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self storage 　　In the Christmas and New Year golden holidays that just passed, large groups of mainland tourists swarmed department stores and brand-name shops in Europe and the US on a "bloody battle" with everyone returning fully-loaded. This became international news because mainland tourists are going out of Asia towards Europe and the US. Hong Kong's tourist and retail industries are gradually becoming concerned as the craze of mainlanders visiting the SAR losing steam.　　Statistics of the Tourism Board show that mainland tourists made 34.9 million trips into Hong Kong in 2012. Of them, over 23 million were travelling under the individual visit scheme. In the first 11 months of last year, there were 33.48 million, with over 25 million on individual visit. It can be seen that the total number of mainland visitors was about the same in the two years but they were mostly travelling under the individual visit scheme.　　The new trend is not unrelated to the new tourism law that came into effect in the mainland last year. To eradicate the drawback of forced shopping, the mainland strictly prohibited low-priced and shopping tours which caused the number of tours to the SAR to fall immediately.CASS predicts slowdown in tour groups to continue　　The Hong Kong Inbound Travel Association pointed out that in the golden period of the past two months, the number of mainland tour groups fell by 20 per cent. Tour agencies, coach operators and retailers found life harder than before, being caught in the ripple effects. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences （CASS） for the first time issued a warning to Hong Kong's tourist industry on Wednesday that the situation of fewer tour groups and more individual travellers will continue this year. It also predicted the growth of visitors from the mainland to fall by 5 percentage points compared to last year.　　One of the reasons for the fall in the number of mainland tourists is that many have been to Hong Kong before and they opt for other countries preferring the new to the old. Some mainland big spenders go for higher enjoyment, mostly visiting Europe and the US for food and fun or buying cheaper brand-name products. If this continues, it cannot be ruled out that even the individual travellers will reach out, coming less often to Hong Kong. Then the prospects of Hong Kong's tourist industry will not look good.　　Travel experience, unique culture and tradition as well as novelty are equally important to a place. Hong Kong is a metropolis where East and West meet, so it bears attraction to tourists. But in terms of innovation, it has become standstill in recent years. There are not many new tourist spots. The West Kowloon Cultural District and the East Kowloon new development area will take years to complete. Standards also keep falling in local supporting facilities such as hotel rooms and services.　　Neighbouring regions including Guang Dong Province, Macau and Singapore are all aggressively developing tour facilities. The recent enormous theme park in Hengqin is an example. They pose competition to Hong Kong's tourist industry. For Hong Kong to increase the number of tourist spots and enhance supporting facilities, they cannot be achieved overnight. But not catching up and being edged out by competitors will mean severe consequences.　　