiences in the city.

The 15th National Games will be co-hosted by Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao from Nov 9-21 (13 days), and it is hoped that the central government will extend the period visitors from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing, can stay in Hong Kong to 14 days, instead of seven days under the multiple-entry permit arrangement.

It would attract tourists from these cities to watch the games and for sightseeing in Hong Kong. Based on Hong Kong Tourism Board figures, over 8.4 million tourists visited Hong Kong in the first two months this year, up about 7 percent over the same period in 2024.

The number of tourists from overseas soared by 20 percent to 1.91 million in the first two months of the year. The number of visitor arrivals reached around 45 million in 2024, as compared with 34 million in 2023.

Hong Kong can become a gateway for foreign travelers to visit the mainland. Recently, the central government implemented visa free exemptions for visitors from more than 30 countries.

It has also expanded its visa-free transit policy to foreign visitors from more than 50 countries, including the US and Canada, to visit the country for up to 10 days. Five-year travel permits are issued to non-Chinese permanent residents in Hong Kong to travel to the mainland for tourism and business trips.

As a world-class tourist hub, Hong Kong has attracted tourists from around the world to join captivating sports, arts and cultural events during the city’s Super March campaign. The SAR government can leverage the central government’s policies to bolster its tourism industry and attract more high-spending travelers by hosting more mega events.

The author is a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and founder and chairman of the One Country Two Systems Youth Forum.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.