The 2022 meeting for fostering the implementation of the Culture and Tourism Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (referred to “the Plan”) was held online last month. At the meeting, representatives of the respective culture and tourism authorities from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao each gave a presentation on the progress of their respective work. The research and study group of the Plan issued its 2021 annual research report on the implementation of the Plan, pointing out that 86.9% of last year’s “key work” had been completed, summarises the results and problems in the process of its implementation, and presented a series of countermeasures.

Ku Mei Leng, Chief of the Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance, spoke at the meeting, saying that the Macao SAR government had adopted the Plan as an “action plan”. She added that the local government was planning a series of works in the areas of culture and tourism. This year, she said, preparatory work for the establishment of the Joint Working Commission “One Base” had been implemented to improve the cultural exchange and cooperation mechanism between the Mainland and the local government. At the same time, she added, in line with the objective of “building a leisure bay”, the local government was continuing to develop Macao as a world centre for tourism and leisure and to deepen the intersectoral integration of “tourism +” in the city. She also said it was continuing to solidify the interconnectivity between the cities of the Greater Bay in tandem with the economic recovery and the resurgence of the tourism industry in the region.

Gao Zheng, the Director of the Office for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, acknowledged that new breakthroughs had been made when it comes to deepening the cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation across the Greater Bay Area. He also acknowledged that breakthroughs had been made when it comes to coordinating cultural and tourism developments in the Greater Bay Area and he put forward suggestions on how better to promote such developments in the area in the future.

Representatives of the Propaganda Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Propaganda Department and the Economics Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region, the Asia Tourism Exchange Center and the Exchange Department of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council also spoke in the meeting.

The Plan was jointly promulgated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, the Office of the Leading Group for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the People’s Government of Guangdong Province on 24^th December 2020 to help further implement the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Within the framework of the Leading Group for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay, the relevant departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao continue to strengthen in terms of communication and coordination. The relevant departments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao have established a good working practice to promote the implementation of the Plan and to serve as a link for the daily work. The first meeting on the joint implementation of the Plan was held in 2021.