Just when we've thought that Malaysian officials have managed to successfully roll back international ivory-smuggling syndicates using the country as a transit point, here comes a reminder that ivory smugglers remain relentless and continue to use the country for their nefarious activities.
Customs officials in Hong Kong discovered a shocking 7,200kg of ivory tusks, which had originated in Malaysia.
Valued at around US$9 million, it's the largest haul of contraband ivory seized in Hong Kong in three decades.
The shipment of tusks from African elephants had been labelled as "fish" and sent to the Chinese territory from Malaysia.
The elephant tusks were stored in boxes hidden under frozen fish. The 1,000 boxes were half-empty when we found them with frozen fish put around the ivory, a customs official said.
Local authorities have arrested the owner of a Hong Kong trading company and two of his employees. The trio are facing hefty fines and up to nine years in prison for violating Hong Kong laws that prohibit trade in endangered animals and their parts.
According to the conservationist group WildAid, as many as 720 elephants were killed for their tusks in this one shipment alone.
Let's reflect on that for a moment: hundreds of more elephants are dead just because people continue to prize items fashioned from their tusks.
These tusks represent the lives of hundreds of elephants, said Margaret Kinnaird, head of WWF’s global Wildlife Practice.
In the Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, for instance, almost 90 per cent of elephants have disappeared due to poaching in the last 40 years with only about 15,000 remaining.
WWF has called on authorities from Africa to Asia to crack down harder on international syndicates trafficking in ivory.
The tusks' likely final destination was mainland China, the world's largest market for ivory.
Encouragingly, China has promised to end all illegal trade in ivory by the end of this year, but eradicating all trafficking in contraband ivory in China and elsewhere will be a daunting task given that poachers and traffickers routinely take advantage of a lack of law enforcement and outright corruption in developing nations from Africa to Asia.
Hong Kong itself has long served as a convenient gateway for smugglers into China.
Everything from shark fins to pangolin scales is regularly smuggled into the Chinese territory from elsewhere in the region, including Malaysia.
Hong Kong ranks as the 5th largest hub of contraband ivory in the world, and between 2000 and 2013, a massive 33,000kg of elephant tusks were seized in the territory.
This latest seizure is almost one-tenth of the recorded ivory stock (77,000 kg) in Hong Kong, WWF notes.
Tourism Observer
www.tourismobserver.com
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label Visit Hong Kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Visit Hong Kong. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 July 2017
Monday, 3 July 2017
HONG KONG: Trafficker Of Women For 17 Years,Jesus Came To Save Sinners, Tax Collectors And Prostitutes.
A former mamasan at Tsim Sha Tsui’s notorious Club Bboss recalls its hedonistic heyday and how a ‘miracle’ put her on the path to salvation
Mary Zardilla looked like she had it all. It was 1986, the heyday of Hong Kong hedonism and she had spent the past decade climbing the greasy pole of the entertainment business to its gaudy, gold-plated zenith – the self-appointed greatest night club of them all, Club Bboss.
Like many others, Mary had risked much to be here, lured by the promise of rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers of the day. The club’s clientele was a veritable who’s who of 1980s Hong Kong.
Celebrities, politicians, famous businessmen, all were common sights at this Tsim Sha Tsui landmark, a 70,000 sq ft nightclub-cum-amusement park for men that boasted bright lights, lavish floor shows and more than 1,000 perfectly coiffed hostesses.
As one of the city’s last Japanese super clubs, Club Bboss formerly Club Volvo was about nothing if not conspicuous consumption. The rich and famous would arrive at the curbside in their Rolls-Royces, only to be ferried to their booths in gold-plated golf carts designed to look like the vehicles they had just left.
And once inside they might meet one of those many perfectly coiffed hostesses but not before first encountering someone like Mary.
Mary was one of the club’s foremost mamasans. Her job was to match up the club’s male clientele with one of the 100 or so escorts under her control and it was a job Mary, who learned Japanese for the role, was particularly good at, having acquired an uncanny knack for reading men’s minds when it came to their tastes in women.
So good, in fact, that the club gave her two armed bodyguards as round-the-clock protection when she joined from a rival establishment, a skilled mamasan like Mary could bring in a lot of money for a club, many of which were run by triad gangs, and employers did not take kindly to being abandoned.
Some mamasans got beaten and hospitalised to warn you against leaving for another club, recalls Mary, now 63, petite with a pretty, wrinkle-free face that makes her look decades younger than she is. When I left my former job, I said, please don’t hurt me. I served my contract. I have to support my poor family in the Philippines.
