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Island Getaway

Everyone agrees that tourism development on Lantau Island offers great potential, but no one can agree on how this should be taken forward

As Tina Turner sings in the old "Simply the Best" TV commercial in the 1990s, Hong Kong has a hell of a lot going for it. Endless superlatives flashing on the screen for the entire track would raise even the most jaded of travellers' eyebrows. We have the world's deepest aquarium, the longest moving walkway, the best airport, the most Rolls Royces, the largest seated Buddha ... but one key ingredient in many countries' tourism promotion packages not mentioned in the ad was resorts. After all, we can hardly compete with Thailand's Koh Samui, or Indonesia's Bali, universally revered as "Heaven on Earth." But why can't we be something in between?

Duncan Pescod, Deputy Commissioner of the Tourism Commission says, "It seems to us there is potential for this kind of development, but it doesn't matter what we think, it depends on what the private sector thinks, as they are the ones who drive such developments, not the government."

Clive Noffke of the Green Lantau Association, says he believes community-based tourism that doesn't spoil the charm of the island does have potential, but "my reaction to developing resorts on Lantau is that it is not a renowned tourist destination. And if you are talking about beach resorts then the water here is not that pretty, and quite dirty most of the year."

The Mainland wave

Hong Kong has been promoting itself as a "Shopping paradise" and an "East meets West melting pot" for years. The combination has attracted tourists from around the world for decades, but the problem now is that Hong Kong's appeal to international tourists is waning.

The waves of Mainland tourists coming to Hong Kong perpetually smash monthly visitor arrival records, but hide the fact that visitors from other destinations are ebbing.

In the first five months of this year, 4.8 million Mainlanders visited Hong Kong, up from 2.4 million in 2002 and 2.7 million last year, despite SARS. Leaving the Mainland market aside, however, visitor arrivals from the rest of the world have been tapering off for some time. The Hong Kong Tourism Board's statistics for January-May 2004 show that 3.5 million visitors from around the world (excluding Mainland China) visited Hong Kong, down 7.8 percent from the same period in 2002 (SARS distorts figures for 2003 so are not used here), and down 7.7 percent for January-May 2001.

Perhaps the decline in visitors from the rest of the world doesn't really matter -- after all Mainland visitors tend to stay longer and spend more than other tourists. But becoming dependent on a single tourism market obviously has its risks.

Moreover, "Visitors from Mainland China complain there is not much to do here," points out James Lu, Executive Director of the Hong Kong Hotels Association.

The opening of Disneyland next year should quash such complaints, with nine out of 10 Mainlanders coming to Hong Kong after the theme park opens expected to visit the magic kingdom. Given the current growth in Mainland arrivals, that figure could hit 10 million by the time the park opens.

With Disneyland and the Tung Chung to Ngong Ping Cable Car coming on stream soon, and further down the road the convention and exhibition center at the airport, plus the Macau-Zhuhai bridge, Lantau could become an uncut diamond with the potential -- if properly cut -- to become the crowning jewel in Hong Kong's tourism promotion crown.

Spa and resort development

A study conducted by the Hong Kong Tourism Association (now HKTB) in 1995 called Vistour, recommended that Lantau be developed to cater to the high-end of the tourism market, and that spa and resort developments should be a part of this.

Just last month, the Tourism Commission launched the "Consultancy Study on the Development of New Tourism Infrastructure -- Spa and Resort Facilities," which is scheduled for completion in early 2005.

"We have been working to identify sites that could be developed as resorts, both on Lantau Island and at Sai Kung, as well as other islands, and we do think there is potential for this kind of development," Mr Pescod says.

Uris Fong, Vice President -- Group Marketing & Sales of Miramar International Hotel Management Corp., which owns the 128-room Silvermine Beach Hotel on Lantau, is also enthusiastic about resort development on the island if it is done correctly.

"Lantau definitely has huge potential to become an important tourist destination, because the island as a whole offers a lot of attractions, such as the Big Buddha, the fishing village at Tai O, and it has good beaches," he says.

He's optimistic that the opening of Disneyland will encourage more tourists to explore other parts of Lantau. Anticipating more visitors, the group recently renovated the hotel's coffee shop and function rooms, and plans to start renovating rooms later this year in preparation for a new wave of guests.

He also believes spa and resort development on the island could be hugely successful if accessibility issues on the south side of the island can be resolved.

"Even if you do build a resort on the south side of the island, getting tourists there is very difficult because the Transport Department vigorously limits traffic on the roads. For example, we’ve been trying to get a license to operate a shuttle bus service for our guests for years without any luck," he says.

If accessibility problems can be solved, and if developers can be tempted to build first-class resorts, then tourists will flock to them, says Mr Fong, in the same way that spa and resort hotels in Singapore, Bangkok and even Shanghai -- hardly idyllic resort destinations -- attract tourists from around the world.

But as Mr Lu points out, "Whatever we do, we have to be careful not to destroy the place. Any resort should blend in with the environment there and not disturb the natural beauty or atmosphere of Lantau."

