Feinberg - WP4

Recommendations for Balancing Cultural Heritage Tourism and Preservation Efforts with Rapid Urbanization

Part 1 – WP3 Genre: Intended Literary Review; closer to Informational Essay, WP4 Genre: Policy Memo
To: Bernadette Linn, Secretary for Development in Hong Kong
From: Max Feinberg, Tourism Policy Researcher at the University of Southern California Date: December 9, 2024

Subject: Recommendations for Balancing Cultural Heritage Tourism and Preservation Efforts with Rapid Urbanization

Executive Summary

Hong Kong’s rich cultural heritage forms a key pillar of its tourism appeal. However, as mass tourism and the city’s population continue to grow, the city faces mounting challenges in preserving the authenticity and integrity of its cultural landmarks. Due to Hong Kong’s lack of usable land and growing population/tourist demand, the city has lost cultural heritage sites in favor of new buildings to accommodate the city’s development. Hong Kong’s cultural heritage is a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures,¹ and its preservation is crucial for both local identity and global tourism appeal. Blending its British colonial history with its Chinese heritage, the city offers tourists a blend of colonial architecture, ancient temples, and vibrant markets; a dynamic blend of old and new. Cultural heritage tourism (CHT) emphasizes the preservation and promotion of these sites and related cultural experiences, and is a principal sector within Hong Kong’s tourism industry.² However, as global tourism demand recovers post-COVID, the Secretary for Development must enact long-term policy solutions as they take an informed approach in protecting the regions’ cultural heritage while continuing to grow as a major tourism hub.

The tension between promoting economic growth through tourism and maintaining Hong Kong’s unique heritage requires urgent attention. This memo outlines key challenges in cultural heritage tourism, and proposes actionable initiatives to ensure that Hong Kong can continue to thrive as a destination for meaningful cultural experiences while safeguarding its integrity, traditions, and local population.

Rationale for Action

Hong Kong’s cultural heritage faces significant risks due to the ongoing pressures of mass tourism, urban development, and modernization. Many of the city’s most iconic landmarks have already been irreversibly altered or destroyed in past decades.³ Rapid urbanization, limited efficacy of regulatory frameworks, and the prioritization of economic growth over preservation efforts have exacerbated this trend of cultural erosion. For example, several historic neighborhoods and buildings across the region have been destroyed to make way for new highways, housing, and shopping developments. Identifying examples like the destruction of Queen’s Pier in 2008, the Star Ferry Pier in 2009, the ancient walled village of Nga Tsin Wai in 2016 demonstrates both a loss of important heritage and the public outrage that local residents expressed.⁴

As tourism demand rebounds post-COVID, the pressure on Hong Kong’s cultural heritage will intensify. Tourists increasingly seek authentic, immersive experiences, and many are drawn to Hong Kong’s unique blend of Eastern and Western influences.⁵ However, without proactive and firm preservation strategies, Hong Kong risks losing the very cultural elements that make it a distinctive global tourist destination. Furthermore, the destruction of heritage sites carries long-term economic and social consequences. Heritage tourism significantly contributes to Hong Kong’s economy, and once the city destroys iconic landmarks, its competitive edge as a cultural tourism hub diminishes. One can always build new attractions, but destroying cultural heritage cannot be undone. Cultural heritage provides the basis for a shared history and losing it undermines local pride and community identity.

In light of these challenges, the Secretary for Development must take immediate, proactive steps to balance tourism growth with heritage preservation. Failure to do so may result in irreversible damage to Hong Kong’s cultural fabric, diminishing its appeal as a tourist destination and depriving future generations of tangible connections to their heritage. This memo proposes actionable solutions that strike a balance between the demands of mass tourism and the need to safeguard Hong Kong’s cultural heritage.

Current Policy Options

To address the challenges of balancing cultural heritage preservation with rapid development in Hong Kong, the Secretary for Development has several policy options available. These options aim to foster a more sustainable and responsible tourism sector while protecting the city’s rich cultural heritage.

Current conservation efforts do not account for the return of post-COVID tourism trends. Liaising with the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) can help the Secretary for Development promote sustainable, slow tourism. Slow tourism focuses on attracting tourists who want to learn about local cultures, traditions, and history, rather than simply consuming landmarks.⁶ By promoting slow tourism, Hong Kong can reduce the pressure on its most popular heritage sites while encouraging tourists to visit lesser-known destinations, thereby spreading tourism demand more evenly across the city and promoting authenticity. The HKTB could develop and market niche tourism experiences that highlight lesser-explored cultural sites and traditional practices like village tours, historical walking tours, and culinary heritage experiences. Coordinating with the Government Property Agency (GPA), the agency that operates government-owned attractions, they could also implement visitor caps at high-demand heritage sites to reduce overcrowding and prevent deterioration of those important landmarks.