Luckily for her, Mary was allowed to leave for Club Bboss, where she worked alongside mamasans from Australia, Japan, China and Korea, managing girls who, like her, had begun working there voluntarily, out of financial need driven by their impoverished family backgrounds.
We were trapped with no other options, says Mary, who herself began working at 16 to support her parents and siblings.
As a pimp, Mary mentored her girls in everything from etiquette to styling. Every night she introduced them to “johns” who were charged fees by 15 minute increments. Johns were charged by the club anywhere from HK$1,900 to HK$3,500 or more per encounter, depending on how wealthy they appeared.
Technically, Mary’s work and that of her girls was entirely legal, but Mary herself is in little doubt as to what her role constituted. I sold girls. As a mamasan, I trafficked girls,Mary now says, bluntly.
To get around the laws on prostitution, their salaries were paid by nightclub accountants and they were taxed as hostesses, something that is considered legal work.
To keep their mamasan happy, the girls would give Mary money or gifts as a “favour”. The girls needed to do this to get an edge on their competition for the highest paying, most attractive johns. Mamasans were in charge of their own schedules and were the most powerful in the food chain. Mary had only one boss,the owner.
I sold my body in a Hong Kong bar.
The link between human trafficking and the escort business is not always clear. At high-end places like Club Bboss, for example, working women arrived on their own accord from places such as Japan, America, Britain, Latin America, the Philippines and mainland China.
And, of course, there were local Hongkongers, too. Many of the women from overseas had entered Hong Kong on tourist visas before applying, voluntarily, for work at one of the 10 or so top clubs. Mary says all the women were hoping a man would sweep them off their feet like Richard Gere in the film Pretty Woman.
The girls can make more money in clubs than brothels. Brothels are faster turnover, but they are more controlled. Nightclubs give more freedom and pay more, she says.
At the lower-end establishments, however, it’s less clear how much choice the women had. Mary knew many clubs that recruited women from overseas, paying for their plane tickets and all expenses, but did not allow them to leave the premises after they arrived.
In some of the worst cases, women were clearly trafficked. One of Mary’s girls at Club Bboss, Isabelle, had been trafficked from Manila by a triad gang who had deceived her about the type of work she would be doing in Hong Kong. When she arrived, the gang forced her into prostitution in a private home.
Isabelle was forced to sleep with up to 30 men a night, with the triads charging HK$50 per john. A man guarded her at all times to prevent her from escaping. Isabelle’s bodyguard later bought her from her owner after the pair formed a bond and they ended up getting married.
Yet, even liberated, with limited options for income, Isabelle found herself back in a similar line of work as one of Mary’s hostesses, albeit with more freedom and pay.
And even for those women who had entered the field voluntarily, by the time they realised Richard Gere would not be coming to save them, it was too late. Some girls wanted to find a better job. But unfortunately they hadn’t finished school or didn’t have skills, Mary explains.
Freelancers can leave anytime they want… but don’t have other options and they end up trapped.
The descent into pimping women happened slowly for Mary. At 16, she had dropped out of school and started working in a factory to support her parents and seven siblings. Her father died three years later leaving her mother, a laundry woman, devastated. Mary stepped up as the eldest daughter to support the family.
Mary left the factory job to join a cultural dance troupe and the troupe took her to Hong Kong in 1972. During the troupe’s tour, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law back in the Philippines, prompting Mary and other dancers to search for more permanent work in the city.
That year, she met a Filipino man working in entertainment and married him a few years later. He cheated on her frequently. Pained, she focused on making money to send back to her family. I longed for love. I didn’t have love, I became a slave to money, she recalls.
She applied for a receptionist role at a club in Tsim Sha Tsui not realising it was a hostess job. I was innocent and so deceived. Many are deceived into working as prostitutes. But she refused to sleep with the johns and was instead groomed as a mamasan.
Unacquainted with this underworld, she had no idea what mamasans did nor what big money they made. She learned on the go. I was entertaining customers like a public relations person. I studied Japanese and became good. I would ask them what kind of girls they preferred. I soon learned Japanese businessmen like young girls.
The money hardened her. Her starting salary was HK$20,000 a month plus commissions and she got HK$15,000 as a one-off payment for signing her contract. But she found out that other mamasans were being paid HK$30,000 a month and HK$20,000 for signing a contract, so she asked for a raise.
The raises were never enough so she began climbing the ranks of the leading clubs before finally rising to the top,Club Bboss where she was paid HK$500,000 annually and HK$80,000 for signing her contract.
