Key Problems and Issues Facing Hong Kong

Contemporary touristry Issues disposal issue TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM KEY PROBLEMS AND ISSUES FACING HONG KONG Introduction Unquestionably, Hong Kong is a blasted enter where possesses prosperity and closely of the elements of being a world family cosmopolitan which has victorfully attracted visitors over years, especially from the mainland by emphasising our world-class shopping, eat and other urban attractions (Lam, H. , 2004).Despite the flourishing scene of the tourerry pains, the volatile tourist markets and growing competition from Southeast Asian countries and neighbouring destinations have posed b ar-assborn challenges to Hong Kongs tourism industry. In order to strengthen Hong Kongs plant as a preferable Asian tourist destination, in late years, Hong Kong establishment has started paying more attentions to sustainable tourism collect to the rising environmental consciousness worldwide and tourists growing interests in the new forms of tourism, namely Eco-tourism and Cultural tourism.Projects and campaigns, such as the ontogenesis of Hong Kong Wetland position, the launch of Cultural Kaleidoscope and temper Kaleidoscope experience programmes, and publishing tour guidebooks- Discover Hong Kong Nature and Discover Hong Kong by Rail were introduced to promote green tourism and cultural tourism (GovHK, 2009). These furtherance schemes have been launched with the aim to sustain the tourism industry by diversifying the tourism products to cater to the changing and diverse needs of inbound tourist market.Despite the growing is on track of continued growth which has aroused tourists interests to look at the other sides of Hong Kong, many issues ar needed to take into consideration due to the complex nature of sustainable tourism and the large number of stakeholders problematical in. There is criticism from public that throughout these schemes, little attention has been paying(a) to develop the tourism as a whole and a genuinely sustainable genius since the schemes ar still carried out in a loose manner without a thorough insurance policy. The most significant issues are environmental ustainability and cultural sustainability due to the most recent focus of governance on these issues and their importance to the sustainable increase. Environmental Sustainability Country parks and nature reserves make up 40 percent of Hong Kongs total land area of some 1,100 square kilometres (Ling, 2007). Regarding the relative ample resources and the initial success of Wetland Parks, Hong Kong government recognized the green potential in Hong Kong tourism and has crisply proposed numbers racket of Green initiatives recently, such as the Lantau North Country Park and Marine Park, Geoparks as salutary as cycle tracks and mountain bike trails.However, regarding these proposed projects, inadequate business organisations have been given to the carrying capacity of these infixed resources as well as the cost of constru ction. It is found that the conservational practices are not carried out in a strict manner as a case in Kam Tin Wetland and Hoi Ha Wan marine reserve, which are two long-familiar ecological attractions in Hong Kong, were reported in suffering wastage problems (Cheung, 2006).Another typical modeling is a member of Advisory Council on the Environment opposed to the scheme of Lantau North Country Park concerning the development of transport linkage of tung tree Chung Road would damage the ecology of the areas. It aroused conservationists concern that governments overemphasis on bringing in the tourist dollars will keep tourist agencies and residents focused on generating large-scale projects alone putting little concern on qualification low-impact sustainable tourism (Crets, 2006).From the projects being carried out or proposed, it shows governments interests on large scale investment but not much effort and aid given to the details, such as the carrying capacity of the ecologica l resources. It implies government emphasized on the profit making and missed of a whole-heartedly attitudes towards sustainable tourism. There is no doubt that green tourism has a large potential to become one of the major tourism sectors in Hong Kong with its educational and sustainable meaning as well as the economic benefits resulted from the rising awareness of this market.However, sustainability should not put mainly on the economic side since sustainability of tourist attractions, i. e. , the ecological sites and the hereditary pattern, is the core rate of sustainable tourism. Although the government claimed that it has been keen on promoting green tourism in northeasterly New Territories and outlying islands having regard to the principles of nature conservation and sustainable development. (GovHK, 2009), it is pro batchal that, regarding its policy on green tourism, whether Hong Kong government has a clear and undefiled vision for aggregative tourism that will incor porate the natural environment. touristry should be regarded as a tool for ecological and heritage deliverance but not the other way round, otherwise there is no square(a) meaning of sustainable tourism. Apparently, there is still much manner for improvement regarding the policy as more concern and control should be placed over the environmental sustainability so as not to subvert the economic sustainability on the environmental sustainability.The success of green tourism is for the most part dependent on effectiveness of government on planning and precaution to minimize the impact to environment and the effective distribution of ecological resources. i of the measures suggested to the government is to have strict control on the environmental conservations kinda of focusing on constructing more attractions and promoting the markets. The carrying capacity of the green attractions should be conservatively studied and controlled by imposing strict regulations on the visitor numbers and their behaviours.Besides, due to the rising demand, eco-guides demand is stretching, thus setting legal standards for eco-guides as well as providing training for nurturing the expertise are in urgent needs to cope with the stretched demand as well as to take aim the appropriate behaviours in the ecologist attractions (Chong, 2007). Cultural Sustainability Due to the diversification in Hong Kongs finis which is positioned as East-meet-West, Hong Kong has been recently facing the demands of constructing an identity reflected in choices approximately what heritage to conserve and how to present it (Henderson, 2002).With the current trend of globalization and mass movement of