The “Super March” focus for sports, arts and tourism in Hong Kong has been good in bringing in a significant increase in tourist arrivals, even as the city will focus on creating quality experiences for visitors rather than chasing after numbers, the minister overseeing the portfolio has told the Post. Part of the new strategy to draw quality tourists, Hong Kong will also leverage its pristine coastline and islands to reinvent the industry, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said this week. In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, Law said that not only she, but the entire city would need to work harder to encourage people to visit more often, spend more and consider Hong Kong a first-choice destination. She also revealed that authorities were negotiating with interested parties to invest in coastline projects that “more fully utilised” the “beautiful” Victoria Harbour. Other strategies to raise Hong Kong’s tourism game included lining up more mega-events at Kai Tak Sports Park and using the “Super March” campaign to attract long-haul visitors and elevate the city to the global stage, she said. “If you take Hong Kong as a huge theme park, you don’t want it to be at its attendance peak all the time because you might sacrifice guest experience,” the minister said. “You want it to be at the optimum. And then, of course, we don’t want it to be too quiet. This is what I’m aiming for.” Law, the former permanent secretary for housing, took the reins at the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau on December 5 last year when her predecessor, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, was abruptly dismissed. “It’s nearly four months into my post. So much has happened and I am lucky that the bureau has done a lot of work and preparation previously, and I am the person at the right time to promote it,” she said. Following China’s top annual political gathering, known as the “two sessions”, Hong Kong is under greater pressure to reboot the tourism industry by making it more creative and adaptive in response to shifting consumption patterns among locals and visitors, especially with the shift to experience-based travel by the latter. Law also raised the idea of Hong Kong developing yacht tourism by building marinas along Victoria Harbour and the city’s airport. “For years, Guangdong province has suggested more bilateral relaxation over yacht tourism,” she said, adding there was demand among coastal cities in areas such as Fujian province, and other parts of Asia. The government could also implement short-term measures to promote yacht tourism, including making available landing facilities in coastal areas such as Lei Yue Mun and West Kowloon, the minister said. Law suggested creating simple restaurants on fishing rafts around the city’s outlying islands that served up the catch of the day. She said the bureau aimed to have the industry account for 4.5 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product (GDP) in five years based on action plans outlined in the bureau’s tourism blueprint 2.0, which was published last December. The industry accounted for 2.6 per cent of the city’s GDP in 2023. The government has forecast that the city will welcome about 49 million visitors this year, a 10 per cent increase from 2024. In comparison, 65 million visitors came to the city at the peak of Hong Kong’s tourism trade in 2018. Law said she believed the new HK$30 billion (US$3.86 billion) Kai Tak Sports Park, which includes a 50,000-seat stadium for mega-events, would be a game-changer for the industry. She said the stadium had events lined up as far as the first half of 2026. “People are speculating on whether we are going to have a major football team visit Hong Kong. If there is further news, I will definitely be announcing it with a big grin on my face, being a fan of football myself,” Law said. While Hong Kong may be ramping up its mega-event drive, the city was earlier outmanoeuvred by regional rival Singapore, which managed to convince American pop star Taylor Swift to perform there exclusively for the Asian leg of her tour last year and has booked Lady Gaga for November. “I am confident we will have very attractive programmes in the months and years to come,” she said when asked about her thoughts on Hong Kong being unable to host Lady Gaga. She said overseas visitors were pouring into Hong Kong this week as part of the city’s first-ever Super March campaign, which offers a variety of mega-events ranging from art and culture to international sports. Immigration figures show that Hong Kong welcomed 886,400 overseas tourists, excluding those from mainland China, from March 1 to this Thursday, an increase of 13 per cent year on year. On Wednesday, Law attended the first day of Art Basel at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, a day after officiating at Art Central at the Central Harbourfront. Art Basel opened its doors to VIP patrons that day, and will admit public ticket holders on Friday, before concluding on Sunday. Art Central is also running from Wednesday to Sunday. Law said the number of VIP bookings to view exhibits at Art Basel had increased by a double-digit figure from last year’s art fair, calling it a positive sign. The minister also discussed the coming Hong Kong Sevens, which kicks off on Friday and has moved from Hong Kong Stadium in Causeway Bay to Kai Tak Stadium. Organisers earlier said they expected the three-day event to attract 130,000 spectators. “With so many things happening this week, Art Central, Art Basel, the financial summit HSBC is hosting, and the Rugby Sevens, a lot of people actually are making a point to come to Hong Kong at this particular time so that they can do a lot of different things in one go,” she said. “So I would say the spending and economic benefits will be very positive.” Turning back to Art Basel, Law said the galleries attending the event came from the mainland, South Korea, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and even the United States – not to mention attracting various curators, collectors and owners. Law said the main beneficiaries of the slew of mega-events were the hotel, food and beverage, retail and transport sectors. Read Part 2 of the interview on Saturday about how Hong Kong can raise its competitive edge in the region and the city’s bet on the horse racing economy.