Policy Statement & Submission

I. 555

It is great news to Hong Kong that on Friday, May 23, the travel advisory against non-essential travel to Hong Kong was lifted by the World Health Organization (WHO). But still, the damage from SARS to Hong Kong's economy and its international reputation has been significant. So any comeback effort is neither going to be easy nor fast. But there is now a unity in Hong Kong which is determined to pour all its energy into this effort. With the end of the SARS crisis in sight in Hong Kong, the government has formed a "re-launch" committee under Financial Secretary Antony Leung and hired a public relations firm to make recommendations on steps and events to put Hong Kong back on the map as a business and tourism center. Many in the private sector also are scrambling to contribute to the "re-launch" of Hong Kong with their own "re-launch" campaign ideas.

Two weeks ago, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce submitted its proposal of such a campaign to the government. The Chamber's so-called "555" campaign will be divided into three phases: "Re-invigorate, Re-launch, and Re-build" that will take place over "5 weeks, 5 months, and 5 years," corresponding to the immediate, short-term and long-term horizons. The first phase is a confidence and communication phase, for Hong Kong to tell the world that "we are back"! The second phase is a promotional phase to bring back first the business visitors, then the regional and mainland tourists, and finally the international tourists. The third phase seeks to rebuild Hong Kong as a world class city with clean health standards, clean environment, and a disease control and crisis management capability.

II. Phase I—Communication and Confidence

The Chamber feels that a communication and confidence building foundation phase must take place first to tell the world the true situation of Hong Kong—the heroic medical personnel, the top notch medical research, and the control of the disease now. During this phase, we must also dispel the unfounded speculation and rumors about the "dangers" of SARS—that it is not airborne, that it does not survive on goods or containers shipped from Hong Kong, that Hong Kong people are not carriers to be avoided, and that it is not as deadly as many known diseases. Hong Kong's global reputation has taken a beating since mid-March, and we must gradually build up confidence of the international community in Hong Kong. This confidence building phase through intensive communication worldwide must take place before any re-launch events in Phase II. Otherwise, the conditions will not be ripe for the activities in Phase II, which can begin soon since the WHO travel advisory is now lifted.

The Chamber is doing its part in Phase I by asking its 4000 members to write to their overseas contacts to tell them how we are winning the battle against SARS. We also wrote to 300 business organizations and 100 newspapers worldwide. And we just sent the first business delegation to Guangdong province since the outbreak of SARS to show the world that business in this region is continuing now that SARS is under control in both places.

III. Phase II—Promotion and More Communication

Some suggested Phase II actions are: Advertising and promotion campaign worldwide on Hong Kong's return; sector by sector business lobbying effort to persuade companies to continue to locate in Hong Kong--to include efforts to assure families of the healthy environment here and steps being taken to make Hong Kong a clean city. Large-scale international conferences and cultural events should be scheduled also. We should span the globe and within China for this promotional effort. This effort should both be visible, together with Guangdong province to tout the virtues of the entire region, and subtle with quiet persuasion of companies to locate here to take advantage of the large China market.

But we must be realistic about this five-month phase II. First we would hope that the disease would be under control not only in mainland China, but in Taiwan and other parts of the world soon. Secondly, maybe business visitors and mainland tourists would come back quickly to Hong Kong, but getting many European or American tourists back to Hong Kong may be difficult initially. And with fall and winter coming around again, there is also no assurance that SARS will not come back in some limited form at that time.

IV. Phase III—World City

For the long term, we must have a fundamental re-look at the way we live in Hong Kong. Diseases like SARS may return again, so in Phase III, which can last up to five years, Hong Kong should establish a Centre for Disease Control which has not only medical research, but intelligence, alert, and public health crisis management functions. This HKCDC would be a center for infectious disease study with connections globally, leveraging off the excellent scientists already here. Hong Kong must also review building codes and environment codes to ensure this becomes and remains a clean, less cramped, and healthy city with a first class quality of life. Education of this new way of looking at hygiene and lifestyle must start at the school-age and continue throughout society. Furthermore, Pearl River Delta integration and economic cooperation with China continue to be the future of Hong Kong, and thus after the lessons from SARS in the spring of 2003, there must be the establishment of close public health communication links with the Guangdong province.

Ultimately, Hong Kong will come out a better place. With China continuing to be the investment destination and marketplace of choice in the world, the more international, more transparent, and cleaner Hong Kong will actually strengthen its middleman role. But this will require effort by every citizen in Hong Kong, in a "marathon race". To sustain this effort, we must not forget the lessons of the spring of 2003.

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Dr Eden Y Woon is the CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce