Yeung, who joined a delegation led by Lee to visit the giant pandas in Sichuan province, said he was impressed by how mainland Chinese authorities had made good use of the animals to drive the area’s economy.

“It’s about the panda economy. In Chengdu, they have made full use of pandas as a means of economic development, which is not just about tourism,” he told a radio programme.

“Not only are there many panda-themed decorations in the city to promote tourism, many cultural and creative products also use pandas as a concept, so you can actually see the presence of pandas in different areas.”

The tourism minister said that while it was obvious the pandas would attract visitors to their new home at Ocean Park, other sectors could also benefit from a “panda economy” by learning from their counterparts in Sichuan.

“Maybe some restaurants can jump on the trend and do something that makes use of the pandas? That will boost the economy,” Yeung said.

“Businesses can also launch some products to coincide with the giant pandas’ arrival, and potentially make use of intellectual property rights.”

The minister said Hong Kong had more diverse pull factors in terms of tourism, which would mean the pandas’ impact might be smaller when compared with Sichuan.

But he stressed that Hong Kong being gifted the “national treasures” was largely meant to show Beijing’s care for the city.

The minister also spoke about his past suggestion of inviting the public to pick names for the animals.

The two pandas, which are aged between five and eight years old, already had names, but authorities would discuss whether the duo could be renamed, he said.

“Of course, we hope we can give them new names. This is a gift from the central government to all Hong Kong people,” Yeung said. “It will be good if more people can become invested.”

The city has received four giant pandas from the mainland since 1999, with the second pair, Ying Ying and Le Le, arriving at Ocean Park in 2007 when they were two years old.

Former Ocean Park chairman Allan Zeman said that while the “popular attraction” would be a good draw for the theme park, he felt the minister was trying to “talk it up” and get some enthusiastic businesses to devise promotions as a “marketing tool”.

“Certain retail organisations in food and beverage might decide to latch onto it and maybe do some special events to celebrate the arrival of the pandas, but I don’t think it’s going to make the economic figures go crazy,” the Lan Kwai Fong Group chairman said.

“I think that it’s just a feel-good factor for Hong Kong at a time when Hong Kong really needs more feel-good factors.”

Economist Simon Lee Siu-po, an honorary fellow at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Asia-Pacific Institute of Business, said economic benefits could be best captured by creating cartoon characters based on the animals.

But he doubted whether the city had the right expertise to turn the pair into popular characters.

Lee added that the pandas would at best bring in a few hundred million Hong Kong dollars of extra annual revenue to Ocean Park, with the high price of admission fees, at HK$498 for adults, likely to curb any wider knock-on effect in the local economy.

The incoming bears have also revived hopes that baby pandas might be born in Hong Kong, after past attempts had proved unsuccessful.

Li Desheng, deputy director of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, explained that the first pair, male An An and female Jia Jia, were already elderly when they arrived in Hong Kong in 1999.

The younger pair Ying Ying and Le Le had also missed an opportunity to socialise with other pandas of similar ages, he told a local radio show.

“Le Le and Ying Ying were still subadult when they went to [Hong Kong at the age of two] and had little chance to interact with other giant pandas of the same age,” Li said.

The inbound bears would benefit from having socialised with other pandas and spending more time in Sichuan, meaning they had a greater chance of producing offspring, he added.

The centre’s deputy director also expressed confidence in Ocean Park’s role as carers for the pandas, but said staff should make efforts to prevent the animals from getting bored in confined spaces, suggesting measures such as hiding the animals’ food.