Strict controls to prevent polluting the environment should also be set in place and the number of rooms should be controlled to prevent drowning out the quiet, unspoiled attraction of the island, he added.

To accomplish this, he suggests the government offer land at cheaper rates to allow resort operators to build low-density resorts. "If the cost of land is so high that resorts would have to pack 500-plus visitors in to see any hope of recovering their investment, then this is the last thing that we want," Mr Lu says.

Mr Pescod also cautions about the need to preserve the area. "My personal concern is that whatever development is taken forward is that it is done correctly. There are sites on Lantau that are spectacular so you have to make sure you don't destroy what you have."

Coordinating efforts

Community-based tourism has contributed to the charm and maintained the character of Lantau. Past projects have met with varying degrees of success. Local villagers have tried setting up holiday camps, restaurants and hotels. Few could be called roaring successes, but as Mr Noffke points outs, they could be if community-based tourism were policy led.

Mr Pescod at the Tourism Commission, however, says, "Virtually all developments in the tourism industry are industry led. I think there are opportunities out there and we hope businesses will come to us with a good proposal."

While just about everyone agrees that resort development on Lantau has potential, they part ways on how this should be taken forward. Government says the private sector should take the ball, while the private sector says the government needs to take the lead.

Mr Lu points to Thailand, Singapore, and even the Mainland examples of how government leadership has created thriving tourism industries. In the Mainland, for example, the municipal governments get all the big developers together, explain their plan, and ask for support to make it a reality. They also ask what problems are involved and how they can be overcome, and provide assistance.

"In Zhongshan, for example, the Shangri-La Group have a beautiful hotel there. It's not the kind of place that you would expect to find a Shangri-La hotel, but the government there offered them a proposal that was too good to offer," Mr Lu says. "What is what we should be doing with Lantau; making the world's top resort operators offers that are too good to resist."

Planning for failure?

While there is hope that tourism can be carefully managed to avoid ruining Lantau, the lack of a long-term development plan for the island could spoil the party.

Mr Noffke says the government's Lantau Tourism Development task force, which is due to release its findings next year, is fast-tracking infrastructure projects.

"They will be looking at the whole of Lantau, but the public are not allowed access to the meetings at all," he says. "There is a great deal of secrecy behind the task force, which is worrying. They have said that they will consult the public on their proposals, but as we have found out in the past, by that stage it is already a done deal. The only question asked then is, 'do you want green or pink tiles on the concrete?'"

Without coordinated planning and open consultations, however, efforts to develop a new side to tourism in Hong Kong are likely to fail.

"A complete, comprehensive plan connected to all other parts of Hong Kong and divisions is needed," says Mr Lu. "We can't have one department doing one thing and another department doing another; all these efforts have to be coordinated."

The sewage outlet from Stonecutters Island Sewage Treatment Plant, for example, spews out treated sewage just to the east of Lantau. Another contentious issue is the building of a "super prison" on Hei Ling Chau, a sizeable island a stone's throw south of Lantau.

"This is a very high profile project," says Mr Noffke. "So even though the government says it will begin consultations, so much money will have already been spent on consultations and feasibility studies that it will have to go ahead."

Why other sites were not considered, such as the New Territories, for the HK$12 billion super prison is a mystery. But the idea of having one of the world's best airports next to a soon-to-be international exhibition complex, Disneyland, the world's largest seated Buddha, a Buddhist-related theme village and what will likely to be one of the world's great cable car rides with a super prison on their doorstep sounds bizarre. Hardly the sort of view that would encourage companies to invest in building resorts.

Cable Car to Enlightenment The 5.7 km Tung Chung Cable Car Project, whisking tourists between Tung Chung MTRC station and Ngong Ping, site of the world's largest seated bronze Buddha, is scheduled to open in early 2006. The cable car journey will take approximately 17 minutes. MTRC says the fare for the ride has yet to be fixed, but it "will be attractive." The MTRC will have the rights to develop and run shops under the 30-year franchise agreement, and will pay HK$1 in royalties to the government for every ticket sold. About 1.5 million tourists are expected to ride the cable car in the first year of operations, which carries a price tag of HK$950 million (including capitalised interest). A Buddhist Village will also be built at the Ngong Ping Terminal as part of the project that will include a traditional tea house, a village square, a Buddhist Interpretive Centre, a country market and a high-tech film theatre. To maintain the integrity of the cultural and religious precinct, the village will be compatible with the existing rural and religious character. "Environmental and cultural issues identified early on in the design process have influenced the design and construction methodology," says the MTRC. "The selection of the particular cable car system and the alignment are a direct result of this approach, minimising the number of towers and damage to the local ecology." Operational management will be undertaken by Skyrail-ITM (HK) Ltd, which operates one of Australia's best known tourism attractions, a 7.5-km rainforest cable-way in Cairns.

Cable Car System Route length: Travelling time : Capacity: Cabin capacity:

5.7 km Approximately 17 minutes one way 3,500 passengers per hour per direction 17 passengers  (10 seated and 7 standing)