MR CHAN KIN-POR (in Cantonese): The CTD Plan for GBA proposes to progressively promote the development of international cruise terminals in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, enhance complementarity of each other’s strengths, promote sharing of sources of tourists, as well as strengthen collaboration. The cruise terminals in these three places allow 220 000-ton mega cruise ships to be berthed; the cruise terminals in Shenzhen and Nansha have already been planned and built as local water passenger hubs; and the cruise terminal in Nansha is even served by railways. In contrast, the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, which was completed in 2013 with an investment of $8 billion, has been riddled with problems relating to transport connections and car parking for years, thus directly affecting Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the cruise market in the region. May I ask the Secretary: In the face of the challenges from the neighbouring areas, what plans does the Government have in place to enhance the ancillary transport facilities for the cruise terminal, so as to prevent Hong Kong from being in a disadvantaged position in the cooperation in cruise tourism among the three places?
SECRETARY FOR COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (in Cantonese): President, with regard to the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, substantial improvements in terms of usage, ancillary transport facilities and hospitality were actually made before the pandemic. As far as I remember, I have also mentioned here that improvements have been made in many aspects, both in terms of the ancillary transport facilities arranged by the shipping companies themselves and in terms of the coordination with other public transport modes when ships are at berth. However, Mr CHAN is also right in saying that before the pandemic, there was originally very great potential for the development of cruise tourism in the region, so we can see such developments in many neighbouring ports. While competition is bound to exist in cruise tourism, these places also complement one another in that many scenic spots along the entire southern coast of China and in Southeast Asia or further north, such as Taiwan and Japan, can be linked up with each other. I think this precisely shows that cruise services do have certain potential, but unfortunately, the pandemic has really affected the market potential in this respect.
Having said that, Hong Kong has been able to resume “cruise-to-nowhere” (“CTN”) itineraries during this period of time. Although such itineraries are currently restricted to fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents and all crew members are required to receive vaccination, two cruise ships have been able to resume service in this way since the end of July and more than 40 000 Hong Kong residents have been able to enjoy CTN itineraries for leisure. From this, we can see that there is already a favourable turn of cruise services. If the anti-epidemic work is done properly, there is still a glimpse of hope for this kind of cruise services. I believe in the midst of the pandemic or when we make post-pandemic preparations, this is the preparatory work we can do for the industry and the whole blueprint that I have just mentioned.