Sustainable Tourism Law

730 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW Kong government “…shall formulate appropriate policies to promote and co-ordinate the development of various trades such as…tourism…and pay regard to the protection of the environment”. Inbound tourist guides, for example, in the aforesaid Code of Conducts for Tourist Guides issued by the TIC, are also specifically required to promote the sustained development of the tourism industry, by encouraging visitors to assist in protecting tourism resources (e.g. cultural and heritage sites, natural environment, tourist spots), and actively promoting tourism to benefit the economy of Hong Kong 116 . There are vast amounts of policies and initiatives that have been undertaken by the government of Hong Kong throughout the years, outside the realm of domestic legislations and judicial enforcement. It is impossible to list all of them here but as an illustration of the latest progress, in a document entitled “ Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry” 117 , issued by the Tourism Commission of the government, it is expressed as the mission of the blueprint “to ensure the balanced, healthy and sustainable development of the [tourism] industry” . From its development strategies and downstream implementation goals, one can see the obvious difference between the phases of tourism development where Hong Kong and mainland China currently are. Under this blueprint, the Hong Kong government shall: (i) assist local business in seizing opportunities arising from the development in the Greater Bay Area 118 and the construction of the Silk Road Economic Zone and the 21 st Century Maritime Silk Road in and across mainland China by, for example, deepening cross-border cooperation on product development and supporting the growth of hotels and guesthouses; (ii) draw more overnight visitors following the opening of Hong Kong- -Shuhai-Macao Bridge, and the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou- -Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, by providing more quotas if necessary for cross-border coach services and hire cars and encouraging 116 Part 3 paragraph 6 of Code of Conducts for Tourist Guides. 117 LC Paper nr. CB(4)60/17-18(01), version dated October 2017, accessible at the official website of Tourism Commission, Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. 118 Comprising of, in alphabetical order: Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Macao, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Zhuhai.