Being “bigger and better” has become the ethos for Hong Kong’s development. This is also the strategy for the tourism industry as the government strives to grow the pie with more offerings. With its first five-year blueprint being prepared to better align with national development goals, the city must reinvent itself to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive global market.

In a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui expressed confidence that the annual growth in arrivals would help the government meet its target of expanding the tourism sector’s contribution to the city’s gross domestic product to about 5 per cent by 2029. The city was “back and back big time”, Law said, referring to feedback from international attendees of events such as the Rugby Sevens, Art Basel and the Wine and Dine Festival.

Official data also shows a strong post-pandemic rebound. Arrivals have gradually increased, from 34 million in 2023 to 49.9 million last year. The number is expected to rise by 8 per cent, to around 53.8 million this year. In the first five months of 2026, the city welcomed 23 million visitors, a 14 per cent year-on-year increase.

Meanwhile, spending associated with inbound tourism is projected to rise by about 9.7 per cent from HK$217 billion (US$27.7 billion) in 2025 to HK$238 billion this year. The extra value generated by the tourism industry is expected to increase from HK$86.2 billion in 2024 to HK$120 billion by 2029, a rise of about 39 per cent.

Encouraging as they are, the arrivals and economic benefits still fall short of those before the Covid-19 pandemic. The share of tourism contributions to GDP was 2.6 and 2.8 per cent in 2023 and 2024 respectively, compared with 4.5 per cent in 2018.

In late 2024, the government published the “Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry 2.0” to strengthen existing advantages and explore new opportunities. Under the country’s recently released 15th five-year development plan, Hong Kong is positioned as an East-meets-West tourism and culture hub. To what extent the city will tweak its strategies under its own five-year plan remains to be seen, but more must be done if the tourism pie is to grow bigger. As the tourism minister said, there need to be bold choices and daring decisions.