A well-known businessman and political figure, James Tien has been appointed by the government as chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board since March 2007 on a three-year term.

Tien, who has a taste for good foods and wines and often travels abroad to watch top class operas, football matches and big events, is never short of bright ideas to promote local tourism and enhance tourist attractions in Hong Kong.

In his opinion, it is most important for Hong Kong to showcase to the world niches the city can offer to the visitors.

"Last week, I went to Tokyo to watch the operas Aida and Don Carlo," he said enthusiastically.

The NHK opera house can hold 3,400 and a total of nine shows were performed. Based on the average price of US$800 per ticket, it would yield over US$2.7 million from a single show and US$24 million on aggregate.

"As far as I know, half of the audiences were not residents of Tokyo. The other in the audience came from other cities in Japan and from Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Their patronage would definitely benefit the hotel, catering and retail industries in Tokyo."

The promotion of operas and ticket sales arrangements in Hong Kong is far from being adequate, he commented. Since not many local people can afford to pay for the ticket prices, a lot more publicity work should be done to attract people from other cities to watch top class operas, shows and events in Hong Kong, he suggested.

A member of the Legislative Council for nearly two decades until 2008, he bemoaned the fact that the site of the soon-to-be-built West Kowloon Cultural District had been idle for so many years.

Similarly, the cruise terminal project, which will become operational in 2013, has been delayed for almost 10 years after relocation of the old airport under the lengthy consultative process of the democratic system in Hong Kong.

"As chairman of HKTB, I negotiate with the government the level of annual funding to promote tourism development," he said. "We have a budget of HK500 million per annum. Last year, the government was unwilling to pay an additional HK$40 million for us to stage certain special events. At the end of the day, we had to spend out of our reserves to run the special events, but that decreased our level of reserves to about HK$100 million.

"Faced with a shortage of funds, HKTB may be forced to cancel certain events, cut staff or close some of our offices. But many people will be disappointed if we cancel special events such as the Winterfest, the giant Christmas tree, the countdown party or the Chinese New Year float parade.

"HK$40 million is only a small proportion of public expenditures, especially when tourism can help generate enormous tourist spending and liven up various sectors in return. As chairman of HKTB, the best I can do is to spend within our means and to state the reasons to the government why additional funds are necessary.

"The government now only talks about the six new economic areas, yet seems to neglect tourism as one of the four original economic pillars. I am afraid that the government says the economy is reviving because it does not want to provide more funds for tourism development," he said.

The HKTB sometimes seeks commercial sponsorships to support the special events but that is not always easy.

"The pan-democrats will allege that these are examples of collusion between government and business," he said with a reluctant smile. "The corporations sponsored our events last year for the sake of good corporate image. Hit by the financial crisis, they are not in a sound financial situation this year and they may find it hard to sponsor our events again."

To enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness and tourist attractions, Tien said the government should strive to organize more big events and improve tourist infrastructures.

"It will be great if we can have Formula 1 racing like Singapore and the Masters golf tournament to attract more tourists to come to Hong Kong," he beamed.

The HKTB has proposed a week-long international dragon boat festival/carnival at the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, instead of Shing Mun River in Shatin, as the venue is in many people's view rather shabby and lacks suitable ancillary facilities, but the government was unwilling to provide funding.

Tien is also aware that many zealous local football fans join package tours to watch premier matches in England and other Euro cities. If Hong Kong wants to attract world class football clubs to play here, it must improve the stadium facilities, especially the changing room facilities, because he has heard complaints that those facilities are not up to standard.

Besides, the seating capacity of the central tennis court at Victoria Park should be greatly expanded and covers should also be added above the seats to provide greater comfort to the audiences, while the Fanling golf course should also be improved.

(HK Edition 10/02/2009 page2)