At the 13th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting held in Macao on 27 June 2026, Hong Kong Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law set out an ambitious vision to weave digital technology into every stage of the visitor journey. Addressing counterparts from 21 Pacific-Rim economies, Law said Hong Kong’s “+ Tourism” strategy would leverage live crowd-flow data, an AI itinerary-builder and contactless payment ecosystems to create personalised, hassle-free travel experiences. The city welcomed almost 50 million arrivals in 2025—12 % more than the previous year—and hosted more than 240 mega-events ranging from Art Basel to the Rugby Sevens. Yet with regional competition intensifying, Law argued that intelligent tools are essential to keep visitors moving smoothly across borders and through attractions.
![Tourism chief touts AI-powered ‘+ Tourism’ plan at APEC ministerial meeting in Macao]()
Amid these digital transformations, individual travellers and corporate mobility managers still face the traditional hurdle of visa paperwork. Online platforms such as VisaHQ can bridge that gap by letting visitors to Hong Kong and more than 200 other destinations check requirements, complete forms and track applications entirely online. Their Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) syncs with eVisa roll-outs and sends real-time alerts, dovetailing neatly with the government’s push for friction-less, tech-enabled journeys.
Real-time waiting-time feeds from theme parks and museums already populate the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s “Discover HK” app; the next upgrade will push dynamic routing suggestions to users based on crowd density, weather and transport conditions. For corporate mobility managers the most immediate benefit is improved predictability around site visits, meetings and event logistics. The Tourism Board is integrating its data with Google Maps and major Chinese navigation platforms, enabling business travellers to see checkpoint congestion at the HZMB or Lo Wu border before choosing a route. The government is also piloting digital VAT-refund processing and QR-code payment aggregation to cut queues at airport tax counters. Law’s pitch aligns with Hong Kong’s broader digital-government push, which includes the Immigration Department’s new “seamless e-channel” facial-recognition gates and the Airport Authority’s automated kerb-to-gate processing flow. She told delegates that the city aims to be a “living lab” for friction-less mobility, inviting APEC members to test cross-border health-declaration interoperability ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in nearby Shenzhen this November. Industry feedback has been positive but pragmatic: the Hong Kong Hotels Association says real-time data must be opened to private APIs so that hotel concierges and travel-management companies can embed it in their own apps. Start-ups at Cyberport have already responded, pitching AI chatbots that blend flight status, visa reminders and attraction ticketing into a single WhatsApp thread.
Amid these digital transformations, individual travellers and corporate mobility managers still face the traditional hurdle of visa paperwork. Online platforms such as VisaHQ can bridge that gap by letting visitors to Hong Kong and more than 200 other destinations check requirements, complete forms and track applications entirely online. Their Hong Kong portal (https://www.visahq.com/hong-kong/) syncs with eVisa roll-outs and sends real-time alerts, dovetailing neatly with the government’s push for friction-less, tech-enabled journeys.
Real-time waiting-time feeds from theme parks and museums already populate the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s “Discover HK” app; the next upgrade will push dynamic routing suggestions to users based on crowd density, weather and transport conditions. For corporate mobility managers the most immediate benefit is improved predictability around site visits, meetings and event logistics. The Tourism Board is integrating its data with Google Maps and major Chinese navigation platforms, enabling business travellers to see checkpoint congestion at the HZMB or Lo Wu border before choosing a route. The government is also piloting digital VAT-refund processing and QR-code payment aggregation to cut queues at airport tax counters. Law’s pitch aligns with Hong Kong’s broader digital-government push, which includes the Immigration Department’s new “seamless e-channel” facial-recognition gates and the Airport Authority’s automated kerb-to-gate processing flow. She told delegates that the city aims to be a “living lab” for friction-less mobility, inviting APEC members to test cross-border health-declaration interoperability ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in nearby Shenzhen this November. Industry feedback has been positive but pragmatic: the Hong Kong Hotels Association says real-time data must be opened to private APIs so that hotel concierges and travel-management companies can embed it in their own apps. Start-ups at Cyberport have already responded, pitching AI chatbots that blend flight status, visa reminders and attraction ticketing into a single WhatsApp thread.
