Hong Kong Hosts International Dragon Boat Race and Hopes to Host 2027 World Championships

After Hong Kong returned to normal, there have been waves of great events! The giant rubber yellow duck, which has been away for 10 years, has visited Hong Kong again. From tomorrow, it will be exhibited with its companions at the Victoria Harbour, which is opposite Tamar Park in Admiralty. In addition, the Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Invitational Race will be held on the weekend immediately following the Dragon Boat Festival, and the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Championship” will be added and bonuses will be distributed to the winning teams for the first time. The Tourism Board stated that this is the first international sports event after the customs clearance, and hopes to inject more elements of the Greater Bay Area into sports events in the future.

The Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Invitational Race, which has been suspended due to anti-revision incidents and the epidemic in the past four years, will be held on the 24th and 25th of this month in the Tsim Sha Tsui East Waterfront. There will be 17 events in this year’s competition, and more than 160 teams will participate. They come from 10 countries and regions, including Dubai, Japan and Poland, which participated for the first time. Australia, Thailand and the Philippines will also send national teams to participate. In order to encourage the active participation of overseas dragon boat teams, the HKTB also provides cash prizes for the first time for the International Championships, International Open Gold Cup, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Championships, Hong Kong Championships and Hong Kong-Macau Cup. The champion team will receive a bonus of US$10,000. Up to HK$1 million.

Cheng Dingyi, Director-General of the HKTB, said that this is the HKTB’s first international sports event after Hong Kong’s full customs clearance, and a special “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area Championship” will invite Macau and 9 other cities in the Greater Bay Area to come to Hong Kong Compete with the Hong Kong team. The HKTB also co-organizes the “Hong Kong-Macau Cup” with Macau for the first time this year. There will be 6 teams from the Mainland, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Macau and Hong Kong. He hopes to promote exchanges between cities in the Greater Bay Area and expand Hong Kong and Macau The “connected travel” market, the promotion of “one-trip multi-destination” tourism, and the future can inject more elements of the Greater Bay Area into sports events, strengthen cooperation between various cities, enrich tourist travel experience, and establish tourism in the Greater Bay Area brand.

Hong Kong is expected to host the 2027 World Dragon Boat Championships

Li Jianhao, captain of the Hong Kong dragon boat team, is excited to be able to participate in major events again. He said that the Hong Kong team has continued to prepare for the competition at the end of last year, and the training intensity has returned to the pre-epidemic level. Du Peiqi, captain of the women’s team who will also participate in the Dragon Boat Invitational Race, believes that it is very rare to be able to return to Tsim Sha Tsui East, and hopes that citizens and tourists can watch closely and cheer for the athletes. Chung Chi-lok, secretary-general of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association, revealed that some overseas teams had inquired whether an invitational race would be held this year before accepting registration. Regarding the World Dragon Boat Championships, which was originally scheduled to be hosted by Hong Kong, it was finally moved to Thailand in August this year on the grounds of strict epidemic prevention in Hong Kong. He admitted that it is a pity for Hong Kong. Hong Kong has applied to the International Dragon Boat Federation to host the event. I believe Hong Kong is expected to host the 2027 World Dragon Boat Championships. In order to attract more citizens and tourists to participate, the HKTB will place LINE FRIENDS cartoon character installations in the shape of dragon boat racers on the Avenue of Stars for two consecutive weeks starting from the 19th of this month for citizens to take pictures as souvenirs. In addition, many restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui East offer 25% off dine-in discounts, buy one get one free beer, etc. for 4 consecutive days from the day of the Dragon Boat Festival (22nd) to the last day of the Dragon Boat Invitational Race (25th).

Hong Kong has held many grand events since the beginning of the year. Cheng Dingyi said that these events have attracted a lot of tourists. He hopes that the Dragon Boat Invitational Race will attract more tourists to Hong Kong and enhance the popularity of Hong Kong. He also said that the number of tourists visiting Hong Kong in the first five months of this year has exceeded the 10 million mark, which is more than 40% of the average number of tourists visiting Hong Kong from 2017 to 2019, and he hopes to continue the good momentum. However, he admitted that it will take some time for the number of long-distance passengers to gradually recover, and the reception capacity of Hong Kong’s airports, travel agencies, hotels, etc. still needs to be further improved. For the time being, he still maintains the forecast of 26 million passengers for the whole year this year, and is not in a hurry to recover to 2017 or 2017. peak levels in 2018.

Originally published on AM730