Tours aim to show visitors city's secrets
Tourism Board subsidises agencies who take tourists to unusual destinations to encourage them to make return trips to Hong Kong
Instead of shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui or heading off to amusement parks, visitors joining group tours to Hong Kong will soon be able to do something less conventional - such as condemning their enemies by "petty person beating" or visiting a public housing estate.
The new tour product development scheme, which offers agencies subsidies of up to HK$500,000 for a three-year project, is an attempt by the Tourism Board to diversify tour itineraries to attract repeat visits to the city. Seven tours have been approved and will be up and running shortly, while another 13 are awaiting assessment.
One approved tour, "A Different Taste of Hong Kong", will be rolled out in the Taiwan market soon. The tour will bring visitors to a Causeway Bay flyover to see "petty person beating", a ritual designed to bring bad fortune to someone you hate.
"Just tell one [old lady] who the person holding you back is and she'll light some incense, make cut-outs of a paper tiger and beat the 'petty person' out of your life with her shoe," the board's webpage says.
Tour members will stop at Pok Fu Lam's Wah Fu Estate to have a sneak peek at a Hong Kong public housing estate, before heading to the Yau Ma Tei Theatre for a taste of Cantonese opera.
Foodies can join a Sham Shui Po walking tour to see how foods such as shrimp roe noodles, p ut chai pudding (a steamed sugar pudding) and soy milk are produced, and taste them.