A series of quirky proposals has been put forward by Hong Kong residents to help the city revive its flagging tourism sector. The suggestions were made during a meeting with the city’s top official, John Lee, at a primary school in the northern suburb of Tai Po, reports the South China Morning Post.
Among the suggestions was turning the district’s Lam Tsuen River into a local equivalent of Paris’ River Seine. The former district councillor who made the proposal gave scant detail on how the drab, 10.8-kilometre watercourse – ranked as the 70th most polluted in the world in terms of its concentrations of antibiotics – could be upgraded to match the Seine, which is lined with historic monuments, stunning architecture and stylish cafés.
Another resident proposed that volunteers be stationed at Hong Kong’s various tourist attractions to help visitors take photographs, because “Not everyone is skilled at taking selfies.”
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The resident said that when tourists share the images, “it can promote Hong Kong on social media, as well as tell stories of the kindness of our people too.”
There were other calls for the popular local cartoon character McDull to be made a tourism mascot, with one participant proposing “McDull-themed drone shows, fireworks displays and even themed restaurants.”
Hong Kong has struggled to regain its tourism footing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. There were 25 million visitors were recorded in the first 7 months of 2024 – representing a 52 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. But the 3.9 million visitors welcomed in July represent a dramatic 24 percent decline from the same month in 2019, when the city’s tourism sector was already being wracked by widespread political unrest.
