text/Qin Yue
Affected by the sinking airflow of the tropical cyclone "Danas", today's Hong Kong fire parasol is high, the air pollution index is high, and the entire city is shrouded in a gray cloud of smoke. Looking through the densely packed high-rise buildings, Victoria Harbor was blurred, and the air was filled with an indescribable ambiguous atmosphere, depressing but restless.
The social unrest caused by the "anti-anti-extradition bill" has lasted for more than a month. Over the past month, a very small number of criminals have been constantly provoking and creating riots on the streets, which has made the once proud Asian international city of Hong Kong covered with a thin layer of dust just like this weather. On July 1, the thugs rushed into the Legislative Council and sabotaged the police. The severe violent clashes in Sha Tin also resulted in bloodshed, with several police officers injured, and one of them bit his fingers while subduing the thug. The conflict between
has spread and has not stopped yet. A series of violent acts have undermined social security, affected grassroots people's livelihood, and directly slashed the operating environment of the retail industry. The Hong Kong Retail Management Association stated on July 16 that even if July and August are the traditional peak season for the retail industry, due to the impact of the impact, many merchants were forced to suspend business, the company was under pressure, and the income of store employees was also affected. The annual retail sales may drop by double-digits. This is the first time in 20 years, and the last double-digit decline occurred during the 1998 financial crisis. Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Li Xiaojia also said that Hong Kong's status as an international financial center is very important, and many international investors already have concerns and anxiety.
In fact, trade and logistics, financial services, professional and industrial and commercial support services and tourism are ranked as the four pillar industries of Hong Kong, and have been the main driving force for Hong Kong's economic growth for many years. What impact will some violent conflicts have on Hong Kong's tourism industry? In this regard, direct news reporter Qin Yue interviewed Yao Sirong, a member of the Legislative Council (tourism industry) and chairman of Hong Kong China Travel Agency.
(Photo note: Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) and Chairman of Hong Kong China Travel Agency Yao Sirong)
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: The Hong Kong Legislative Council was damaged by thugs some time ago. According to your observation, how serious is the damage?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: 7 July 1 impact on the Legislative Council is very big. If you pay attention to the news, all the glass and rolling shutters for security purposes around the periphery will basically be damaged. The Legislative Council lobby has a security room and a control room, all security systems have been destroyed, and the facilities of the control room have been destroyed.
We think the thugs have plans. Most people may just smash these facilities, tear off the wires, etc., but these people know what kind of instruments are there in the Legislative Council building, and they use relevant tools to damage these instruments. These actions make the entire security system ineffective. Looking at the conference hall on the first floor, they painted it freely in the solemn conference hall, and even the interpretation room was not spared. The relative damage to the conference room on the second floor is not that serious, but it has different degrees of damage, such as the equipment used for meetings. As the current situation, repairs will take some time.
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: How much impact do you predict the incident will have on the Legislative Council’s deliberations?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: The Legislative Council originally had two general meetings in July, and many committees were going to meet, the most important of which was the Finance Committee. What Hong Kong citizens are most concerned about is the Finance Committee meeting. The Finance Committee’s allocation of more than 70 billion Hong Kong dollars must be passed before the government can use it. These instruments and facilities were destroyed, resulting in the forced cancellation of these meetings. The government will not be able to use these expenses in the future, including salary increase for civil servants, and related funding for public housing land, etc., which cannot be carried out. I think it's a pity in this regard.
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: Everyone is also concerned about whether October can resume meeting as usual?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: hopes to repair the outer security glass curtain wall and rolling shutter within more than three months.It is still hard to say whether it can be repaired properly. It is also hard to say whether there will be any thugs taking the opportunity to find reasons to attack the Legislative Council after the Legislative Council resumes its meeting operation.
If there is no barrier to protect it, there is no guarantee for those who hold meetings. Under this premise, the most basic barrier must be established. In addition, the equipment related to the meeting should be repaired well. Some of them are damaged too seriously and should be reset and adjusted. The maintenance costs of these "invisible" software must be calculated separately and technically cooperated. If these equipment and guarantees can be restored, the Legislative Council will not resume normally in mid-October.
So we not only look at the Legislative Council’s hardware facilities were destroyed and how much money they spent to repair them, but more importantly, many meetings cannot be held and bills cannot be passed, such as the issue of people’s livelihood of salary tax exemption in the next year. If the conference cannot be held, there is no way to discuss whether the taxes in the next year can be exempted. So what we are talking about is not only a matter of surface maintenance costs, but also a loss to people's livelihood and society.
(Photo Note: The Legislative Council building under maintenance is surrounded by "ice cones")
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: , as the pillar of Hong Kong's traditional economy, contributes a lot to Hong Kong's GDP every year. What impact does recent events have on Hong Kong's tourism industry?
, Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: Tourism is one of the four major economic pillars of Hong Kong, with a direct GDP contribution of 5%, and the number of direct employment is 270,000, but this has not yet calculated the joint effect. The joint effect is to drive retail, food, transportation, etc., which do not directly fall into the tourism industry, but there are 500,000 people in these industries.
