Interview with Yoonho Kim, Director of the Korea Office of the Hong Kong Tourism Board
"Thanks to the elimination of taxes, Hong Kong, which does not produce a single grape, has been able to host a world-class wine festival."
Yoonho Kim, Head of the Hong Kong Tourism Board Korea Office, explained this as the background for Hong Kong's ability to host a globally renowned wine festival. The "Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival 2025" will be held from October 23 to 26 at the Central Harbourfront in Hong Kong. The festival boasts global prestige, having been selected by the American business media Forbes as one of the world's top 10 gourmet festivals.
The Hong Kong government abolished tariffs on alcoholic beverages below 30 degrees in 2008. The following year, the first Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival was held, and now, 16 years later, it has established itself as a world-class festival representing Hong Kong. This clearly demonstrates the importance of government policy in the development of the tourism industry. Last year, from October 23 to 27, the festival attracted 150,000 visitors over five days. Yoonho Kim noted, "Many people from Korea also visit the Wine and Dine Festival," adding, "You can buy premium wines that would cost about 2 million won in Korea for around 700,000 to 800,000 won here."
On the occasion of the opening of Hong Kong Week 2025@Seoul, we met with Yoonho Kim at the Korea office of the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Hong Kong Week is a large-scale event organized by the Hong Kong government to attract international tourists. Yoonho Kim described it as "a large-scale cultural exchange festival showcasing 14 high-quality cultural and artistic works from Hong Kong-including music, dance, and film-across Seoul for a month," and emphasized that "one can experience Hong Kong's sophisticated arts and culture." Hong Kong Week opened on September 26 and will continue until October 25. At the opening performance, the Hong Kong Ballet staged "Romeo and Juliet" at the National Theater of Korea's Haeoreum Grand Theater, and on October 19, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra will perform with pianist Sunwoo Ye-kwon, winner of the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, at the Seoul Arts Center Concert Hall. Since its inception in Shanghai in 2019, Hong Kong Week has been held in Guangzhou in 2021, Hubei in 2022, Bangkok in 2023, and now arrives in Seoul this year.
Last year, Hong Kong attracted 44 million international tourists. Despite a population of only 7.5 million, the number of international visitors is nearly three times that of Korea (which had 16.37 million international tourists last year). Yoonho Kim explained, "This is only about 80% of the pre-COVID-19 levels," adding, "In 2018, when Hong Kong recorded its all-time high, 65 million people visited."
The ability to attract such a large number of international tourists is supported by proactive government policies and events like Hong Kong Week. Kim emphasized, "In 2025 alone, Hong Kong will host over 200 mega-events across various fields such as sports, arts, entertainment, and gastronomy." He went on to introduce major upcoming events, including the WinterFest in November, featuring Christmas decorations and lights, the year-end New Year's countdown, Art Basel-Asia's largest art fair-in March next year, and the Hong Kong Sevens, a rugby sevens tournament, in April, following the wine festival.
Kim explained, "We attract numerous world-class mega-events because they generate significant economic benefits across multiple industries, including shopping, tourism, aviation, hotels, and dining."
This year at Hong Kong Kai Tak Stadium, the Hong Kong Sevens took place. [Photo by Hong Kong Tourism Board]
In December last year, the Hong Kong government announced the Hong Kong Tourism Blueprint 2.0 to establish Hong Kong as a world-class premium city. The plan aims to make Hong Kong a tourism hub connecting Macau, Guangdong Province, and nearly 10 surrounding provinces in China. Kim explained, "We aim to make Hong Kong a tourism hub so that people can travel to nearby regions via Hong Kong, or people from those regions can travel to other countries via Hong Kong," adding, "This will create new tourism demand from a combined population of about 86 million in the surrounding areas."
To meet the growing tourism demand, infrastructure expansion is also underway. In March, the "Kai Tak Sports Park," which includes the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium and the 10,000-seat Kai Tak Arena, opened. The Hong Kong government invested about 30 billion Hong Kong dollars (approximately 5.43 trillion won) in this project. Since its opening, NCT Dream and Seventeen have performed there, and the MAMA Awards will be held in November. The Kai Tak Sports Park is emerging as a new hub attracting global K-pop fans.
Kim explained that the reason for holding Hong Kong Week in Seoul this year is "because Korean culture and arts, including K-pop, are leading global trends." He added, "This year, Hong Kong Express, a subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airways, launched direct flights to Daegu and Cheongju. With improved accessibility in addition to existing routes to Incheon, Busan, and Jeju, we expect even more active exchanges between the two countries."
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