Hong Kong

Tourism

Some three million tourists visit Hong Kong each year, and the tourist industry accounts for seven percent of Hong Kong's gross national product (GNP). Almost all visitors from abroad need both passport and visa to enter the region. Package tours by which travelers arrive by air or sea are readily available with a variety of options, and both government-run tourist bureaus and private tourist organizations have a wealth of information and services to offer.

Access to various parts of the city from the airport is convenient and relatively inexpensive by both train and bus. Travel within the region is easily accomplished by means of the train systems and the local buses, and water travel on the different ferries is also cheap and widely used. Tourists can experience the ultra-modern in Hong Kong's abundant department stores, boutiques, and malls, or experience something of traditional Chinese culture in places like the Kam Tin Walled Village (Kut Hing Wei) in the New Territories, the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, or the scenic beauty of the outer islands. Soon tourists will also be able to visit Hong Kong Disneyland, scheduled to open on Penny's Bay in 2005.