Hong Kong has put a lot of effort in setting up policies and tourist attractions to support tourism development. In 2003, SARS broke out in Hong Kong and tourism development was adversely affected. The individual visit scheme (IVS) was launched in late 2003 in order to attract mainlanders to travel to Hong Kong. Other policies like Quality Tourism Scheme and multi-destination itinerary help to promote Hong Kong. Tourists’ attractions like Ocean Park and Disneyland have equipped with new facilities and events.
With all these great improvements on tourism, Hong Kong has gained various awards and positive feedbacks from visitors all over the world. In January 2007, Hong Kong won the “Best Business City”, and was ranked the third “Best Tourism Destination” in the Global Traveller Awards. She has even gained the reputation of being the “Gourmet Paradise” and “Shopping Paradise”. Although tourism development can bring lots of positive impacts on Hong Kong, some negative impacts are also associated with the tourism development of Hong Kong. For example, some tourists who joined the individual visit scheme committed crimes in Hong Kong. With easier access, some pregnant women from mainland china came to Hong Kong to give birth