Sunday, August 18, 2024 Tourism in Hong Kong is set to thrive with the arrival of panda twins, drawing excitement and promising to boost the city’s appeal to visitors. The recent addition of multiple pandas in Hong Kong has sparked considerable excitement, prompting tourism experts and lawmakers to suggest integrating the six animals into the city’s branding. They propose creating exclusive products featuring the pandas and even decorating Cathay Pacific Airways planes with their images.
On Thursday, the city was thrilled by the unexpected news that Ying Ying had given birth to twins after more than a decade of attempts with her partner, Le Le. These newborns will soon be joined by two young adult pandas, gifted by Beijing to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, forming a small but significant panda family in the city. The chairman of Ocean Park, where the pandas reside, noted that the arrival of the two cubs has reinvigorated efforts to explore new revenue streams, with a focus on maximizing the attraction of hosting six pandas in one location.
Pong, who was part of a government-led team visiting Chengdu in Sichuan province, played a key role in negotiating the transfer of the two giant pandas from Beijing. Expected to arrive by the end of September, Pong expressed confidence that Ocean Park is well-prepared to care for all six pandas, both in terms of staff and resources. To celebrate the newborns, Ocean Park launched a new social media account, sharing a video of one of the cubs being bottle-fed, with plans to provide regular updates on the pandas.
Ying Ying, who became a mother for the first time at the age of 19—equivalent to 57 human years—delivered a female cub followed by a male. Legislator Chan Yung highlighted the potential of these pandas to transform the city’s tourism landscape. His party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, had previously urged Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu to include strategies centered around a “panda economy” in his upcoming policy speech.
Chan recommended utilizing outdoor exhibits, creating licensed merchandise, and painting Cathay Pacific planes with panda-themed designs. Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, encouraged Ocean Park to develop panda-related intellectual property to fully leverage the tourism appeal of the bears. He also suggested that the city consider replacing its current dragon mascot with a giant panda.
Freddy Yip Hing-ning, president of the Hong Kong Travel Agent Owners Association, acknowledged that the pandas would introduce “new elements” to local tourism. However, he remained cautious about the likelihood of tourists coming to Hong Kong specifically to see the pandas..
