Policy insights for a sustainable tourism mobility: a case study in Hong Kong

Abstract

China is a growing market for tourism to international destinations, with a year-on-year increase of 18%. From the perspective of geographical convenience, Hong Kong is one of the most visited cities by Chinese tourists in the past ten years. Indeed, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Chinese visitor arrivals since the implementation of Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003, from 6.83 million in 2002 to 47.25 million in 2014. Although the scheme boosted the development of the tourism, retail and catering industries in Hong Kong, the pressure on the public transportation system brought by the influx of Mainland visitors was of vital concern to the local community. Considering the fact that tourism travel accounts for a major and growing share of all travels in Hong Kong, a theoretical framework for achieving sustainability in tourism and mobility is therefore of paramount importance to policy makers in Hong Kong. To achieve this, face-to-face interview with Chinese tourists were conducted to obtain data on their travel characteristics and views on the service level of the existing public transports and the effectiveness of various tourism policy measures in Hong Kong. The findings of this study offer theoretical insights for Hong Kong to achieve sustainable tourism and mobility for future development.