Hong Kong Information

Hong Kong was founded as a place to conduct business and to trade, and it continues to serve that purpose both aggressively and successfully. The world's fourth-largest banking and financial center in terms of external assets, Hong Kong is the "Wall Street of Asia," with banking, international insurance, advertising, and publishing among its biggest industries. Hong Kong also boasts the world's eighth-largest trading economy, and is one of the world's leading exporters of toys, garments, and watches.

Little wonder, then, that as a duty-free port, Hong Kong attracts approximately 14 million visitors a year, making tourism one of its leading industries despite a devastating downturn in tourism in 2003 due to an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Shopping is one of the main reasons people come here, and at first glance, the city does seem rather like one huge department store. But there's much more to Hong Kong than shopping. There's also wining, dining, and sightseeing, as well as isolated places to get away from it all.

For those who wish to journey farther afield, Macau, a former Portuguese colony handed back to China in 1999, is just an hour's boat ride away; and vast China itself lies just beyond Hong Kong's border, making it the perfect gateway for trips to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, and beyond.
The more you se
arch for in Hong Kong, the more you'll find. Before long, you, too, may find yourself swept up in the drama.