HK Financial Secretary Departs for Trip to Beijing

Hong Kong financial secretary Antony Leung left here for a two-day trip to Beijing to boost the mainland tourism to the city, sources from the government information department said Tuesday.

Lifting the number of mainland visitors would provide a boost for the local economy, a government spokesman said. Only 300,000 mainlanders visited Hong Kong last year, a tenth of the number who had traveled from Hong Kong to the mainland, he added.

For the first quarter this year, total tourist arrivals in Hong Kong reached 3.2 million, up 7.8 percent on the same period in 2000.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/