Chairman’s Message

In 2011, the Government conducted a public consultation on the review of the operation and regulatory framework of Hong Kong’s travel industry. Having duly considered the views gathered, the Government decided to set up the Travel Industry Authority (TIA). Following the Legislative Council’s passage of the Travel Industry Ordinance (Commencement) Notice 2019 in December 2019, the Chief Executive appointed in January 2020 members of TIA. As a new statutory body, TIA is primarily responsible for the licensing and regulation of travel agents, tourist guides and tour escorts. Implementation of a comprehensive licensing and regulatory regime will provide the essential infrastructure for enhancing the professional standards and conduct of licensees and promoting the sustainable development of the travel industry in the long run.

I am very honoured to be appointed by the Chief Executive as the first Chairman of TIA. Since its first meeting in January 2020, TIA has been committed to taking forward various preparations in relation to the full implementation of the new regulatory regime. TIA has set up six committees, namely the Disciplinary Committee, Codes and Guidelines Committee, Licensing Committee, Compensation Committee, Development Committee and Corporate Services Committee, to discharge the responsibilities of TIA under different areas. The Committees worked diligently to examine and approve various matters, including TIA’s work plan, governance framework, rules of procedures, mechanism on declaration of interests, and a number of corporate administrative matters.

Our initial efforts undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for our second year’s work. We secured a long-term office for TIA and set up the Executive Office. We recruited the Executive Director and a number of staff members of the three divisions, namely the Regulatory Affairs Division, Operations Division and Corporate Services Division. The Executive Office has been in close liaison with the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong and the Travel Agents Registry to ensure detailed and smooth transitional arrangements.

The six committees have also worked tirelessly to fulfil their duties, for example, acquiring various essential services such as external legal drafting service of the subsidiary legislation under the Travel Industry Ordinance (Cap. 634); devising guidelines, directives and codes of conduct for the regulation of travel agents, tourist guides and tour escorts; as well as developing procedures for inquiry committees for disciplinary cases against licensees and procedures to deal with disciplinary actions against licensees. Initial preparations have also been made to consider the financial management of the Travel Industry Compensation Fund (TICF) and the Travel Industry Development Fund (TIDF) as well as guidelines, application procedures and evaluation criteria of TIDF.

In the coming year, TIA will continue to communicate with the industry closely and maintain dialogue with stakeholders to gauge their views for drawing up the future regulatory and related arrangements, such as the administrative scheme for regulating shops that inbound tour groups are arranged to patronise. We will also look into the management of TICF.

I am pleased with the progress of preparatory work and I am grateful to my fellow members of TIA for their valuable time, unreserved support, the full and candid exchange of views and experience, and their devotion to the work and objectives of TIA. I am also very thankful for the support rendered by the Government on various preparation work.

I believe that as the coming year unfolds, it will bring hope and blessings, and the Hong Kong’s embattled travel industry will recover and bounce back with resilience and energy after the gradual resumption of cross-border/boundary travel.