Hong Kong will host more than 100 mega events in the second half of the year, including 15 new shows, conferences and exhibitions, which the government says are “value for money” in terms of attracting visitors and bringing economic benefits to the city. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Tuesday announced a list of mega events added to the city’s calendar between July to December. These included 42 large-scale conferences, 25 artistic and creative activities, 15 sports competitions, 13 functions related to finance, the economy and the innovation and technology sector, and 11 festive events.
To attract visitors to the city, the government was also discussing the possibility of preserving sets of , the city’s award-winning martial arts film featuring the Kowloon Walled City, and turning them into exhibits, Wong said. Including mega events that had already taken place, the city would hold over 210 mega events by year’s end. This was expected to attract 1.
7 million travellers, stimulate spending of HK$7.2 billion (US$92.3 million) and add HK$4.
3 billion to the local economy. Wong explained that these figures were a estimate and emphasised that the mega events were “value for money” for Hong Kong since the city would be gaining a lot more as compared to what the government would be spending on subsidies this year. The city was expected to spend about HK$200 million in subsidies for events this financial year, down from HK$330 million in the last.
Won.