To further safeguard its heritage, the Hong Kong government could strengthen its cultural heritage protection laws. This could involve enhancing existing legislation like the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance.⁷ One update to this legislation could expand the criteria of buildings included from those constructed in 1800 to a later year that carries similar cultural weight.⁸ This would ensure that structures built post-1800 left unconsidered by the Antiquities Advisory Board and the Secretary for Development receive protection from intentional degradation. They could also implement stricter planning and zoning regulations that prioritize heritage conservation in areas of historical importance. This would ensure that certain culturally significant areas could not be demolished to develop more “economically viable” structures. Most importantly, the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance could establish a more transparent and inclusive public consultation process when considering development projects in or near heritage sites to ensure local communities and heritage experts’ voices are heard.

Local communities’ involvement in heritage management and decision making could help ensure that cultural preservation efforts align with the needs and values of the people who live and work in those areas. Local residents often possess valuable knowledge about heritage sites’ history and significance and their knowledge can be instrumental in protecting them. Community-based heritage management also helps to foster a sense of ownership and pride, making preservation efforts (especially in Hong Kong’s complex identity framework) more effective and sustainable.⁹ The Antiquities Advisory Board could establish Community Heritage Advisory Boards in neighborhoods with significant cultural landmarks, allowing residents to participate in decision-making processes about the future of these sites.

Given the high costs associated with the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage sites, public-private partnerships (PPPs) can play a vital role in securing the necessary funding and expertise for conservation efforts. In these partnerships, the government can work with private stakeholders, including businesses, cultural organizations, and non-governmental entities, to finance and manage heritage projects, aligning both public interest and private incentives. The government could promote these PPPs by developing incentives like tax breaks or grants for private investors and businesses willing to contribute to the conservation and promotion of heritage sites.¹⁰ They could also encourage private tourism operators to invest in sustainable and heritage-aware tourism experiences, ensuring that their activities contribute to cultural heritage conservation efforts.

Policy Recommendation

There is no one way to preserve cultural heritage. Hence, Hong Kong must enact a combination of all of these policies to best support its tourism industry, public and private stakeholders, and the nation as a whole. With this long-term view, politicians must propose new bills and alterations to existing ones to bolster cultural heritage preservation. They must implement new zoning laws that protect existing cultural heritage sites and prevent private entities from targeting them in urban renewal schemes. Involving local communities and introducing PPPs will similarly help preserve these sites as all perspectives can inform the region’s trajectory moving forwards.

These initiatives would bolster the tourism industry by preserving Hong Kong’s status as a cultural heritage hotspot while simultaneously motivating economic development in the region. They would also help preserve important cultural heritage sites and practices that serve as the backbone of Hong Kong’s citizens’ shared history and complex cultural identity. These proposals may not stop the future destruction of important cultural heritage sites, however, they will aid in ensuring that important sites receive protection and allow all stakeholders to make their voices heard.

Bibliography

“Demolition of Hong Kong Landmark Sparks Calls for Heritage Preservation.” Voice of America, October 27, 2009. https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-01-10-voa62-66763757/563817.html.

Dickinson, Joana. “What Is Slow Tourism? The next Big Hospitality Trend.” Hospitality News & Business Insights by EHL, August 16, 2021. https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/what-slow-tourism.

“Heartbreak as Historic Hong Kong Village Demolished.” The Nation, January 28, 2016. https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/30278037.

Law, Lok-yin. “From Exotic Orient to City with Heritage: Heritagisation in the Tourism History of Hong Kong.” Journal of Tourism History, 2024, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2024.2414057.

Leung, C.. "Hong Kong." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 8, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong.

Nguyen, Thi Hong Hai, and Catherine Cheung. 2015. “Toward an Understanding of Tourists’ Authentic Heritage Experiences: Evidence from Hong Kong.” Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 33 (7): 999–1010. doi:10.1080/10548408.2015.1075460.
Zheng, Sarah. “Hong Kong’s Heritage Sites Face Continued Threat despite Government Grading System.” South China Morning Post, January 14, 2017. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2062004/hong-kongs-herit age-sites-face-continued-threat.

