Deputy President, a tossed stone raises a thousand ripples. Perhaps the mess caused by Lionel MESSI was indeed so outrageous that this motion debate urging the Government to formulate a comprehensive tourism policy has resonated with colleagues who have, therefore, proposed amendments to the motion. Summing up the theme of the original motion and proposals made in all the amendments, I wish to make several points as follows.

First of all, the original motion and the amendments share the theme of “urging the Government to formulate a comprehensive tourism policy, make proper planning on tourism and enhance the travel experience of visitors, so as to enable visitors to have fun, eat safely, shop without worries and be accommodated comfortably, thereby polishing Hong Kong’s tourism brand”. 

In respect of “eating safely”, from my many years of experience in operating catering establishments and being a representative of the catering industry, I have great confidence in the tests conducted by the Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong. I trust that the ingredients (especially those from Japan) provided by local catering establishments will certainly enable diners and tourists to eat safely and happily. Having said that, as diners have higher and higher demands and competition is ever increasing on all fronts, we have to think out of the box and come up with new recipes in order to make a breakthrough. 

As I mentioned earlier in an article that I posted on my personal Facebook page, I, being a representative of the catering industry, plan to organize jointly with the Chinese Culinary Institute a territory-wide Innovative Recipe Competition for participation by companies. The selling point of this competition is that the contesting dishes must be designed according to innovative recipes. Each participating company is required to submit to the organizer beforehand the recipe of the new dish and the idea of creation, which will then be assessed by a panel of judges based on the criterion of “innovativeness”. Then, the organizer will arrange for all the selected corporate teams to cook at a designated venue where a panel of judges will choose winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards using the criteria of colour, aroma, taste and presentation of the dishes. The winning teams will be required to make public the recipes and ingredients of their winning dishes. I firmly believe that as long as we continue to introduce innovative cuisines while preserving the authenticity of the signature dishes, the brand of Hong Kong as a “gourmet paradise” will definitely shine more brightly, and this can naturally attract visitors from both China and overseas to visit Hong Kong again. 

Besides, I wish to respond to Mr SHANG Hailong’s amendment in relation to the match played by Inter Miami CF in Hong Kong. I wish to emphasize that in order not to be treated as “dupes” again, regarding any future mega event applying for sponsorship by the SAR Government (i.e. events being given a “M” mark status meaning that the SAR Government will actually provide funding for such events), the Government should be duty-bound to understand the terms of the agreement signed between the organizer and the individuals or organizations invited to make a performance. The Government must not refuse to disclose the details under the pretext of “commercial secrets” anymore.  We must know that the Government’s money (i.e. public coffers) is taxpayers’ money which should not be given away without asking any question. 

Lastly, I would like to respond to Mr Michael TIEN’s amendment about constructing a multi-purpose centre for holding activities in Sunny Bay. Mr TIEN already made this proposal as early as in 2016 during the term of Government before last when LEUNG Chun-ying was the Chief Executive and I was Chairman of the Panel on Development. Mr TIEN has, over the years, persevered in striving for this cause. His spirit is commendable. However, to sustain the viability of a multi-purpose activity centre, there must be a certain number of competitions or exhibition matches and particularly, only international events can provide sufficient appeal. The Government has to consider whether there will be sufficient international events to be held in Hong Kong.

Deputy President, I so submit.