Financial Secretary Paul Chan announces the 2025-26 Budget today (Feb. 26). Chan said that to pursue the concept of "tourism is everywhere" and implement the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0, the government will allocate HK$1,235 million to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) in the coming year, he said.
The HKTB will collaborate with more international brands to tell the good stories of Hong Kong's tourism. For example, the HKTB signed a three-year global strategic partnership agreement with Art Basel to establish immersive experience zones of Hong Kong culture in all four annual Art Basel shows around the world, strengthening Hong Kong's connection with the global art scene.
Chan said he will step up efforts to promote a series of distinctive tourism products such as eco‑tourism, panda tourism, horse-racing tourism, etc., to enrich travel experiences in Hong Kong.
The HKTB will continue to support the staging of more meetings, incentive travels, conventions and exhibitions in Hong Kong, which are expected to bring about 183,000 additional visitor arrivals and spending of about HK$1.4 billion, according to Chan.
He mentioned that the HKSAR government expresses great gratitude to the central government for resuming at the end of last year the multiple‑entry Individual Visit Endorsements for Shenzhen permanent residents and expanding the arrangement to Shenzhen residence permit holders. Since the implementation of the new measure, more than 700,000 visitors have traveled to Hong Kong on multiple‑entry Individual Visit Endorsements.
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