Labubu's Panda-monium Promotes Hong Kong

Yeoh posing with her special edition Labubu with twin pandas

Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh has become the latest Labubu fan after she was gifted a custom one holding two panda cubs that are celebrating their first birthday in Hong Kong.

Yeoh posted pictures of herself on Instagram holding the doll with a mischievous grin with a giant bucket of popcorn, another with British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, and a shot with fellow Wicked actor Jeff Goldblum.

Jia Jia and De De were born in Hong Kong

"Celebrating Hong Kong born Panda Twins first birthday (and my birthday too) with Labubu in the Hollywood Bowl!!! Thank you @discoverhongkong for sending the greatest companions!" she wrote.

Yeoh is one of several celebrities who received the specially-designed Labubu doll as part of a collaboration between the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the toy's creator, Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, to mark the twin pandas' first birthday and promote the city... of course.

The cubs, Jia Jia and De De, who were born on August 15, are the first pandas to be born in Hong Kong and this promotion is a way to prolong panda-monium a bit longer.

Seems like just about everyone has caught onto the Labubu craze, and the government is riding the wave with this special doll. 

Will it catch on with Labubu fans? The sales numbers will tell.

John Lee Sacks 2 Ministers in Surprise Announcement

Chan (left) and Law (right) are Lee's new ministers

Looks like Hong Kong officials who don't perform actually get sacked.

This morning in a surprise move, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced that "after a period of observation" he had removed his tourism and transport ministers, Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and Lam Sai-hung respectively.

However, he repeatedly evaded questions from the media as to why the two were given the sack.

Yeung could not lure big acts to Hong Kong

Director of housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui replaces Yeung, while Mable Chan takes over the transport portfolio from her boss, Lam.

Lee said Law and Chan would deliver better results with their ability to communicate their policies, and that both had shown they were proactive as senior civil servants.

"I see the strengths of the two new appointed secretaries," Lee said in a press conference on Thursday.

"They will be assisting me more to realise my goal of ensuring results and also doing as much work as possible in the coming years."

He said he needed a team to help Hong Kong catch up after the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2019 protests, and believed both Chan and Law supported his policy direction and could take up more responsibilities.

Sounds like Lee is getting pressure from above to belatedly kick-start Hong Kong's economy and so far it's been quite the struggle. It's been really hard to lure tourists to the city when their governments are warning them not to go because of the national security law.

Lam failed to improve taxi services, regulate Uber

There's also the logistics of planning remote night markets in public spaces didn't go so well, superstar footballer Lionel Messi dissing the crowd and refusing to play in a friendly match, and the Hong Kong Tourism Board hasn't been able to lure big acts to the city, except for Coldplay, which will perform four nights at the new Kai Tak stadium.

The HKTB's goal of having 46 million visitors in 2024 is far from achievable with less than a month to go. Someone on Bluesky calculated they would need an average of 189,000 visitors per day to meet that number.

Meanwhile Lam was unable to rein in the taxi industry, and the idea of encouraging taxi drivers to learn Arabic to cater to passengers from the Middle East was far-fetched, and he still hadn't come up with a way to regular ride-hailing apps like Uber.

Now that Lee has actually sacked two ministers for poor performance, who's next? Some are speculating it could be Secretary for Environment Tse Chin-wan for his failure to implement the waste tax that was so convoluted that it was axed at the last minute.

Taxi Industry Encourages Cabbies to be Polite

Wong encourages drivers to be more courteous to passengers

The Hong Kong taxi industry is trying to help cab drivers improve their image by kicking off a campaign to encourage them to be more friendly to their passengers.

A three-month campaign held by the Hong Kong Taxi Council will officially start on June 11 with singer and actor Louis Koo Tin-lok showing cabbies how to be polite to during a ride. The campaign coincides with the Hong Kong Tourism Board's own effort to get residents to go the extra mile and be visitor-friendly.

Koo will be celebrity ambassador for campaign

"We hope the Tourism Board's campaign message: 'let's go the extra mile' will guide and remind taxi drivers of the importance of being polite," said council chairman Ryan Wong Cheuk-pong.

The council is currently recruiting ambassadors to be at taxi stands and distribute pamphlets and souvenirs to remind cabbies to be polite. 

