Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure: Hong Kong Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the tourism sector in Hong Kong, focusing on the role and functions of the Hong Kong Tourism Commission. It examines the commission's organizational structure, vision, and mission, as well as its various roles in promoting and developing tourism. The report explores the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the tourism sector, highlighting both positive contributions to GDP and employment, as well as potential negative impacts such as increased competition. It also delves into the benefits and challenges of utilizing historic buildings for tourism, leisure, and events, and includes case studies of tourism projects like the Hong Kong Wetland Park and the Aberdeen Tourism Project, identifying key stakeholders and their relationships. The report concludes with recommendations aimed at mitigating negative impacts and enhancing the sustainability of the tourism industry in Hong Kong.

Running head- Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure

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Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
Executive Summary
This study has been conducted to study the tourism sector of Hong Kong. The main aim of this
study is to analyze the function of the Hong Kong Tourism Commission as well as the social,
economic, and environmental impact of the work of the Tourism Commission of Hong Kong.
The benefits and challenges of using historic building for tourism, leisure, events, and hospitality
have also been analyzed. The roles and responsibility of the tourism commission have been
studied. Some of the tourism projects and different involved stakeholder have also been included
in this study. It is important because it provides deep insight into the tourism industry of Hong
Kong. It has been found that there is significant social, economic, and environmental impact both
positive and negative of the tourism sector. It significantly contributes to the GDP as well as
employment and increases business opportunity for the people of the local community, but it also
increases competition in the local market due to which the small local businesses are in threat.
Appropriate recommendations have been given to minimize the negative impact at the end of this
study.

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Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
Table of Contents
Executive Summary.....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
The Tourism Commission............................................................................................................................4
Organizational Structure..........................................................................................................................5
The vision of Tourism Commission..........................................................................................................6
The mission of Tourism Commission.......................................................................................................6
Role and Function of Tourism Commission.............................................................................................6
Tourism Project and Their Stakeholders......................................................................................................7
Types of Stakeholders..............................................................................................................................7
Example of Tourism Project.....................................................................................................................8
Example of Tourism Project.....................................................................................................................9
Relationship of Stakeholders.................................................................................................................10
Impact of Tourism Commission’s Work.....................................................................................................11
Social and Cultural impact.....................................................................................................................11
Economic impact...................................................................................................................................11
Environmental impact...........................................................................................................................12
Benefits and challenges of using historic building.....................................................................................12
Benefits of using historic building..........................................................................................................13
Challenges of using historic building.....................................................................................................14
A Case Study in Hong Kong........................................................................................................................15
Social Impact.........................................................................................................................................16
Economic impact...................................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................17
Recommendations.....................................................................................................................................18
References.................................................................................................................................................19

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Strategic Planning for Tourism and Leisure
Introduction
Tourism is one of the emerging industries which is significantly contributing to the growth and
development of the economy (Lickorish and Jenkins, 2007). Nowadays almost every country
which has scope in the field of tourism is stepping in this industry in order to gain handsome
revenue for the growth and development of the economy. The tourism industry is one of the
major pillars of the Hong Kong's economy. It significantly contributes to the GDP of Hong
Kong. The share of the tourism industry in the GDP of Hong Kong economy in 2017 was 16.7%
which is a very significant contribution by a single industry in the GDP. Tourism industry does
not contribute to GDP but also in employment. There are more than 271800 persons employed in
the tourism industry which is 7.2 percent of the total employment (Okumus et al., 2007).
Although the tourism industry of Hong Kong faced a decline in its popularity and the number of
visitors decreased significantly in 2015. It has again started gaining popularity, and the number
of visitors is increasing day by day.
There is a need of developing unique tourism product in order to attract more visitors coming
through the heritage conservation, historic building or else cultural activities. The tourism
commission of Hong Kong should enhance the range of tourism products on offer. Tourism
sector represents the lifestyle, culture, tradition, style, of the city. Hong Kong is a unique
combination of western culture as well as eastern culture and heritage. The city should develop
more tourist attractions centers (Fan and Yim, 2011). It should also develop and encourage green
tourism capitalize on heritage and historical resources of Hong Kong and construct additional
performance venue. Some of the significant developments in the field of tourism sector in Hong
Kong are the following; the Lantua Island including Disney Theme Park of Hong Kong, Green
tourism, resort facilities and water sports in Sai Kung, a heritage, dining and cultural area in

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Central, a new Aberdeen tourism node integrated with development of the Ocean Park (Shen et
al., 2006).
The tourism commission of Hong Kong should also devise a focused and centralized marketing
strategy for boosting the tourism industry of the country. The quality of services is also one of
the major determinants of the success of tourism industry. The tourism commission should also
focus on the quality of services in order to enhance the quality of services (Heung et al., 2011).
There is a deep relationship between heritage conservation and tourism development. Tourists
come to visit the place to see the cultural heritage that a place has been conserved. The heritage
shows the culture, tradition, values of the places which attract the visitors to visit the place. If the
heritage is not being conserved the tourism sector of the place would not attract the visitor to
visit the place.
The main of this study is to highlights the roles and responsibilities of the tourism commission of
Hong Kong. This study will also focus on the relationship of stakeholders. It will also include the
impact of work of tourism commission such as social and cultural impacts, economic impacts,
and environmental impact as well as benefits and challenges of using the historic building.
The Tourism Commission
The Tourism Commission was established by the government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region in May 1999 in order to maintain the position of Hong Kong as the top
destination city for visitors in Asia. The tourism commission of Hong Kong was established
under the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (Chien and Law, 2003). The job of the
tourism commission of Hong Kong is to support the development of new events as well as

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attraction and improve the tourism facilities in order to make Hong Kong a premier destination
for tourist. The Tourism Commission of Hong Kong is headed by the Commissioner for tourism.
The commissioner for tourism is responsible for mapping out the tourism development strategy
and policy of the government.
Organizational Structure
The tourism commission consists of seven members. As it is headed by the commissioner for
tourism, the commissioner for tourism is assisted by the deputy commissioner for tourism. There
are four assistant commissioners for tourism and one registrar of travel agents (Song et al.,
2003).

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The vision of Tourism Commission
The vision of the tourism commission of Hong Kong is to develop and endorse Hong Kong as
the premier global city of Asia, a world-class destination for business and leisure visitors.
The mission of Tourism Commission
The mission of the tourism commission is to support the development of new events as well as
attraction and improve the tourism facilities in order to make Hong Kong a premier destination
for tourist.
Role and Function of Tourism Commission
The tourism commission of Hong Kong has a wide range of roles and functions to play in order
to develop and promote the tourism sector of Hong Kong. The major role of the tourism
commission is to improve the tourism facilities to attract more visitors. It has also supported the
development of new events and attraction in order to make Hong Kong a premier tourist
destination. The following are the major tasks that the tourism commission is responsible for
(Tourism Commission, 2018).
 To formulate the regulatory policies of the tourism industry
 To establish a link with the Hong Kong’s Travel Industry Council
 To build a link with mainland authorities on the initiative for the development and promotion
of tourism industry
 To create tourism cooperation with Macao and Taiwan and other nations
 To manage the operation of the new development project such as Ocean Park
 To formulate a plan for new tourism projects
 To manage the supply of hotels

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 To control and monitor the performance of the tourism industry
 To manage and handle emergency incidents including hotels
 To coordinate and plan the provision of region-wide tourism
 To manage and cooperate the development and endorsement of cultural tourism and green
heritage
 To cooperate the implementation of Young Ambassador Scheme of Hong Kong
 To manage the operation of the Disneyland Resort as well as Park expansion works of Hong
Kong
 To manage the registry of travel agents in the administration of the Travel Agents ordinance
 To work as Secretory on travel agents to the Advisory Committee as well as to the TICF
Management Board
Tourism Project and Their Stakeholders
The term stakeholder can be defined as any interested party in the business is called stakeholder.
Therefore, “any group or individual who is affected by the achievement of the objectives of the
organization or who can affect the achievement of the objectives of the organization" is a
stakeholder (Freeman, 2010).
Types of Stakeholders
Stakeholders can be broadly categorized into two categories such as Internal Stakeholders as
well as External Stakeholders (Sadiq and Jain, 2014). The internal stakeholders are the board of
director, the employees, the representative of the employees such as trade association and trade
unions, function areas of the business such as finance, marketing, human resource, information
technology, etc. and the geographical area of the organization such as different branches. The