Part 2

In writing this policy brief on balancing cultural heritage preservation with rapid urbanization and tourism demand in Hong Kong, my discourse connects to several key areas within tourism studies, cultural heritage conservation, urban development, and sustainable tourism. The brief emerges from a growing concern with the tensions between urban development, tourism growth, and the preservation of cultural heritage, a dynamic seen in many rapidly urbanizing cities worldwide. Hong Kong’s unique position as a fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, with its British colonial history and Chinese traditions, places its cultural heritage under intense pressure from both mass tourism and new developments. My brief addresses the need for a more sustainable approach to cultural heritage preservation that balances economic growth with the long-term protection of cultural landmarks.

My brief engages with concepts central to cultural heritage preservation and sustainable tourism. Cultural sustainability, the idea that heritage preservation is vital for maintaining community identity and social cohesion, is foundational to this work. This concept links directly to discussions around authenticity in cultural heritage tourism. The brief promotes slow tourism, a movement that emphasizes immersive, meaningful travel experiences over the rapid, mass consumption of landmarks and commercial enterprises. Slow tourism encourages tourists to engage deeply with the local culture, fostering authenticity while reducing the pressure on overcrowded tourist hotspots.

My brief poses the biggest challenge to the “economic-growth first” mentality that often dominates tourism, urban planning, and most facets of life. While conventional tourism policies emphasize maximizing economic returns from tourism, often at the expense of cultural heritage, my brief stresses that cultural preservation is equally essential to long-term economic sustainability. The destruction of heritage sites like Queen’s Pier, the Star Ferry Pier, and Nga Tsin Wai underscore the consequences of this “growth”-oriented approach, where the immediate benefits of urban development overshadow the long-term cultural and economic value of preserving iconic landmarks. My brief advocates for a shift away from this narrow, growth-at-any-cost perspective toward one that sees cultural heritage as an economic asset in its own right. It promotes policies that would decrease the destruction of cultural heritage monuments by instituting laws, zoning regulations, and community involvement that would support the region’s cultural heritage preservation efforts.

My piece in WP4 engages with many of the ideas discussed in WP3, however it applies them to specific challenges in Hong Kong. My WP3 focused on providing an informational background to existing cultural heritage preservation efforts, successes, and challenges in Hong Kong and Singapore. By rewriting that informational essay as a policy brief to the Secretary for Development, I adapted many ideas that I discussed in WP3 to push beyond the current boundaries of cultural heritage preservation. By highlighting the problems I discussed in WP3 and providing actionable initiatives for the Hong Kong government to take into consideration, I have situated this discourse in a connected, but distant, area of cultural heritage tourism development. Hence, WP4 distinguishes itself from WP3 by writing about potential solutions to an audience of decision-makers familiar with the topic instead of a general audience without prior knowledge.

1. Leung, C.. "Hong Kong." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 8, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong.

2. Law, Lok-yin. “From Exotic Orient to City with Heritage: Heritagisation in the Tourism History of Hong Kong.” Journal of Tourism History, 2024, 22. https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2024.2414057.

3. Time Out Editors. “The 13 Iconic Buildings in Hong Kong That No Longer Exist.” Edited by Tatum Ancheta and Catharina Cheung. Time Out, November 30, 2024. https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/attractions/hong-kongs-lost-buildings.

4. “Heartbreak as Historic Hong Kong Village Demolished.” The Nation, January 28, 2016. https://www.nationthailand.com/in-focus/30278037; “Demolition of Hong Kong Landmark Sparks Calls for Heritage Preservation.” Voice of America, October 27, 2009. https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2007-01-10-voa62-66763757/563817.html; Zheng, Sarah. “Hong Kong’s Heritage Sites Face Continued Threat despite Government Grading System.” South China Morning Post, January 14, 2017. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2062004/hong-kongs-heritage-sites-face-conti nued-threat.

5. Nguyen, Thi Hong Hai, and Catherine Cheung. 2015. “Toward an Understanding of Tourists’ Authentic Heritage Experiences: Evidence from Hong Kong.” Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 33 (7): 1009. doi:10.1080/10548408.2015.1075460.

6. Dickinson, Joana. “What Is Slow Tourism? The next Big Hospitality Trend.” Hospitality News & Business Insights by EHL, August 16, 2021. https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/what-slow-tourism.

7. Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, Cap.53 of the laws of Hong Kong.

8. Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance (Cap. 53), Section 2.

9. Ndivo, Rayviscic Mutinda, and Lorenzo Cantoni. “Rethinking Local Community Involvement in Tourism Development.” Annals of Tourism Research 57 (2016): 275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015.11.014,

10. Smith, Arthur L. “Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for Sustainable Tourism.” Organization of American States, January 1, 2011. https://www.oas.org/en/sedi/desd/itc2011/pres/Arthur_Smith.pdf.