Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau: Continue to promote the coordinated development of culture, sports and tourism, and integrate into and serve the overall development

On October 8, regarding measures related to the coordinated development of culture, sports and tourism in the Five-Year Plan and the Policy Address, Rosanna Law, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said that the authorities attach great importance to these recommendations and will continue to promote cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, develop the creative industries and promote sports development, while deepening Hong Kong's position in tourism. First, in building Hong Kong into a centre for cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, the authorities will make good use of new resources. An important measure is to implement the long-awaited reform of the arts group funding system and continue to allocate funding to support the Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo, so as to promote the sustainable and industrial development of culture and the arts. The arts group funding system will begin gradual reform in the 2027-28 financial year, and the second Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo will open tomorrow, with more than 1,800 performing arts practitioners from Hong Kong, the mainland and around the world conducting exchanges and negotiations on business opportunities for arts groups to "bring in" and "go global." As for the West Kowloon Cultural District, the West Kowloon Performing Arts Centre, which has four performance venues, will open next year. The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will continue to lead exhibitions and performing arts programmes on tours and exhibitions in Hong Kong, the mainland and overseas. Under the Five-Year Plan, the authorities must continue to expand the scale of Hong Kong's arts and creative industries, including their value added and the specific number of practitioners. Among the various tasks, Rosanna Law focused on the film sector. The authorities are conducting a comprehensive review of the Film Development Fund from the perspective of the effectiveness of resource use, with the goal of enabling the Hong Kong film industry to flourish again. At the same time, they will encourage more films to be shot in Hong Kong, study the provision of set-building sites, encourage Hong Kong-produced films to remain in Hong Kong for shooting, and also set up an overseas film shooting support team to provide one-stop services for overseas films shot in Hong Kong, attracting overseas films to promote Hong Kong. Under the premise of integrating culture and tourism, the authorities will develop the second phase of the Old Yau Ma Tei Police Station film exhibition, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board will later launch a new "film + tourism" promotional project to strengthen the promotion of film tourism and district tourism. In sports, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will fully contribute Hong Kong's own strength to the country's efforts to build a sporting powerhouse. The Hong Kong, China delegation achieved a record-breaking 11 gold, 19 silver and 24 bronze medals at this Asian Games, a total of 54 medals, bringing glory to the country and honour to Hong Kong. This fully reflects the effectiveness of the government's policies to promote sports development. The authorities will redouble their efforts and continue to improve systems, invest resources and increase the sports industry's economic contribution. On hardware, the Policy Address announced the redevelopment of the main tennis courts at Victoria Park, which will, on the one hand, create more complete conditions for the industrialisation and eventisation of sports, and on the other hand, also drive foot traffic in the district and boost the economy. In recent years, the Hong Kong government has provided flexibility and support for the studies of student athletes through various policy measures, and has also provided subsidies and pathways for retired athletes in their studies or employment. This year's Policy Address further proposes a sports administrative personnel training scheme, which the industry strongly supports, believing it will help cultivate talent with both elite sports experience and management ability, in line with the industrialisation and professionalisation of sports. Tourism plays a very important role in stabilising employment and driving the economy. The tourism industry has performed well this year. In the first nine months, 40.7 million visitor arrivals were recorded, up 12% year on year. During the seven-day National Day Golden Week, mainland visitor arrivals to Hong Kong exceeded 1.41 million, higher than last year's eight-day Golden Week and exceeding original estimates. At the same time, there is full confidence in meeting the full-year target of 53.8 million visitor arrivals. Building a demonstration core area for "multi-destination" travel is an important positioning given to Hong Kong by the country in building a strong tourism nation. The authorities will deepen cooperation with mainland ministries, commissions, provinces and cities, and strengthen overseas publicity and promotion, especially stepping up promotion of "multi-destination" travel to medium- and long-haul markets, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. On "mega events + tourism," the International Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival held for the first time by the Hong Kong Tourism Board was very popular, attracting about 730,000 admissions and driving nearby catering and retail. Next, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will for the first time this year create a Hong Kong Halloween month, holding cosplay street parties at different tourist hotspots, and in November's Wine and Dine Month will launch a ticket-tail discount for the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival to extend the benefits of mega events. The Discover Hong Kong platform will also be optimised to consolidate ticket-tail offers for mega events hosted and promoted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board, and provide one-stop liaison services to promote cooperation between mega event organisers and retail, catering and tourism-related associations.