Travel and Tourism Worldwide Travel Destinations - Hong Kong

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Dhruti Patel

AVCE Travel and Tourism Worldwide Travel Destinations

Hong Kong

Task 1:

General information:

    Hong Kong is a metropolis, which is a popular business centre and the Mecca of urban modernity. It is an exciting city as it has a British influence but the culture is pure Chinese and there are approximately six thousand people working and living on junks (wooden boats) in Aberdeen Harbour. The mountainous terrain has forced people to crowd into one-tenth of its total land area and even to reclaim land from its harbour. Hong Kong originated as a fishing village but is today one of the busiest international ports and business centres in the world. It was a British colony for more than one hundred and fifty years but still has a strong Chinese culture.

    Hong Kong’s population is made up of 6,097,000, while 1,276,301,000 is the Chinese population. The two main languages spoken are Cantonese and English but since 1997, Mandarin has become increasingly important as well.  

Government:

    Hong Kong was occupied by the UK in 1841, an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19th December 1988 made Hong Kong become the Hong Kong Special- Administrative Region (SAR) China, on 1st July 1997. In this agreement China promised that it would be one country but have two systems. China’s socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong would have a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defence matters for the next fifty years.

    The government has a legal system based on the common English law. The constitution is made up of the basic law, which was approved in March 1990 by China’s- National People’s Congress and Hong Kong’s “Mini Constitution”. The chief head of state is the president of China, Jiang Zemin (since 27th March 1993), the head of government is Chief Executive, Tung Chee-Hwa and the cabinet consist of three ex-officio members, they are: Chief Sectary, Donald Tsan Yam-Kuen, the Financial- Sectary, Anthony Leung and the Sectary of Justice, Elsie Leung. There are ten other appointed members.

Time difference:

    Hong Kong is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (+8 GMT), thirteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and sixteen hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time. Hong Kong does not observe daylight savings.

Currency:

    Hong Kong’s currency consists of the Hong Kong Dollar, which is internationally recognized and separate from China’s currency. The currency is also linked to the US- Dollar, at a rate of 7.8 Hong Kong Dollars per American Dollar. ATM’S dispense Hong- Kong Dollars at the daily exchange rate and accept major foreign bankcards and credit- cards. Banks often offer a better exchange rate than hotels but they do charge an administrative fee. The standard unit of Hong Kong’s currency is the Hong Kong Dollar, which comes in denominations of: HK$ 1,000, HK$ 500, HK$100, HK$50 and HK$20. There are also, Cent 10, Cent 20 and Cent 50 coins. The Hong Kong Dollar is trading at approximately: ₤1 GBP = HK$ 12.55.

Type of destination:

    Hong Kong is a cultural destination and is of interest to tourists who wish to understand the Chinese culture and religion. It is also a shopping nation for tourists who wish to buy electronics and the latest computer software.

Location of the country:

    Hong Kong is in eastern Asia; the SAR region is 1,092 sq km in total but is 1,042 sq- km of land and 50 sq km of water. Its comparative size is six times the size of Washington DC. The South China Sea surrounds Hong Kong in an eastern, southern and western direction, while China is to the north.

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Location of the destination within the country:

    Hong Kong is an island, which is situated south of the tropic of cancer and is on similar lines of latitude as Calcutta, Havana and Hawaii, while sharing the same line of longitude as Wuhan in Central China, Bali and Perth. The southern coast is surrounded by the South China Sea. The crown colony of Hong Kong is made up of the New- Territories and Kowloon Peninsula on the Chinese mainland and has over two hundred islands. Hong Kong the island was an original British territory and today has the capital, Victoria. Hong ...

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