Biggest pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong calls again for curbs on mainland Chinese tourists to city
- About-face by DAB leaves it in the unusual position of echoing pan-democrat concerns on mainland visitors
- Party says numbers visiting To Kwa Wan have hit average of 10,000 a day
Hong Kong’s biggest pro-Beijing party has for the second time in a week called for curbs on the number of mainland Chinese visitors on cheap tours, which it said had hit an average of 10,000 a day in one particularly crowded neighbourhood.
It marked a continued about-face from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), which finds itself in the unusual position of echoing pan-democrat concerns on the fraught issue of mainland visitors to the city.
Kwan Ho-yeung, a Kowloon City district councillor from the party, told an RTHK radio programme on Thursday morning the government and Travel Industry Council should work together on a series of suggested easing measures. Those included moving the tourists elsewhere and pressing tour guides to keep an eye on their customers’ behaviour.
Speaking on the same programme, Democratic Party councillor Lai Kwong-wai urged the government to negotiate with mainland authorities to cut the number of low-cost tour groups from the north.
“We are at the lowest end of the whole industry chain and we can do nothing to control the influx of tourists,” Kwan said.
“Without support and help from the government, our district will be paralysed.”
