Enhancement of Visitor Signage

To provide a systematic and easily identifiable system of signs at various tourist attractions in Hong Kong, the Tourism Commission introduced the Visitor Signage Improvement Scheme in 2001. The scheme covers all 18 districts and will be fully completed in 2006. The system includes directional signs, map boards and identification signs to guide visitors to popular tourist spots and provide interesting background information about the area.

Service Quality

To promote a high standard of service in shops and restaurants, the Hong Kong Tourism Board's Quality Tourism Services (QTS) Scheme has been widely supported by the tourism industry and helped to upgrade professionalism and improve the standard of service offered to visitors. By the end of 2005, more than 1 232 retail and catering businesses, representing some 5 945 outlets, an increase of 15.3 per cent of outlets over the previous year, had received QTS accreditation.

The Service Quality Study on tourism-related industries — commissioned to find out what tourists' thought about the quality of service and whether tourism-related industries were living up to their expectations — was completed in 2005. It found that visitors were generally satisfied with the performance and service quality and identified sector-specific improvements for the industry's reference. The Tourism Commission held a symposium entitled 'Service from the Heart' in July to share the study results with the travel trade.

A hospitable community is essential to the development of the tourism industry. The Tourism Commission continues to run the territory-wide public education campaign entitled 'A Hospitable Hong Kong' to promote hospitality. One of the key programmes is the Hong Kong Young Ambassador Scheme, which aims to groom a cadre of young people to serve as 'ambassadors' to overseas visitors and to spread the hospitality message among their peers.

Facilitation of Visitor Entry

The Individual Visit Scheme, introduced by the Mainland authorities to allow residents there to visit Hong Kong in a personal capacity, now covers 38 Mainland cities, including those in Guangdong province, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Tianjian, Chengdu, Jinan, Dalian, Shenyang and nine cities in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The scheme has been well received, with over 5.55 million Mainland visitors arriving in Hong Kong under this scheme in 2005.

The Tourism Commission coordinated efforts among various government departments and the tourism industry to draw up measures to cope with the upsurge in Mainland visitors, especially during the 'golden week' holidays. The measures have demonstrated that Hong Kong is capable of receiving a large number of visitors during peak holiday seasons.