HONG KONG – Hong Kong is fine-tuning its tourism strategy to focus on “high-value” visitors, as the city seeks to broaden its appeal beyond budget-conscious travellers from the mainland.
An annual work plan to reinvigorate tourism in Hong Kong, presented to the legislature on April 10, said tourism officials will double down on pursuing “high-value” visitors, committing three-quarters of its 2026 tourism budget to attracting more foreign travellers.
In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said that “high-value” visitors are those who stay overnight and bring in more economic benefits in terms of revenue from accommodations, as well as food and beverage.
“When you spend more time in a place, the chances are that you also spend more there,” she said.
Diversifying Hong Kong’s tourist mix has become a priority, as per capita spending among mainland travellers – by far the city’s largest group of visitors – continues to drop even as their numbers rise.
In particular, the city will strengthen tourism promotion in South-east Asia, the Middle East, India and Russia, and expand into European Union markets like the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
“I have to be a little bit ambitious here… I want Hong Kong to be a premier destination – not just by itself, but of China, our motherland; of Asia, and of the world,” Ms Law told ST from her office in Admiralty on April 10.
“Every tourist is valuable to Hong Kong.”
Chinese tourists taking photos with the Forever Blooming Bauhinia sculpture at Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The 6m-tall gilded bronze sculpture, gifted by China to celebrate the 1997 Handover, has become a popular landmark.
ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Hong Kong has allocated HK$1.66 billion (S$270 million) to reviving tourism in the city in 2026, a 35 per cent jump from 2025. Three-quarters of that amount targets attracting more long-haul premium and foreign business travellers, in part by boosting the city’s meetings-and-events pipeline.
“It is an empirical fact that MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) tourists are spending more than your usual leisure travel visitors. Perhaps because they are sponsored by their companies or by the organisers of those events,” Ms Law noted.
In 2025, Hong Kong welcomed just under 50 million visitors. While only a quarter of them were non-mainland travellers, each of the more than 12 million foreign visitors contributed 20 per cent more in spending than those from the mainland, official data showed.
Among them, 2.5 million were considered MICE travellers, a 7 per cent rise from 2024, as the city hosted over 50 large-scale MICE events.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Hong Kong’s total visitor arrivals peaked at over 65 million in 2018.
Ms Law puts the city’s appeal to business travellers this way: “You can have a meeting at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in the morning. In the afternoon, you can go hiking on our hiking trails, or if it is the summer, you can go to the beach and enjoy a beach party.”
“That’s the energy and vibrancy of Hong Kong, which is quite unique and rare to see in one city,” she said.
People on a hiking trail on Po Toi Island in October 2024. Hong Kong’s dramatic coastal landscape offers dozens of scenic hiking routes with quick, easy access from the city.
ST PHOTO: MAGDALENE FUNG
The city closed out the first quarter of 2026 with 14.3 million visitors, well on track to meet the year’s target of 53.8 million, on the back of several major events including the Art Basel and ComplexCon culture and entertainment exhibitions in March.
For March, foreign visitors accounted for 27 per cent – over a quarter – of the total, the Tourism Board said in a press release on April 15.
Local tourism players have in recent years lamented the rise of young budget-conscious mainland travellers as the city’s visitor profiles shifted away from luxury shoppers after the pandemic.
While these tourists make up a significant portion of Hong Kong’s total annual visitors, they spend considerably less.
They have popularised a trend on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu to achieve extremely low-cost or even “zero dollar” travel in Hong Kong, offering tips on where to enjoy free or the cheapest sightseeing experiences, meals and accommodation.
For these budget mainland visitors, Ms Law takes a long-term view that complements her masterplan for tourism in the city.
Drawing on her personal experience as a young student touring Europe on a shoestring, she said: “There was a time (as a student in the past) when it was fashionable for us to take bus tours across Europe, spending very little money, staying on the bus.
“That is not the most luxurious kind of travel, but if you have good memories because of that trip, then chances are, you will long to go back some day, when you have become more affluent. The same goes for Hong Kong, especially for the younger tourists.”
Ms Law’s vision for Hong Kong tourism is to create experiences that keep visitors coming back for years to come.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
The minister has faced pressure to differentiate herself from her predecessor Kevin Yeung, whom she was promoted to replace after he was unceremoniously fired from the job for underperformance 1½ years ago.
Ms Law, 58, was promoted to her current role in December 2024, with Chief Executive John Lee praising her “reform mindset, leadership skills, strong abilities to explain (the government’s policies) and proactiveness”.
She revealed her personable side when she shared how Hong Kong’s pop culture that has long captivated audiences abroad and contributed to its strong tourism sector, has left its indelible mark on her as well.
“My favourite singer was Alan Tam,” she said, smiling, explaining that her favourite song by the Cantopop star, now in his 70s, is the KTV hit Yat Sang Zung Zeoi Ngoi (Love Of My Life).
“The song came from a movie, Soeng Sing Gu Si (A Tale Of Two Cities), which was really touching; I’ve loved it for many, many years now.”
The 1991 award-winning popular romantic film, known in English as Alan & Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye, starred Tam, former TVB general manager Eric Tsang and actress Maggie Cheung in a love triangle.
Ms Law, a career civil servant of over 30 years who was previously permanent secretary for housing and commissioner for transport, said she brought her “practical problem-solver” mentality over from her previous roles.
Since taking charge of the culture, sports and tourism ministry, she has overseen the smooth opening and operation of Hong Kong’s largest sports and entertainment venue Kai Tak Sports Park as well as the co-hosting of the 2025 National Games alongside Guangdong province and Macau.
Ms Law noted that she is operating in a very different environment compared with her predecessor.
“When (Mr Yeung) was in this role, Hong Kong was just recovering from Covid-19,” she said. “But right now, with the work that he did, we have entered a different stage. So naturally, we have more activities, more people in town, and the atmosphere is different as well.”