people, issues of cultural identity and cultural preservation continue to be explored. Recently, Hong Kong has been keen on developing attractions to enhance Hong Kongs cultural visualise, one of the fine examples is the proposed cultural venues, the West Kowloon Cultural District. Besides buildin g new cultural venues, preserving and promoting Hong Kongs tangible and intangible heritage are accounted as other measures to showcase Hong Kongs mixed culture.Examples like preservation and development of the former Marine Police Headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui into a tourism facility by the private sector, 1881 Heritage, and HKTBs promotion of tralatitious Chinese customs and festivals such as the Tin Hau fiesta line of battle in Yuen Long and Cha Kwo Ling, Tam Kung Festival in Shaukeiwan, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and the Birthday of Lord Buddha celebrations at Po Lin Monastery. Despite these efforts, several problems are found regarding Hong Kongs culture and heritage sustainability policy.It is found that Hong Kong has been relatively retard in developing its potential heritage sites into tourist attractions, as seen in the controversy over the fate of Tiger Balm Garden and the central Police Station. According to Chu and Uebegang (2002), the sluggish and passive respons e of government reflects the insufficiency of political will due to a lack of understanding of the principles of heritage and its potential. The Government believes heritage conservation should be driven by tourism and economics and not treated in the same way as other social and education services.Even with the setting up of Heritage Tourism Task Force which is established in 1998, there have been very few recommendations proposed by the task force. Some critics have blamed on its lack of leadership and lack of influence in the government bureaucratism (Chu and Uebegang, 2002). Other problems implied in the policy of government are lack of a broad-based, long-term conservation policy, lack of a clear priorities and inadequate co-ordination of government departments pretendd in present heritage conservation practice.Besides, in most cultural heritage development, public involvement in decision-making is absent. Regarding these problem, it is essential for government to change its attitude and strike for a more holistic vision and policy towards the cultural heritage conservation. It is due to the challenge faced by Hong Kong that it has long promoted its culture as an exciting fusion of East-meet-West and traditional-meet-contemporary, which may arrange it falling in a danger of overemphasizing on international bolt attractions and a loss of actual distinctiveness.Development may follow a putting surface path to create uniform of tourism features which convey similar run across to the tourists. Therefore, the cultural and heritage conservations are essential in the tourism development as it helps to maintain a unique sense of place and discrepancy as intrinsic merit to secure its competitive advantages and reposition the image besides an international metropolitan with the colonial history. Apart from these problems of fragmented policy and vision, the management issue of the cultural heritage has been another concern by the conservationist and research ers.Since the cultural and heritage tourism requires a cautious get along with sensitivity, research, and conjunction involvement due to its core value is to convey the value to and engage present generations without betraying the spirit of the previous generations experiences. It is important and beneficial to involve the participation of those people and groups who are most closely related to the moment of the heritage area. Without this, it is difficult to light upon substantive conservation. In Hong Kong, there is lack of cooperation with and involvement of the local anesthetics or the significant cultural group.It is, therefore, suggested to involve the local fellowship at the planning and operation level which can enhance the sustainability of the projects as well as prevent the problem of being too tap which affecting the authenticity and integrity of the heritage. Referring to the need of involvement of local community, received level of empowerment is essential which can be regarded as community based tourism. It broadly described as responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. It requires tourism activities to be chiefly developed and operated by members of the local community and that revenues from tourism remain within the local community. Respect for local culture, heritage and traditions is imperative. CBT teaches the visitor to behave responsibly and respectfully towards nature and native culture, and offers activities that give the visitor an understanding and apprehension of the area without degrading it. Most importantly of all, it can reserve the sustainable resources and reduce the impacts to the community daily life at the minimum level.Conclusion Tourism is most ideally suited to adopt sustainability as a directional philosophy in sustainable developmemnt (McKercher, 2003). However, mismanaging sustainable tourism will subprogram it into a curse as it will dama ge the ecological and heritage attractions in more direct ship canal. According to McKercher (2003), sustainable tourism is strengthened around four pillars of tourism, namely economic sustainability, ecological sustainability, cultural sustainability and local sustainability, all these four elements must be addressed if we are to achieve sustainable tourism.It is found that recently Hong Kong government is striking for sustainable tourism, however, there is a lack of broad view and holistic policy to support the efforts. Unregulated short-term initiatives which serve the narrow interests of powerful forces in the industry may jeopardize the sustainability and longer-term tourism potential of many communities upon which majority interests are based (Brohman, 1996). It is therefore important for government to be aware of the time to come planning must be holistic, strategic and long-term.Laws, procedures and systems for planning, preservation, development and management should be ad justed or created to ensure that the development of the project is undertaken in ways that are consistent with the principles of sustainability. Besides, all these should be applied to a culture of caring for the environment, therefore the concepts of preservation and sustainable development should be fostered and advance within the government and the community so as to ensure the true and holistic meaning of sustainable tourism.