So if there is any disturbance in the tourism industry, it will directly affect Hong Kong's service industry and economy. In 2015 and 2016, the number of tourists fell due to the problem of anti-square-meter cargo passengers, and the retail industry fell for more than 20 consecutive months. The unemployment rate in Hong Kong was relatively low in the past, but it rose by 0.1% at that time. This situation can be seen that if the tourism industry is impacted, it may not have a big impact, but the impact it will probably be very wide.
So our SAR government has special support for the tourism industry every year, such as more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars are added to the Tourism Development Bureau for publicity on Hong Kong every year. There will be funding in improving the use of high-tech in the industry and training. We hope that through different support, the capabilities of practitioners will be improved. So we are very concerned about whether there will be continuous conflicts in the future, which will affect the development of the tourism industry.
direct news reporter Qin Yue: 7 and August are the peak of tourism. After the impact incident, many tourists have safety considerations and concerns about coming to Hong Kong. What is the tourism industry data you currently have?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: If you look at the situation in the previous few months, the first thing is the Sino-US trade war, and the impact on the tourism industry appeared faintly in April. Because April is the season with the most exhibitions in Hong Kong and the Mainland, it is the most harmful to the hotel industry, with much lower occupancy rates and much fewer tourists. The situation is better in May. The May Day Golden Week has basically resumed. By June, violent incidents began to occur after June 12, which had a certain impact on the tourism industry, but the impact may not have fallen so badly.
However, the overall figure from January to May rose by about 15%, and from January to June, it rose by 13%. It was only 8% in June, so we can see the trend, and the growth rate is slowing down. Looking at the period in early July, the number I just understood was only 4%. After a series of violent incidents, the number of incoming people has not yet reached a negative growth, but the growth rate has gradually slowed down.
7, there will be worries and hidden dangers in August. It comes from when violent conflicts can end. Hong Kong people like to express their opinions. In the past, Hong Kong had more than 10,000 rallies and demonstrations over 10,000 times a year. In the past, we all knew that Hong Kong was a city of demonstrations and marches, and there were many rallies, but most of them were peaceful, rational, and common.
So everyone is very relieved about the security issues in gatherings in Hong Kong and is not worried about problems.Everyone has always been confident in Hong Kong's public security and its international reputation over the years.
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: What measures are there in the tourism industry that can dispel tourists’ concerns?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: We don’t want to see the impact of activities becoming more and more intense. If these irrational destructive actions continue to occur and overseas media reports one-sidedly, it will affect Hong Kong’s credibility.
saw some shots overseas. They didn’t know where Central, Shau Chi Wan, Admiralty, and Tsim Sha Tsui were. They didn’t know how big Hong Kong is. They only knew that there were a lot of shocks in Hong Kong. Is something happened? So we have seen a significant decline in the number of overseas travelers in the past or two months.
As for emergency measures, the tourism industry has made many emergency arrangements, such as arranging travel groups to stay away from the troubled areas, etc.
For mainland tourists, the number of tourists did not fall for the time being in June and rose slightly in July, which is also due to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway. These two infrastructures actually provide direct help to drive short-term passengers, especially those in Guangdong Province. It only takes one hour to get from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, and only takes more than ten minutes to get from Shenzhen. It takes more than half an hour to go to , Zhuhai on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which is very convenient. With these two infrastructure support, the increase in passengers is still very obvious.
In addition, the central government now hopes to develop the Greater Bay Area, including finance, tourism and other aspects. In terms of tourism, the Hong Kong government, the Macao government and Guangdong Province are all promoting cooperation, such as interoperability in resources. Mainland policies are applicable to Hong Kong residents , allowing Hong Kong residents to return to the mainland to travel. Similarly, mainland residents also know that Hong Kong has added many new projects, and everyone is willing to take a look.
Direct News Reporter Qin Yue: How do you personally view the Hong Kong conflict this time?
Hong Kong Legislative Council Member (Tourism Industry) Yao Sirong: Young people in Hong Kong are impulsive and are easily influenced and exploited by the surrounding environment. Young people do not like to read newspapers, and the role of the Internet cannot be underestimated. Online videos are obviously carefully edited with premeditated design. The deeper reason is the lack of education, which also makes some young people confused and easily go astray. I believe that "one country" is the root, only when the roots are deep can the leaves be lush; "one country" is the root, only when the roots are solid can the leaves be prosperous.
[Exclusive Interview Postscript]
(Photo Note: Legislative Council Building under maintenance)
Walking on the King Kong Road, outside the Hong Kong Legislative Council Building, which was once invaded by thugs, the workers are under orderly repairs. The building is heavily guarded, but also quiet and solemn.
As Hong Kong Stock Exchange President Li Xiaojia said, everyone who loves Hong Kong is proud of the city's business card - freedom, openness, tolerance, peace and reason.
Violence, suppression, and arrest do not belong to Hong Kong. We hope that Hong Kong will get out of the current predicament in the short term, otherwise the road will become narrower and narrower.
"Let the sea breeze blow for five thousand years
Every teardrop seems to speak your dignity
Let the sea tide accompany me to bless you
Please don't forget my face that never turns yellow"