She was not the only one lured by the promise of riches.We charged HK$1,000 for sex in the 1980s, she says. Back then many of the Hong Kong Chinese girls were married. They, too, were lured by the money.
Clients gave her girls jewellery, money to buy land, houses and apartments back in their home countries. At times, Mary was given blank cheques by the clients. She had several wealthy boyfriends on the side.
Some of the girls became savvy at buying and selling real estate and left the club with small fortunes. They were regularly paid to attend parties with high-profile Hong Kong businessmen. They were high-end call girls, dressed so elegantly, says Mary.
Yet even then, at the zenith of her profession, surrounded by the rich and famous and able, seemingly, to pluck money from thin air, Mary knew that deep inside she and her girls were suffering and lost.
Amid the stream of glamorous clients, Rolls-Royces and golden golf carts, the women battled drug addictions, alcoholism and ever-creeping levels of self-loathing and emptiness.
While working in the club, we didn’t have a life. It’s so temporal nice restaurants, fancy clothes, all temporary happiness. Any prostitute who says they’re happy, they’re in denial. The girls would go back and cry even if they had made US$10,000 that night with a man from the Middle East.
You’re forced to make love with a man you don’t like. Your soul and emotions have to be numb. Only drugs numb.
Then there was the sexual abuse and exploitation, which was widespread. One time, a client strangled one of her girls.
The escort business operates in a shady area, where the line between what is legal and what is not is not always clear. Mary says clubs would often be tipped off about police raids before they happened,corruption is everywhere. The mamasans and women feared the police.
Mary feels that had more police been trained to identify women in the red light district who felt they had been coerced into prostitution, some lives could have been saved. The police must have a deeper understanding that these women are trapped and that in their heart of hearts, these women hate their work. No one wants to be a prostitute.
A Hong Kong police spokesperson said they had found prostitutes from the Chinese mainland, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America who had been trafficked to Hong Kong on tourist visas. However, these women, according to the police, are usually reluctant to speak out.
Last year, police arrested 266 people on suspicion of keeping a vice establishment. In Hong Kong, prostitution itself is legal, but organised prostitution is not.
While some clubs and operators from Tsim Sha Tsui have migrated to the Wan Chai bar street, the days of the luxurious nightclub scene are over, Club Bboss itself shut in 2012.
Yet even now, campaigners estimate there are anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000 children, women, and men working in prostitution in Hong Kong. According to Zi Teng, a support group, around 1 in 50 are under 18.
According to one NGO worker, some smaller nightclubs in Kowloon have forced underage Chinese girls usually from broken families into prostitution through debt bondage. The girls are lured by mamasans who ask if they want “easy cash” or “pocket money”. The girls soon get into debt, finding they owe their mamasans HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 for living expenses or to finance their cocaine or ketamine drug habits.
Despite such problems there is no government funding to support NGOs to provide direct intervention, according to the NGO worker.
Sandy Wong, chairperson of the Anti-Human Trafficking Committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Women Lawyers, says more needs to be done to stop the demand for prostitution. In Sweden, targeting the sex buyers helps reduce prostitution and sex trafficking significantly and it is a model increasingly adopted by other countries. It is a model we should adopt in Hong Kong.
Every night, Mary and her girls drank to ease the pain. Their daily routine before their work would involve lunch then a beauty parlour session. In 1991, a friend who owned a beauty clinic in Cebu visited Mary to ask for her help setting up another business in Hong Kong.
Mary admitted she was a mamasan, but rather than judge her, the friend, a Christian, told Mary that Jesus came to save the sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes.
The friend offered to study the Bible with Mary. All of a sudden something pinched my heart, recalls Mary. But I was a millionaire. I was afraid to say no. I was afraid of getting cursed by God and that I’d lose my money.
As she prayed, she felt cleansed for the first time. But she continued to struggle with guilt and shame.
What sealed her conversion was seeing her young nephew, who had been dying from cancer, healed after another friend, Rita, prayed for him.
This convinced Mary there must be a higher power and she invited Rita to Hong Kong to speak with her girls, hoping for more miracles.
For the next month and a half, they conducted Bible studies every day. Around 10 girls experienced a new hope and the power of God and the girls were healed of their emotional pain, anger, depression, drug addictions and alcoholism.
All of a sudden their countenance changed, their attitudes and characters changed. They had so much hunger to learn about the Christian faith.
Mary began to use the karaoke bar she owned as a meeting place for the women to learn about their new faith during the day. At night it continued to function as a bar for prostitution.
