'Super March' welcomes 3.4m visitors to HK, says Paul Chan

Hong Kong’s “Super March” campaign, featuring a series of high-profile events, has welcomed 3.4 million visitors worldwide in March, up about 12% YOY, significantly boosting the local economy and tourism, according to the city's finance chief Paul Chan.

In his Sunday blog post, Chan revealed that the city has lured 960,000 overseas travellers in March, with hotels in popular districts reporting close to 90% occupancy rates, while retailers saw a significant increase in foot traffic, leading to better business performance.

This can be attributed to the recently concluded three-day Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament at the Kai Tak Sports Park, with more than 110,000 attendees and over 60 corporate boxes in the venue having been subscribed. Many of the business executives who came to Hong Kong this week to attend the financial events told him that they were looking forward to taking time to watch football games and participate in other cultural events after a series of intensive business meetings, so as to experience the vibrancy and diversity of Hong Kong.

Outside the venues, in areas such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Central and Wan Chai, many citizens and tourists watched the games in restaurants or bars, with a glass of beer and cheering together, connecting people's hearts and igniting topics, allowing people to better appreciate the charm of Hong Kong, a dynamic city, said Chan.

Chan also took part in Art Basel at the Wan Chai Convention and Exhibition where the expected number of visitors to the five-day exhibition was more than last year's 75,000.

This year's edition featured 240 galleries from 42 countries and regions, including more than 20 galleries from Europe, Australia, Central America and Africa, he said. "A gallery manager from Europe told me that he has been exhibiting at Art Basel in Hong Kong for the past few years, and he believes that it is an important platform for them to deepen their connection with the regional and international markets by reaching out to art lovers and buyers from Asia and other parts of the world. Many galleries have also told me that they have sold well this year, and some of the exhibits have been sold out during the preview period."

Another mega event ComplexCon was also booming, with 35,000 attendees this year, up 16% year-on-year. A variety of merchandise and specialty products were well received, and the lively atmosphere in the venue also allowed everyone to spend as much as they wanted, with a total sales of more than 87 million yuan during the three-day event.

Apart from cultural, sports and arts events, last week also saw a number of major financial events, including summits organised by various financial, academic, media and international institutions.

Moving forward, Chan said the government will continue to promote the "mega event economy", in particular organising large-scale events, summits and exhibitions with distinctive themes and attractive themes, so as to attract more high value-added business visitors to Hong Kong and bring more business opportunities to various related industries in Hong Kong.

"We will also work with the industry to encourage and support the business sector to develop more distinctive products and services, and continuously enhance the consumption experience of customers, so as to achieve prosperity, prosperity and happiness," he added.

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