One wonders what the souvenirs would be and how receptive the drivers would be of this reminder.

"Drivers often work alone in their vehicles without colleagues or supervisors to provide guidance. They may spend most of their time focused on driving without having any conversations with anyone," Wong said.

"Their attention to courtesy and communication with passengers may gradually diminish over time."

He really is giving them a huge benefit of the doubt.

Wong also admitted the exercise may not necessarily bring about a drastic improvement that would be hard to measure.

"We do not expect a short-term measure like this will bring a drastic change, but I think even small improvements can significantly enhance the image of the taxi industry, which may be an even more important matter," he said.

The three-month campaign kicks off June 11

Why doesn't Wong himself be a taxi ambassador and get immediate feedback on this initiative?

Will the cabbies listen to him? 

It sounds like the taxi industry is on the defensive and trying the charm offensive to win back people's trust in taking cabs over Uber, but really most taxi drivers won't change. Their cars are ancient, the cabbies themselves are too set in their ways and they don't have many incentives to smarten up. They don't have the innate desire to serve their passengers well.

No campaign or celebrity is going to change that.

Speaking of which, how did Louis Koo get roped into starring in this campaign?

Will Visitors from Eight Mainland Cities Boost HK's Economy?

Can tourists from other parts of China revive HK's economy?

Hong Kong can boost its tourism numbers now that Beijing has approved visitors from eight mainland cities. They are... drumroll please...

These visitors can stay for up to seven days

Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi province

Hohhot in Inner Mongolia autonomous region

Harbin in Heilongjiang

Lhasa in Tibet

Lanzhou in Gansu province

Xining in Qinghai province

Yinchuan, capital city of Ningxia Hui autonomous region

Urumqi in Xinjiang

From May 27, residents from these cities will be able to apply for the Individual Visit Scheme to travel to Hong Kong and not need to join a group tour and can stay for seven days at a time.

The Individual Visit Scheme has been around since 2003 post-SARS in a bid to kickstart Hong Kong's economy. 

But will adding visitors from these eight cities help boost the city's businesses?

Does HK need more poseurs on the streets?

Tourism officials are projecting these tourists will visit Hong Kong for at least three days, meaning they will stay in hotels, but will they find the prices acceptable? They might do what others in the Greater Bay Area have done -- spend the day in Hong Kong and stay overnight across the border...

Are these the tourists who will spend money? 

Seems the Hong Kong Tourism Board has given up on long-haul visitors even though they are the ones who have the money to spend...

Hello Hong Kong on a Budget

The Peak Tram welcomed guests at the party

Last night the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Hong Kong Economic Office held at Chinese New Year party at the Shangri-La in Vancouver.

They invited about 60 people to the festivities, though there wasn't much action when I arrived after 6pm. It turns out everyone had flocked to eat food! The spread? Sushi, tacos, bites like beef nestled inside Yorkshire pudding, vegetarian samosas, deep-fried shrimp, and pork belly skewers.

What about serving things that are Hong Kong-related, like milk tea, char siu bao, spring rolls and malai goh or steamed Chinese cake? 

Mo and Lim with the kendama players

After people had eaten some food and imbibed some drinks, there was a speech from Emily Mo, director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Toronto. She spoke of how vibrant Hong Kong is, how 33 million people visited the city in the past year, and how it was holding mega events and mentioned sports first off. Everyone's minds must have probably thought of Messi right away. Guess she didn't think to modify her speech.

Mo also talked about how Hong Kong was busy doing business, particularly with the Middle East... 

Then Michael Lim, director, Americas for the HKTB spoke, trying really hard to sell Hong Kong as they destination to head to for 2024, and reiterated how there were over 80 events planned for the first few months of the year. 

A new "Hello Hong Kong" video was shown, a gweilo meeting up with a local girl and how they hang out in various places in the city. No words are said until the end when he says, "Hello". 

Lim also mentioned the "Night Vibes" campaign and said that if anyone was going to come to Hong Kong in the next few months should go get their free HK$100 coupon -- at the visitors centres. 

And what was the entertainment?

Hey use these props for Instagram pics!

The Hong Kong Freestyle Kendama Association!

Literally called "sword" and "ball", it's actually a Japanese game where players do different tricks with the ball and wooden piece that has a spike, and other carved areas to rest the ball on. 