One by one the girls quit their work, as did Mary,after 17 years in the business, she paid her boss HK$200,000 so she could leave. I knew it was time to quit because of my conviction. I felt so bad and couldn’t walk into the club. I didn’t care if I didn’t have money or a job.
The next year, she sold her bar and moved back to the Philippines.
Back in the Philippines, Mary worked at restoring her marriage, which is now strong. Over the years, she has mentored many women and recounts her past in public speeches. Recently, her testimony at a Hong Kong church moved a congregation of domestic helpers to tears.
Now Mary wants to tell as many mamasans and bar girls as she can that there is hope. I want to tell them they’re not stuck, she says, tearing up. She is still in touch with six of her girls who left the world of prostitution. They are now working as dishwashers, or cleaners. One is a restaurant floor manager.
We may not have luxury but we have peace and joy. There’s no oppression, she says. Our identity is restored, money can’t buy that.
Tourism Observer
www.tourismobserver.com
Mary Zardilla looked like she had it all. It was 1986, the heyday of Hong Kong hedonism and she had spent the past decade climbing the greasy pole of the entertainment business to its gaudy, gold-plated zenith – the self-appointed greatest night club of them all, Club Bboss.
Like many others, Mary had risked much to be here, lured by the promise of rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers of the day. The club’s clientele was a veritable who’s who of 1980s Hong Kong.
Celebrities, politicians, famous businessmen, all were common sights at this Tsim Sha Tsui landmark, a 70,000 sq ft nightclub-cum-amusement park for men that boasted bright lights, lavish floor shows and more than 1,000 perfectly coiffed hostesses.
As one of the city’s last Japanese super clubs, Club Bboss formerly Club Volvo was about nothing if not conspicuous consumption. The rich and famous would arrive at the curbside in their Rolls-Royces, only to be ferried to their booths in gold-plated golf carts designed to look like the vehicles they had just left.
And once inside they might meet one of those many perfectly coiffed hostesses but not before first encountering someone like Mary.
Mary was one of the club’s foremost mamasans. Her job was to match up the club’s male clientele with one of the 100 or so escorts under her control and it was a job Mary, who learned Japanese for the role, was particularly good at, having acquired an uncanny knack for reading men’s minds when it came to their tastes in women.
So good, in fact, that the club gave her two armed bodyguards as round-the-clock protection when she joined from a rival establishment, a skilled mamasan like Mary could bring in a lot of money for a club, many of which were run by triad gangs, and employers did not take kindly to being abandoned.
Some mamasans got beaten and hospitalised to warn you against leaving for another club, recalls Mary, now 63, petite with a pretty, wrinkle-free face that makes her look decades younger than she is. When I left my former job, I said, please don’t hurt me. I served my contract. I have to support my poor family in the Philippines.
Luckily for her, Mary was allowed to leave for Club Bboss, where she worked alongside mamasans from Australia, Japan, China and Korea, managing girls who, like her, had begun working there voluntarily, out of financial need driven by their impoverished family backgrounds.
We were trapped with no other options, says Mary, who herself began working at 16 to support her parents and siblings.
As a pimp, Mary mentored her girls in everything from etiquette to styling. Every night she introduced them to “johns” who were charged fees by 15 minute increments. Johns were charged by the club anywhere from HK$1,900 to HK$3,500 or more per encounter, depending on how wealthy they appeared.
Technically, Mary’s work and that of her girls was entirely legal, but Mary herself is in little doubt as to what her role constituted. I sold girls. As a mamasan, I trafficked girls,Mary now says, bluntly.
To get around the laws on prostitution, their salaries were paid by nightclub accountants and they were taxed as hostesses, something that is considered legal work.
To keep their mamasan happy, the girls would give Mary money or gifts as a “favour”. The girls needed to do this to get an edge on their competition for the highest paying, most attractive johns. Mamasans were in charge of their own schedules and were the most powerful in the food chain. Mary had only one boss,the owner.
I sold my body in a Hong Kong bar.
The link between human trafficking and the escort business is not always clear. At high-end places like Club Bboss, for example, working women arrived on their own accord from places such as Japan, America, Britain, Latin America, the Philippines and mainland China.
And, of course, there were local Hongkongers, too. Many of the women from overseas had entered Hong Kong on tourist visas before applying, voluntarily, for work at one of the 10 or so top clubs. Mary says all the women were hoping a man would sweep them off their feet like Richard Gere in the film Pretty Woman.
The girls can make more money in clubs than brothels. Brothels are faster turnover, but they are more controlled. Nightclubs give more freedom and pay more, she says.