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external stakeholders are the shareholders, the creditors, the suppliers, the consumers, the trade
bodies, the competitors, a private individual, the government, the local community, international
regulatory bodies such as WTO and IATA.
A stakeholder can affect the functioning of the organization. Some of the stakeholders are
directly involved in the business, and hence they significantly contribute in the process of
decision making. If the decision of the business is not served their interest, they will work as a
hindrance in the process of decision making as well as accomplishing the goals and objectives.
They also determine the success and failure of the organization (Isakov and Weisskopf, 2014).
Some of the stakeholders help in formulating the policies and procedures of the organization to
accomplish the goals and objectives of the organization. They also help in formulating strategies
of the organization for accomplishing the goals and objectives of the organization. Some of the
stakeholders determine the quality of product or services the organization offers. The roles of
some of the stakeholders also influence the organizational environmental and social disclosers.
Example of Tourism Project
Hong Kong Wetland Park: the first major green tourism facility of Hong Kong is the Hong Kong
wetland park at Tin Shui Wai. The wetland park opened on 20 May 2006 to the public. The
wetland park provides an opportunity for appreciating the natural heritage of the city to the
nature lover in an original and magnificent setting. Conservation, Fisheries, and Agriculture
department are responsible for managing and operating the park (Mckercher et al., 2005). The
wetland park has several facilities for the visitors such as Indoor Play Area, Kid’s Corner,
Wetland Snapshot, Swamp Adventure, and many more. The stakeholders of the wetland park are
the tourism commission, the government, the staffs, the visitors, the conservation department, the

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fisheries department, the agricultural department, the local community as well as the people of
the city.
Example of Tourism Project
Aberdeen Tourism Project: One of the famous tourist attractions in the city is Aberdeen Tourism
Project. A consultant was appointed by the tourism commission in 2006 in order to develop a
conceptual design or the Aberdeen Tourism Project. The aim was to develop unique features of
the traditional fishing harbor. The tourism commission appointed a financial consultant in order
to assess the financial and commercial feasibility of the conceptual design as the conceptual
design involves a lot of commercial elements (Oktadiana and Chon, 2017). The government has
been funding the enhancement works for further improving the existing tourist facilities and
attraction in Aberdeen. The major stakeholders are the tourism commission, the government, the
financial consultant, the visitors, the staffs, the local community as well as the people of the city.

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Relationship of Stakeholders
The stakeholder relationship is critical to the business. If there is a healthy and strong
relationship among the different stakeholders the function of the organization will function
effectively and accordingly as well as the goals and objectives would be realized effectively. In
the above two examples, the major stakeholders are the tourism commission and the tourists
(Hazra et al., 2017). The tourism commission provides adequate and appropriate facilities to the
visitors in order to make them satisfied. If the interest of the visitors were not met, there would
not be a healthy and strong relationship between these two major stakeholders. The tourism
commission is also coordinating with the local community in order to provide adequate and
appropriate facilities to the visitors. If the relationship of the stakeholders is analyzed using
Power/Interest Model of Mendelow, 1991 it could be placed in the quadrant of high power/high

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interest. It would be placed in this quadrant because all the stakeholders share high power as well
as high interest and can bring change or stop the plan of management if not satisfied.
Impact of Tourism Commission’s Work
The work of tourism commission affects the local community, environment, economy of the city,
social and culture aspect of the city (Tse and Prideaux, 2017). The impact of work of tourism
commission can be analyzed based on the following;
Social and Cultural impact
The social and cultural impacts are related to the attitude and behavior of the concerned people,
interaction between people and cultural background, the relationship of the concerned people
with the material goods, etc. The work of the tourism commission reflects the culture of the city,
the attitude, and behavior of the people, the tradition of the city (Veal, 2017). All of these have a
significant impact on social and cultural aspect. If the tourism commission introduces tourist to
the sensitive area, it can be detrimental to the city as well as for the people of the city. It may
also cause a loss of the culture of the city. It can also be helpful in preserving the culture of the
city as well as the cultural site of the city due to increase in resources.
Economic impact
In general, the tourism industry is considered as positive about its impact on the economy. The
work of tourism commission contributes to the GDP of the city significantly. The share of the
tourism industry in GDP is 16.7 percent which is quite impressive (Marin, 2015). The work of
tourism commission also generates employment in the economy which is also a good sign for the
growth and development of the economy of the city. As unemployment is considered as one of