SCST's opening remarks at LegCo Finance Committee special meeting
Following is the English translation of the opening remarks by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, MissRosannaLaw, at the special meeting of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Finance Committee today (April 16):
Thank you, Mr Chairman. I will briefly introduce our key tasks under the tourism, sports, cultural and creative industries in the current financial year.
Tourism industry
Mr Chairman, I have mentioned in the Legislative Council a number of times that the Hong Kong tourism industry has sustained strong momentum. We expect to welcome 53.8 million visitor arrivals in Hong Kong this year, marking an 8 per cent increase from the previous year. The visitor arrivals in the first quarter exceeded 14.3 million. We will continue to promote the development of "Mega Events + Tourism" through diverse cultural festivals, tourism projects and mega events so as to encourage visitors to extend their stays in Hong Kong and enhance their desire to revisit the city.
This year, the Government will allocate $1,660 million to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), representing a significant 34.5 per cent increase from the previous financial year. The HKTB will make good use of the increased funding, step up its marketing efforts in source markets with potential, including Mainland cities outside Guangdong, as well as emerging markets such as the Middle East and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), scale up its flagship events and promotion, organise more signature festive events, launch a new show with the theme of light festivals, and promote the hosting of a wider range of conferences, exhibitions and incentive travel events in Hong Kong. The HKTB will further attract more international cruises to include Hong Kong in their itineraries, with a view to bringing more high-end overnight visitors to Hong Kong.
The Central Government rolled out a number of measures benefitting Hong Kong between 2024 and 2025, injecting enormous impetus into the Hong Kong tourism industry. We will continue to make good use of those measures, and deepen co-operation with the GBA (Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area) and other Mainland provinces and cities. This includes exploring with airlines to offer multi-destination flight itineraries to attract more overseas visitors to Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Sports industry
We will allocate more resources to proactively promote sports development in Hong Kong, including an injection of $1.2 billion into the sports portion of the Arts and Sport Development Fund. The injection will be strategically directed towards four key initiatives: Firstly, we will strengthen support for team sports. The current scheme will be reviewed after this year's Asian Games to determine the funding details of the new round; Secondly, we will support the Sports Federation & Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China in enhancing the coach training systems; Thirdly, we will extend the Urban Sports Funding Scheme; and fourthly, we will increase the funding level for local international events by 50 per cent starting this September to support more diverse and higher-level sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong. We will also continue promoting Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events and developing sports as an industry through the "M" Mark System.
Since its opening a year ago, the Kai Tak Sports Park has successfully delivered over 120 major programmes. The utilisation rates of Kai Tak Stadium and the Kai Tak Arena is close to 90 per cent. We will continue to work with the Operator to stage more major international sports and entertainment events in the precinct, with a view to continuously promoting the synergistic development of "sports + mega events".
The successful hosting of the 15th National Games, jointly by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, in end-2025, not only demonstrates Hong Kong's capability to organise large-scale sports events, but also lays a solid foundation for hosting more major events in the GBA.We will further promote the development of local sports and continue to deepen the exchange and co-operation in sports with the GBA cities, thereby contributing to the country's efforts in building a strong sporting nation.
Cultural and creative industries
On cultural and creative industries, the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency continues to promote the industrialisation of the creative sectors. Over the years, the Government has injected more than $9billion in total into the CreateSmart Initiative (CSI) and the Film Development Fund (FDF) to promote the development of the eight creative sectors. The CSI and the FDF have respectively sponsored more than 860 and 490 projects having incubated many successful cases.
In 2025 and 2026, we have started novel film tourism projects, namely, the "Kowloon Walled City: A Cinematic Journey" exhibition and the "Yau Ma Tei Police Station: A Cinematic Journey" exhibition, recreating scenes from iconic films. They have received enthusiastic responses from locals and tourists alike.
We will continue to fund and organise entertainment and design mega events, including the annual Entertainment Expo, Hong Kong Fashion Fest and Business of Design Week, to round up local and international industry players and to explore business opportunities and international markets. We will also continue to strengthen cross-sectoral and cross-media collaborations and foster the development of cultural intellectual property rights.
We are proactively developing Hong Kong into a global trading hub for premium arts, and we are pleased that we have concluded an agreement with Art Basel last month to deepen collaboration over the next five years, reinforcing Hong Kong as the exclusive host city in the region.
In addition to the annual Art Basel held each March, Art Basel Hong Kong will continue to drive public art promotion and education in the city, and will support Hong Kong in shaping strategies to further develop the local art ecosystem and market. The study on related areas of art trading is expected to be completed within this year.
At the same time, the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority will also take forward the development of the arts trading ecosystem. The CSTB (Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau) will continue to support the Authority in developing and operating the WKCD project on a self-financing basis, as well as implementing various measures for the industrial development of the cultural and creative industries.
The Government has allocated a further $40 million to the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for organising the second edition of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo in October this year, establishing the event as a flagship platform for Hong Kong's arts and cultural industries. The Expo seeks to further promote international cultural and artistic exchanges and business negotiations, and strengthen Hong Kong's role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
We will also review the funding mechanism for arts groups. By introducing assessment criteria that are tied to performance and artistic standards, we aim to increase mobility and opportunities to advance, encourage continuous innovation, and develop a sustainable ecosystem for the arts, culture and creative industries.
Conclusion
Mr Chairman, this concludes my opening remarks. Members are welcome to raise questions.
Source: AI-found images
