Hong Kong has the potential to become a high-profile art-dealing hub for global collectors due to its low taxes and location, which can be enhanced with more museums, infrastructure and talent, according to academics. Unlike many overseas markets that require buyers and sellers to pay taxes, Hong Kong has no sales tax or capital gains tax, and offers a low-tax regime for individuals and businesses, making the city ideally suited to become an art-trading hub, according to Joost Schokkenbroek, a professor of museum studies at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Schokkenbroek was part of a team at HKU that was instrumental in launching a one-year museum studies course to train talent in management, marketing and fundraising for museums. “The course is gaining traction,” he said, pointing out that 66 students had enrolled in the programme this year, up from 45 in the inaugural year. This, he said, would help in providing talent required for art management in the city. Schokkenbroek’s home country, the Netherlands, has nearly 1,000 museums for a population of 18 million, or one for every 18,000 people. In contrast, Hong Kong has about 50 museums for 7.5 million people – one for every 150,000 people. In March 2023, the government unveiled eight measures to attract wealthy individuals to establish family offices to manage their wealth, facilitate succession planning, oversee art collections and support charity work. One of the measures was the development of an art-storage facility at the Hong Kong International Airport, which is due to open later this year. Schokkenbroek said the new facility was vital to attract wealthy families globally to use the city for art trading and storage. “Buyers and sellers want their art collections securely stored, so it is important for Hong Kong to have an art-storage facility on par with international standards,” he said. Fotini Xydas, head of art finance at Citi Private Bank, agreed with the city’s potential to become an art-trading and art-financing hub. “A brand new, state-of-the-art storage facility near the airport would be highly attractive for clients who regularly ship art internationally,” she said. “The enhanced logistics will also make art inspection more convenient and efficient. The new facility will further elevate Hong Kong’s position as a global art hub, attract more ultra-high-net-worth art collectors, galleries and institutions to the city.” Hong Kong’s proximity to mainland China was also an advantage for the city to be an art-dealing hub, as it can easily bring together many mainland artists and collectors, according to Shuo Hua, associate curator at the HKU’s University Museum and Art Gallery. Hong Kong reported a 50 per cent increase in art trading in 2022, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS survey on the global art scene. Imports of art and antiques reached a record US$30.7 billion, while exports rose to their second--highest level at US$33.4 billion. Jin Dunhong, an assistant professor of finance at HKU, said Hong Kong needed more museums and art exhibitions to attract wealthy families to display their art collections. “Many wealthy families have high-quality art collections, which have taken a few generations to collect,” she said. “They would really want to display these to the public at arts events or in museums to cherish the family legacy.” They not only want to invest their wealth in Hong Kong, but also want to use the city to manage and display their art collections, she added.