By staff reporter Yuan Fang

"In the hard times caused by the global financial crisis, we hope central government will allow more mainland visitors to travel to Hong Kong as a way to stimulate the local economy," said Li Tze Leung, a member of the National Committee of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in a side-session to this year's CPPCC gathering.

Li Tze Leung from Hong Kong was attending the annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He hopes the "Individual Visit Scheme", which allows mainland travelers to visit Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis, to be further expanded to include more mainland cities. [Yuan Fang/China.org.cn]

Li, also chairman of Hong Kong & Kowloon Electrical Appliances Merchants Association, was referring to a scheme, started in 2003 and called "Individual Visit Scheme", which allows mainland travelers to visit Hong Kong and Macao on an individual basis. Prior to the scheme mainland residents could generally only travel to Hong Kong on business visas or in group tours.

It was announced by Guangdong and Hong Kong officials after their side-session to the National People's Congress on March 3 that starting from April 1 this year, Shenzhen will become the 49th mainland city to join the scheme. This is expected to facilitate over 10 million Shenzhen residents' travel to Hong Kong.

However, the scheme should be further expanded to include more mainland cities, especially in the context of the global financial crisis, proposed Li. "Among the 49 cities now included in the scheme, most are big cities," he said. "We hope more second-tier cities can join the scheme. This will be a big spur to the Hong Kong economy, which has been hit hard by the global financial crisis."

The global economic recession has forced over 10,000 Hong Kong factories to shut down in the Pearl River Delta region and more are expected to follow, said Li. Other sectors have also suffered. The gloomy economy has also put a significant dampener on Hong Kong residents' enthusiasm for spending. "They have money, but they are not willing to spend," he said.

Retail sales in Hong Kong witnessed a sharp decline in February, he added, without providing a specific figure.

Allowing more mainland visitors to travel to Hong Kong under the individual visit scheme will help improve the situation, Li believes. "Their visits will provide a direct boost to the Hong Kong tourism industry and increase retail sales. In addition, their spending will also encourage an enthusiasm for shopping among Hong Kong residents. Higher retail sales will result in more investment, and gradually the Hong Kong economy will recover."

By June last year, nearly five years after the scheme was initiated, mainland residents had made over 30 million trips to Hong Kong, a big boost to local retail sales and to the tourism industry.

(China.org.cn March 5, 2009)