The quartet of players showed off their talents, though one or two dropped the ball a few times. Probably nerves. Or jetlag.

And the lucky draw?

Kendama sets! And the other prizes? Macarons from Laduree! How Hong Kong!

Guess airlines like Cathay Pacific and Air Canada couldn't afford to spring any tickets... surely HKTB could have sprung some Night Vibes coupons?

As soon as the lucky draw was over, most people left. The swag handed out?

A beige piece of fabric that unfolded to reveal a set of wooden cutlery -- knife, fork, spoon, chopsticks, a straw and a straw pipe cleaner. 

Bamboo utensils, how useful...

How is this representative of the vibrant Hong Kong they had promoted? 

A totally lost opportunity to brand Hong Kong and make it a more memorable event from the food to the swag. 

High-Speed Rail Brings Tourists to Hong Kong

High-speed rail has led to a high volume of mainland tourists

A record 17 million passengers have used the cross-border high-speed railway this year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. 

The vast majority of the trips were between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, taken during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays. 

But many of these tourists don't stay overnight

Since March, mainland tourists have accounted for more than half the high-speed rail passengers, surpassing 2019 levels since July.

Fanny Yeung Shuk-fan, executive director of the Travel Industry Council said the high-speed rail had made cross-border travel much more convenient and efficient, but that meant fewer tourists staying overnight in Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the Hong Kong Tourism Board reports 23 million people visited the city for the first nine months of the year, though 11.4 million of them were same-day tourists, of which 85.4 percent were from the mainland.

So while shops and restaurants may be benefitting, hotels are not...

Focus on Making Money, says Beijing Official

Xia visited Hong Kong and advised focusing on the economy

A senior Chinese official advised Hongkongers to stop dwelling on politics and focus on the economy. 

Xia Baolong, director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office paid a visit on the weekend on his "fact-finding mission".

His visit coincided with National Security Education Day, though he didn't talk much about it -- as it is vague anyway, and instead urged the city to focus on making money.

Deng Xiaoping

"I hope that Hong Kong will hold conventions and exhibitions every day, engage in innovation and technology, and fight for the economy," he said on Saturday, adding residents should also enjoy "horse racing, dancing, speculating on stocks and making big money."

If that sounds familiar, it is -- late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping said "horse racing will continue, dancing parties will go on", vowing Hong Kong would remain unchanged after it returned to Chinese rule after 1997.

But while Xia advises people to focus on making money and enjoying themselves, others have interpreted this to mean that "demonstrations" were not to be pursued.

He said they were not the only way to express different groups' interests, and even going so far as to suggest people's intentions could be manipulated. 

Hours after Xia made this remark, the pro-Beijing Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions had applied to the police to hold a rally on April 29 before the May 1 Labour Day holiday, and now was considering retracting its application and scaling down their event, even though they insisted it was not related to Xia's words.

The federation used to hold marches like these

"Over the past two weeks, some workers have said they will not attend the rally as they do not want to be in the limelight," federation chairman Lam Chun-sing said.

If even a pro-establishment group is concerned about holding a rally, there is no hope for anyone else who wants to express an opposing opinion.

But back to reviving the economy -- how can that be done? The only mainland tourists coming to Hong Kong are ones from third and fourth-tier cities who have never visited before and can only afford cheap tour packages. 

Anecdotally there are reports from luxury brand stores that business is slow as mainlanders are going elsewhere like Korea and Japan to satisfy their shopping fix. 

What technologically innovation does Hong Kong have? Since the development of the Octopus card, the Leave Home Safe app was a disaster and waste of money... is there nothing else that has been developed in the city?

How to attract high quality tourists to HK?

Meanwhile the tourism board promotes local eats, but mom-and-pop shops that have been around for 30, 40 years are closing as the owners are retiring and their children are not taking over the businesses. 

So what's left is real estate, stocks and horse racing. 

It's all a gamble, isn't it.

Free Tickets Not Quite Free

The free ticket giveaway to Hong Kong isn't exactly free

Those "free" plane tickets the Hong Kong government is giving away are not exactly free of charge, as winners need to pay fees and taxes, making it around the same price as a ticket.