At the lower-end establishments, however, it’s less clear how much choice the women had. Mary knew many clubs that recruited women from overseas, paying for their plane tickets and all expenses, but did not allow them to leave the premises after they arrived.
In some of the worst cases, women were clearly trafficked. One of Mary’s girls at Club Bboss, Isabelle, had been trafficked from Manila by a triad gang who had deceived her about the type of work she would be doing in Hong Kong. When she arrived, the gang forced her into prostitution in a private home.
Isabelle was forced to sleep with up to 30 men a night, with the triads charging HK$50 per john. A man guarded her at all times to prevent her from escaping. Isabelle’s bodyguard later bought her from her owner after the pair formed a bond and they ended up getting married.
Yet, even liberated, with limited options for income, Isabelle found herself back in a similar line of work as one of Mary’s hostesses, albeit with more freedom and pay.
And even for those women who had entered the field voluntarily, by the time they realised Richard Gere would not be coming to save them, it was too late. Some girls wanted to find a better job. But unfortunately they hadn’t finished school or didn’t have skills, Mary explains.
Freelancers can leave anytime they want… but don’t have other options and they end up trapped.
The descent into pimping women happened slowly for Mary. At 16, she had dropped out of school and started working in a factory to support her parents and seven siblings. Her father died three years later leaving her mother, a laundry woman, devastated. Mary stepped up as the eldest daughter to support the family.
Mary left the factory job to join a cultural dance troupe and the troupe took her to Hong Kong in 1972. During the troupe’s tour, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law back in the Philippines, prompting Mary and other dancers to search for more permanent work in the city.
That year, she met a Filipino man working in entertainment and married him a few years later. He cheated on her frequently. Pained, she focused on making money to send back to her family. I longed for love. I didn’t have love, I became a slave to money, she recalls.
She applied for a receptionist role at a club in Tsim Sha Tsui not realising it was a hostess job. I was innocent and so deceived. Many are deceived into working as prostitutes. But she refused to sleep with the johns and was instead groomed as a mamasan.
Unacquainted with this underworld, she had no idea what mamasans did nor what big money they made. She learned on the go. I was entertaining customers like a public relations person. I studied Japanese and became good. I would ask them what kind of girls they preferred. I soon learned Japanese businessmen like young girls.
The money hardened her. Her starting salary was HK$20,000 a month plus commissions and she got HK$15,000 as a one-off payment for signing her contract. But she found out that other mamasans were being paid HK$30,000 a month and HK$20,000 for signing a contract, so she asked for a raise.
The raises were never enough so she began climbing the ranks of the leading clubs before finally rising to the top,Club Bboss where she was paid HK$500,000 annually and HK$80,000 for signing her contract.
She was not the only one lured by the promise of riches.We charged HK$1,000 for sex in the 1980s, she says. Back then many of the Hong Kong Chinese girls were married. They, too, were lured by the money.
Clients gave her girls jewellery, money to buy land, houses and apartments back in their home countries. At times, Mary was given blank cheques by the clients. She had several wealthy boyfriends on the side.
Some of the girls became savvy at buying and selling real estate and left the club with small fortunes. They were regularly paid to attend parties with high-profile Hong Kong businessmen. They were high-end call girls, dressed so elegantly, says Mary.
Yet even then, at the zenith of her profession, surrounded by the rich and famous and able, seemingly, to pluck money from thin air, Mary knew that deep inside she and her girls were suffering and lost.
Amid the stream of glamorous clients, Rolls-Royces and golden golf carts, the women battled drug addictions, alcoholism and ever-creeping levels of self-loathing and emptiness.
While working in the club, we didn’t have a life. It’s so temporal nice restaurants, fancy clothes, all temporary happiness. Any prostitute who says they’re happy, they’re in denial. The girls would go back and cry even if they had made US$10,000 that night with a man from the Middle East.
You’re forced to make love with a man you don’t like. Your soul and emotions have to be numb. Only drugs numb.
Then there was the sexual abuse and exploitation, which was widespread. One time, a client strangled one of her girls.
The escort business operates in a shady area, where the line between what is legal and what is not is not always clear. Mary says clubs would often be tipped off about police raids before they happened,corruption is everywhere. The mamasans and women feared the police.
Mary feels that had more police been trained to identify women in the red light district who felt they had been coerced into prostitution, some lives could have been saved. The police must have a deeper understanding that these women are trapped and that in their heart of hearts, these women hate their work. No one wants to be a prostitute.
A Hong Kong police spokesperson said they had found prostitutes from the Chinese mainland, Southeast Asia, Europe and South America who had been trafficked to Hong Kong on tourist visas. However, these women, according to the police, are usually reluctant to speak out.
