A visitor takes a photo during Hong Kong Flower Show 2025 at the Victoria Park in south China's Hong Kong, March 14, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)HONG KONG, April 19 (Xinhua) -- At the recently concluded Hong Kong Tourism Development Forum, many attendees shared the belief that Hong Kong remains an international tourist city deeply desired by travelers.The forum, co-hosted by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and China Tourism Group, brought together over 600 industry representatives to discuss future trends and directions of Hong Kong's tourism industry.Hong Kong's tourism sector is uncovering new pathways for cultural tourism transformation, forging ahead toward the goal of becoming a "world-class premier tourism destination."Tourists visit the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong, south China, Oct. 3, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)Facing both opportunities and challenges, Hong Kong has been proactive and visionary. Since 2023, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has prioritized the development of an event economy to attract tourists and stimulate local spending, showcasing the city's vibrancy as the "Capital of Events."The HKSAR government's events calendar features a wide range of activities encompassing culture, arts, finance, and trade. The event economy has already shown impressive results.In 2024, Hong Kong hosted over 240 events, attracting more than two million visitors. These events generated approximately 7.5 billion HK dollars (about 966 million U.S. dollars) in consumer spending and 4.5 billion HK dollars in economic added value.Fireworks illuminate the sky over Victoria Harbour in celebration of the Spring Festival in Hong Kong, south China, Jan. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)Michael Wong, deputy financial secretary of the HKSAR government, estimated that events in the first half of 2025 will draw about 840,000 tourists, a year-on-year increase of over 50 percent. This is expected to result in 3.3 billion HK dollars in consumer spending and 1.8 billion HK dollars in economic added value.At the end of last year, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the HKSAR government unveiled the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong's Tourism Industry 2.0, proposing four development strategies and 133 measures aimed at achieving the vision of "tourism is everywhere," setting the direction for the next five years.According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board's latest statistics, the spending of Chinese mainland overnight visitors on entertainment grew by 61.3 percent to 4.19 billion HK dollars last year. Activities such as exhibitions, theater shows, and concerts have become trending attractions for Chinese mainland tourists.In 2024, non-Chinese mainland visitors to Hong Kong exceeded 10 million. Research by a globally recognized consumer market consultancy ranked Hong Kong as the fourth most popular city for international tourists worldwide in 2024.A drone light show featuring Doraemon is seen in Hong Kong, south China, May 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)Dai Bin, director of China Tourism Academy, emphasized that maintaining the prosperity and growth of Hong Kong's tourism industry is an important part of ensuring the economic and social prosperity of Hong Kong within the framework of "one country, two systems." Industrial sectors in Hong Kong must strengthen collaboration and embrace global opportunities for tourism development.Yiu Pak-leung, a member of the HKSAR Legislative Council, said that enhancing the competitiveness of tourism products and services aligned with ocean, eco-tourism, heritage, sightseeing, and red tourism themes is crucial to boosting Hong Kong's tourism industry.Peter Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, noted that the board will actively collaborate with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) to attract more international tourists to experience unique journeys in the GBA. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.76 HK dollars)