For years, a huge amount of tourists from all over the world had flooded into the territory in search for Hong Kong¡¦s shoppers¡¦ and gourmets¡¦ paradise. However, recently, Hong Kong seems losing its edge in luring tourists.
Hong Kong used to supply goods with cheap prices because of its simple tax system which charges low tax on almost every item except cigarette and alcohol. Because of that, clothes in Hong Kong are of good quality but cheap. Tourists simply come here doing shopping. Hong Kong is also seen as a place where different types of food are readily available, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and you name it. Hong Kong, as regarded as ¡§Pearl of the Orient¡¨ is also a very beautiful place for sightseeing. It is fame of its beautiful night view from the peak showing the prosperity of Hong Kong along the Victory Harbour. Besides the Peak, people love to go to Ocean Park which is possibly the most successful theme park in the region.
When being asked to suggest places for sightseeing, what first come to the mind of Hong-Kongesees would probably be the Peak and the Ocean Park. These two seems to be the two and the only two attractions that Hong Kong used to attract visitors.
In the light of the lack of attractions, Hong Kong government introduces Disneyland to the city. To a certain extend, the Disneyland proposal is a high sounding one. ¡§Disneyland is unable to understand the Asian mind-set in terms of their customer and staff¡¨ (¡§Disneyland finds¡¨,2006). The failure of Disneyland to understand the culture of China makes it receive a bunch of compliant letters. Disneyland then appears to be struggle very hard to build up its goodwill in the region.
After the SARS outbreak, individual visit scheme was first launched. The surprising number of influx of mainlanders had once delighted many shop owners. However, the scheme seems to be not functioning very well these days. Shops