Last year, police arrested 266 people on suspicion of keeping a vice establishment. In Hong Kong, prostitution itself is legal, but organised prostitution is not.
While some clubs and operators from Tsim Sha Tsui have migrated to the Wan Chai bar street, the days of the luxurious nightclub scene are over, Club Bboss itself shut in 2012.
Yet even now, campaigners estimate there are anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000 children, women, and men working in prostitution in Hong Kong. According to Zi Teng, a support group, around 1 in 50 are under 18.
According to one NGO worker, some smaller nightclubs in Kowloon have forced underage Chinese girls usually from broken families into prostitution through debt bondage. The girls are lured by mamasans who ask if they want “easy cash” or “pocket money”. The girls soon get into debt, finding they owe their mamasans HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 for living expenses or to finance their cocaine or ketamine drug habits.
Despite such problems there is no government funding to support NGOs to provide direct intervention, according to the NGO worker.
Sandy Wong, chairperson of the Anti-Human Trafficking Committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Women Lawyers, says more needs to be done to stop the demand for prostitution. In Sweden, targeting the sex buyers helps reduce prostitution and sex trafficking significantly and it is a model increasingly adopted by other countries. It is a model we should adopt in Hong Kong.
Every night, Mary and her girls drank to ease the pain. Their daily routine before their work would involve lunch then a beauty parlour session. In 1991, a friend who owned a beauty clinic in Cebu visited Mary to ask for her help setting up another business in Hong Kong.
Mary admitted she was a mamasan, but rather than judge her, the friend, a Christian, told Mary that Jesus came to save the sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes.
The friend offered to study the Bible with Mary. All of a sudden something pinched my heart, recalls Mary. But I was a millionaire. I was afraid to say no. I was afraid of getting cursed by God and that I’d lose my money.
As she prayed, she felt cleansed for the first time. But she continued to struggle with guilt and shame.
What sealed her conversion was seeing her young nephew, who had been dying from cancer, healed after another friend, Rita, prayed for him.
This convinced Mary there must be a higher power and she invited Rita to Hong Kong to speak with her girls, hoping for more miracles.
For the next month and a half, they conducted Bible studies every day. Around 10 girls experienced a new hope and the power of God and the girls were healed of their emotional pain, anger, depression, drug addictions and alcoholism.
All of a sudden their countenance changed, their attitudes and characters changed. They had so much hunger to learn about the Christian faith.
Mary began to use the karaoke bar she owned as a meeting place for the women to learn about their new faith during the day. At night it continued to function as a bar for prostitution.
One by one the girls quit their work, as did Mary,after 17 years in the business, she paid her boss HK$200,000 so she could leave. I knew it was time to quit because of my conviction. I felt so bad and couldn’t walk into the club. I didn’t care if I didn’t have money or a job.
The next year, she sold her bar and moved back to the Philippines.
Back in the Philippines, Mary worked at restoring her marriage, which is now strong. Over the years, she has mentored many women and recounts her past in public speeches. Recently, her testimony at a Hong Kong church moved a congregation of domestic helpers to tears.
Now Mary wants to tell as many mamasans and bar girls as she can that there is hope. I want to tell them they’re not stuck, she says, tearing up. She is still in touch with six of her girls who left the world of prostitution. They are now working as dishwashers, or cleaners. One is a restaurant floor manager.
We may not have luxury but we have peace and joy. There’s no oppression, she says. Our identity is restored, money can’t buy that.
Tourism Observer
www.tourismobserver.com
Monday, 26 June 2017
HONG KONG: Growing Tourism In Hong Kong
There has been a sharp increase of tourists from Mainland China, due to the introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003.
The tourism industry has been an important part of the economy of Hong Kong since it shifted to a service sector model in the late 1980s and early 90s.
The total tourism expenditure associated with inbound tourism reached HK$7,333 per capita in 2011. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2010 totalled just over 36 million, a 21.8% increase over the previous year.
The numbers included approximately 22.5 million mainland Chinese arrivals, 8.2 million short-haul (excluding Mainland) arrivals, and 4.8 million long-haul arrivals. In July 2011 more than 3.8 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong, equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong's population and setting an outright record for a single month.
Along with the strong growth in the number of Mainland visitors, most other long and short-haul markets are also performing healthily with double-digit growth over 2006. Among long-haul markets, Europe, Africa and the Middle East took the lead with arrivals of 1,916,861, an 11.1% increase that made this Hong Kong's best-performing market region in 2006.
