Hong Kong’s mane event lacks appeal
HONG KONG – They say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
Now it appears that you can lead tourists to horses but you can’t make them watch.
The Olympics is less than three months away but there is still no sign of a stampede of visitors, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said.
Hong Kong will host the equestrian events at the Olympics.
A story in The Standard newspaper today says only about 50 percent of the available hotel rooms have been booked for the Olympic month of August, which is even 10 percent less than it was this time last year.
Board chairman James Tien confessed yesterday there was nothing the board could do to boost bookings other than continue with the planned promotion activities.
Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners executive director Michael Li described the bookings as “unsatisfactory.”
He attributed this to the equestrian events’ lack of appeal. “Even [the government] has no idea how many spectators the events could attract,” Li said.
He said the complicated procedures introduced when applying for mainland visas and the Sichuan earthquake had also lowered the interest of tourists, who may have planned to visit the mainland after the events in Hong Kong.
Ian Jarrett
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