Travellers from Southeast Asia were the first to have the chance to win one of the 135,000 tickets in March. Two winners from Singapore attempted to book their flights on Cathay Pacific's website using their redemption codes and were prompted to pay around HK$1,150 in carrier surcharges and taxes. Airfare return on CX usually costs around HK$5,300.

Some winners not impressed with high surcharge

"I wasn't expecting to pay that much," one said, adding he thought other airlines charged less.

The Singapore winners' fares were valued at S$280 (HK$1,655), but having to shell out HK$1,150 to get the free ticket seems outrageous.

Another winner from Thailand had to pay around 4,000 baht (HK$920) in extra fees for a ticket on Cathay Pacific, when flying on a full-service airline like Emirates would cost 5,000 baht.

"I knew it wouldn't be completely free, but I didn't expect that the taxes and surcharges would be so much," she said.

Lee trying to lure back visitors to Hong Kong

In April the ticket giveaway goes to mainland Chinese hopefuls. Wonder what they will think of having to pay the extra fees?

There were around 1.46 million arrivals in Hong Kong in February, almost three times more than in January, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

That figure still pales in comparison to the 5.5 million arrivals in February 2019.

Statistics of the Day: Hong Kong Visitor Numbers

Kwok dances his way down Pottinger Street in Central

We may now know why Hong Kong is coy about the free ticket giveaway in the "Hello Hong Kong" campaign -- it is targeted at mainlanders.

Maybe that explains the TVB dancers, all men centre stage at the official launch, and using the likes of such Cantopop stars as Sammi Cheng Sau-man, Kelly Chen Wai-lam and Aaron Kwok Fu-shing...

Chen serves up some cha chaan teng food

And why?

Over the 65 million visitors to Hong Kong in 2018 before the anti-extradition protests and the Covid-19 pandemic, 78 percent were from mainland China.

The second-largest group of visitors were from Southeast Asia. Both demographics do not care much about civil liberties.

Only 3 percent of Hong Kong's visitors were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. 

So looking at these numbers, perhaps less than 5 percent of tickets will go to North America?

Slim pickings.

Hong Kong's Splashy Welcome

Were TVB dancers recruited to kick off the presentation?

Hong Kong's back, baby!

That's what the Hong Kong government wants the world to know.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has just launched a HK$2 billion (US$255.2 million) campaign called "Hello Hong Kong" where 500,000 free airline tickets will be given away along with free welcome drinks at select bars and restaurants across the city. One would assume champagne and cocktails, not Hong Kong-style milk tea at a cha chaan teng...

Lee all smiles in launching HK$2B campaign

At the kick-off event held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Dane Cheng Ting-yat, head of the Tourism Board, also boasted some 250 events will be held in the city, including Clockenflap, Rugby Sevens, and Art Basel.

The Tourism Board will also give away 1 million vouchers for welcome drinks, discounts on attractions as well as food and drinks and transportation. Do they mean Uber or the Star Ferry?

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also talked about Hong Kong entering a new development phase.

"We are actively returning to normalcy. Nothing can stop us from bouncing back... We eagerly welcome friends from around the world to come, see and experience for themselves the vibrancy and dynamics of our city."

He also says the government will provide accurate information about Hong Kong to the world as people overseas might have misunderstandings about the city.

"We will try our best to explain," Chan says, adding he wants visitors to come and "feel Hong Kong's loveable sides".

Where's the women in this stage?

Since when was the city cuddly?

More importantly how can the government erase the stark 2019 images of police with batons hitting protesters holding up umbrellas, and officers shooting rounds of teargas? With over 300,000 people leaving Hong Kong for the United Kingdom alone in the last two years, surely it's a sign they cannot live in their own hometown anymore, while some 1,300 political prisoners are still languishing in jail.

But this is the Chinese way of doing things -- moving on and pretending it never happened, wallpapering over the problem in the hopes no one remembers.

Will this flashy campaign actually work? It depends on who the government wants to target. There are those who have missed coming to Hong Kong for three years, while others have yet to discover the place.

Those who have recently visited tell me it feels different from before, but can't quite put their finger on it. They know the city has been hit hard by Covid-19, but don't really know or understand how the national security law has dismantled the city as they knew it before.

But hey -- no need to worry about that now, Hong Kong's back, baby!