While facing increasing competition from Mainland cities and Macau, the Hong Kong Tourism Board works closely with authorities and trade to make Hong Kong an essential component in all combo and multi-destination itineraries.
Tourism, along with international trade and financial services are the three main sources of income for Hong Kong.
In December 2006, there were 612 hotels and tourist guest houses in Hong Kong, with 52,512 rooms. The average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses was 87% for the whole of 2006, a one-percentage-point growth compared with 2005 despite the 7.4% increase in Hong Kong's room supply between December 2005 and December 2006. During 2006, 62.7% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, which is a trend reflecting Hong Kong's increasing importance as a regional transport hub.
The Tourism Commission was established in May 1999 to promote Hong Kong as Asia's premier international city for all visitors. A Tourism Strategy Group, comprising representatives from the Government, the HKTB and various sectors of the tourism industry has been established to advise the Government on tourism development from a strategic perspective.
== Top 10 most visiting nationalities
Rank Country 2016
1 China 19,044,388
2 Taiwan 3,455,618
3 South Korea 2,011,877
4 United States 1,022,444
5 Japan 1,009,666
6 Philippines 942,544
7 Singapore 877,022
8 Australia 655,088
9 Malaysia 652,038
10 Thailand 652,000
Almost any of the districts of Hong Kong can be considered a tourist destination. The following locations are areas generally marked as main attractions.
- Hong Kong Island
- Victoria Peak
- Victoria Harbour
- Star Ferry Pier, Central
- Lan Kwai Fong
- Soho
- Stanley
- Repulse Bay
- Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum
- Ocean Park Hong Kong
Including New Kowloon
- Hong Kong Art Museum
- Avenue of Stars
- Clock Tower
- Chungking Mansions
- Hong Kong Cultural Centre
- Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre
- Hong Kong History Museum
- Hong Kong Science Museum
- Hong Kong International Hobby and Toy Museum
- Sky100
- Hong Kong Observatory
- Kowloon Park
- Nathan Road
- Ocean Terminal
- The Peninsula Hotel
- Temple Street
- Ladies' Market
- Hong Kong Space Museum
- Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui
- Kowloon Walled City
- Wong Tai Sin Temple
- Chi Lin Nunnery
- Lee Yue Mun
New Territories
Including the Outlying Islands
- Che Kung Temple
- Cheung Chau
- Lamma Island
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
- Hong Kong Heritage Museum
- Hong Kong Railway Museum
- Hong Kong Wetland Park
- Ngong Ping 360
- Ping Shan
- Tai O
- Tian Tan Buddha
- Ting Kau Bridge
- Tsing Ma Bridge
- Tung Chung Fort
To facilitate entry of visitors, various measures were introduced in 2002. The quota of the Hong Kong Tour Group Scheme of Mainland visitors has been abolished since January 2002. The number of Mainland travel agents authorised to organise such tours has also increased significantly.
Nationals from some 170 countries can visit Hong Kong visa free for period from seven days to 180 days. The Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) was introduced on 28 July 2003. The Scheme has been gradually extended and now covers Guangdong province, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and nine cities in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
In 2006, over 6.6 million Mainland citizens travelled to Hong Kong under the IVS, which is 20.2% more than 2005.
The HKTB continues to promote the destination to business and leisure travellers through its worldwide "Hong Kong – Live it, Love it!" campaign. Leveraging on the opening of several new attractions from 2005 onwards, the HKTB has designated 2006 as "Discover Hong Kong Year".
The global marketing campaign makes use of a series of strategic promotions to showcase the new image of Hong Kong and promote it as a "must-visit" destination in 2006. The HKTB began its travel trade promotion in May 2005 and rolled out the consumer promotions worldwide in late 2005. Aloagreement, a series of joint overseas marketing initiatives is being conducted with Macau and the nine provincial tourism bureaus concerned.
In the years up to till 2012, the number of anchor babies in Hong Kong had been increasing.Pregnant mainland women seeking to give birth in Hong Kong, specifically to benefit from the right of abode.Their parents came from mainland to give birth in Hong Kong, which resulted in their children gaining the right to abode and enjoy social welfare in the city.
Hong Kong citizens expressed concerns that the pregnant women and anchor babies put heavier burden on Hong Kong's medical system. Some of them even called mainlanders "locusts" which take away Hong Kong's resources from locals. Over 170,000 new births where both parents were mainlanders between 2001 and 2011,of which 32,653 were born in 2010.
CY Leung's first public announcement on policy as Chief Executive-elect was to impose a 'zero' quota on mainland mothers giving birth in Hong Kong. Leung further underlined that those who did may not be able to secure the right of abode for their offspring in Hong Kong.