Speeding up the expansion of Disneyland, completing the new hotels there and in Ocean Park earlier, as well as rapidly turning Lantau Island into a new tourist destination must not be all talks. They require coordination between the government, Legco and the tourist sector to come true."Anti-mainland" malpractice affects tourism　　Immediate changes are raising the "soft power", one of them being in service standards. Faced with an increase in the number of individual travellers entering Hong Kong, the tourist industry should change its strategies to provide more tailor-made personal tours such as guided tours of rural areas, ancient as well as cultural sites. There is much room for exploration in these to attract them to spend here with flexible and high-quality travel experience.　　What is more important is to have mainlanders feel at home, but in recent years, a bad practice of some Hongkongers in rejecting mainlanders prevails, causing discontent in some visitors. The radical behaviour of some members of the local faction also resulted in the "anti-mainland" illusion which will affect the tourists' perception and have an impact on the tourist and retail industries. This trend must be stopped early to prevent the tourist industry from contracting further.Published in the Sing Tao Daily on January 9Vocabularyswarm (v) —— 湧到eradicate (v) —— 根絕drawback (n) —— 毛病unique (adj) —— 獨特的novelty (n) —— 新鮮感metropolis (n) —— 都會innovation (n) —— 創新standstill (n) —— 停滯pose (v) —— 造成perception (n) —— 觀感Useful Termsindividual visit scheme —— 自由行forced shopping —— 強逼購物ripple effect —— 漣漪作用tour facility —— 旅遊設施guided tour —— 導賞團Did you know?　　Hong Kong can expect at least 41 million mainland visitors this year, but the big spenders will likely be going elsewhere, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The rise in visitors will be 7 per cent, compared with 12 per cent last year, according to the academy's tourism green paper. Green paper editor Song Rui said individual travellers are now allowed to visit more places so the growth rate of mainland tourists in Hong Kong will definitely slow down. Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong chairman Michael Wu Siu-ieng said he did not see the slower growth in visitors having any impact on tourism. But the council's executive director, Joseph Tung Yao-chung, said the forecast should be a wake-up call. Hong Kong Retail Management Association chairman Caroline Mak Sui-king said there will be an impact on the retail industry if the prediction is accurate.Q&A1. The word _____ in the first paragraph is the opposite of "empty-handed".2. Travel _____, unique culture and tradition as well as novelty are equally important.3. In the passage, the word _____ means "future".4. The tourist industry should change its strategies because there is _________________________.5. According to the last paragraph, Hong Kong should make mainland visitors feel at _____.Answers1. fully-loaded2. experience3. prospects4. an increase in the number of individual travellers entering Hong Kong5. home內地旅團萎縮 旅遊業前景不妙　　在剛過去的聖誕新年黃金假期，大批內地旅客湧到歐美百貨公司和名牌店「血拼」，人人滿載而歸，成為國際新聞，皆因內地旅客已衝出亞洲，走向歐美，香港旅遊業和零售業，面對內地旅客來港熱潮減退，已漸感憂慮。　　旅發局統計顯示，前年訪港內地旅客為三千四百九十萬人次，當中二千三百多萬為自由行；去年首十一個月，內地旅客三千三百四十八萬人次，自由行佔二千五百多萬。從中窺見，這兩年訪港內地客總數相若，但當中以自由行居多。　　新的趨勢，與內地去年實施新旅遊法不無關係。為了取締強逼購物的弊端，內地嚴禁低團費和購物團，來港旅團數目應聲下跌。社科院預測旅團持續減　　香港入境旅遊接待協會指出，在過去兩個月的黃金檔期，內地旅團減少兩成，連鎖反應影響，旅行社、旅巴、零售等均受牽連，生意較前難做。中國社科院昨天亦首次向香港旅遊業發出警告，預測旅團少、自由行客多的趨勢，將於今年內持續，並估計內地旅客來港人數的增幅，會比去年下跌五個百分點。　　內地旅客萎縮，原因之一，是不少人已經來過香港遊玩，貪新忘舊，轉往他國旅遊，而部分內地豪客追求更高享受，多去歐美旅遊吃喝玩樂，或購買更廉宜名牌產品。長此下去，不排除連自由行客往後亦向外走，減少來港，屆時香港旅業的前景便相當不妙。　　一個地方的旅遊體驗、獨特文化傳統和新鮮感，均同樣重要。香港是中西文化交匯的都會，對旅客有一定的吸引力。但在創新方面，近年卻裹足不前，新旅遊景點不多，西九龍文娛區和東九龍新發展區，均要待多年後才可落成。本港在酒店房間、服務水平等配套，也每況愈下。　　鄰近地區，包括廣東省、澳門、新加坡等地都大力發展新旅遊設施，最近在橫琴的新樂園，規模龐大，便是一例，皆對香港旅遊業構成競爭。香港要增加旅遊景點，加強接待配套，都不能一蹴即就，但不急起直追，被競爭對手拋離，後果將很嚴重。　　加快迪士尼樂園的擴建步伐，推動迪士尼和海洋公園的新酒店早日落成，以至盡快把大嶼山發展成新的旅遊綜合區等，都不容議而不決，需要港府、立法會、旅遊界配合才能成事。「排內」歪風影響旅業　　即時的改善，是提升「軟實力」，其中一環，是服務業水平。面對自由行來港人數增多，旅遊業應變陣，提供更多度身訂造的個人遊選擇，例如郊野、古�、文化導賞團，都大有拓展空間，以彈性優質的旅遊體驗，吸引自由行消費。　　更為重要的，是讓內地人賓至如歸，但近年有少數港人出現排斥內地人的歪風，引起來港旅客的不滿，而一些本土派極端行為，也造成「排內」的錯覺，影響旅客的觀感，打擊旅遊業和零售業。這趨勢必須及早制止，才可避免旅遊業進一步萎縮。刊於一月九日《星島日報》翻譯︰George迷利倉