Since 2012, there have been more mainland parallel traders coming to the northern parts of Hong Kong to import goods and export them back to mainland, which earns them some money for each transfer. Some products that are popular among these traders, such as infant formula, faced shortage in Hong Kong for an extended time as a result.
This made the government impose restrictions on the amount of milk powder exports from Hong Kong.Besides, since northern places like Sheung Shui became the transaction centres of the traders, this resulted in discontent from nearby residents.
The tourism industry has been an important part of the economy of Hong Kong since it shifted to a service sector model in the late 1980s and early 90s.
The total tourism expenditure associated with inbound tourism reached HK$7,333 per capita in 2011. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2010 totalled just over 36 million, a 21.8% increase over the previous year.
The numbers included approximately 22.5 million mainland Chinese arrivals, 8.2 million short-haul (excluding Mainland) arrivals, and 4.8 million long-haul arrivals. In July 2011 more than 3.8 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong, equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong's population and setting an outright record for a single month.
Along with the strong growth in the number of Mainland visitors, most other long and short-haul markets are also performing healthily with double-digit growth over 2006. Among long-haul markets, Europe, Africa and the Middle East took the lead with arrivals of 1,916,861, an 11.1% increase that made this Hong Kong's best-performing market region in 2006.
While facing increasing competition from Mainland cities and Macau, the Hong Kong Tourism Board works closely with authorities and trade to make Hong Kong an essential component in all combo and multi-destination itineraries.
Tourism, along with international trade and financial services are the three main sources of income for Hong Kong.
In December 2006, there were 612 hotels and tourist guest houses in Hong Kong, with 52,512 rooms. The average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses was 87% for the whole of 2006, a one-percentage-point growth compared with 2005 despite the 7.4% increase in Hong Kong's room supply between December 2005 and December 2006. During 2006, 62.7% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, which is a trend reflecting Hong Kong's increasing importance as a regional transport hub.
The Tourism Commission was established in May 1999 to promote Hong Kong as Asia's premier international city for all visitors. A Tourism Strategy Group, comprising representatives from the Government, the HKTB and various sectors of the tourism industry has been established to advise the Government on tourism development from a strategic perspective.
== Top 10 most visiting nationalities
Rank Country 2016
1 China 19,044,388
2 Taiwan 3,455,618
3 South Korea 2,011,877
4 United States 1,022,444
5 Japan 1,009,666
6 Philippines 942,544
7 Singapore 877,022
8 Australia 655,088
9 Malaysia 652,038
10 Thailand 652,000
Almost any of the districts of Hong Kong can be considered a tourist destination. The following locations are areas generally marked as main attractions.
- Hong Kong Island
- Victoria Peak
- Victoria Harbour
- Star Ferry Pier, Central
- Lan Kwai Fong
- Soho
- Stanley
- Repulse Bay
- Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum
- Ocean Park Hong Kong
Including New Kowloon
- Hong Kong Art Museum
- Avenue of Stars
- Clock Tower
- Chungking Mansions
- Hong Kong Cultural Centre
- Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre
- Hong Kong History Museum
- Hong Kong Science Museum
- Hong Kong International Hobby and Toy Museum
- Sky100
- Hong Kong Observatory
- Kowloon Park
- Nathan Road
- Ocean Terminal
- The Peninsula Hotel
- Temple Street
- Ladies' Market
- Hong Kong Space Museum
- Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui
- Kowloon Walled City
- Wong Tai Sin Temple
- Chi Lin Nunnery
- Lee Yue Mun
New Territories
Including the Outlying Islands
- Che Kung Temple
- Cheung Chau
- Lamma Island
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
- Hong Kong Heritage Museum
- Hong Kong Railway Museum
- Hong Kong Wetland Park
- Ngong Ping 360
- Ping Shan
- Tai O
- Tian Tan Buddha
- Ting Kau Bridge
- Tsing Ma Bridge
- Tung Chung Fort
To facilitate entry of visitors, various measures were introduced in 2002. The quota of the Hong Kong Tour Group Scheme of Mainland visitors has been abolished since January 2002. The number of Mainland travel agents authorised to organise such tours has also increased significantly.
Nationals from some 170 countries can visit Hong Kong visa free for period from seven days to 180 days. The Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) was introduced on 28 July 2003. The Scheme has been gradually extended and now covers Guangdong province, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and nine cities in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
In 2006, over 6.6 million Mainland citizens travelled to Hong Kong under the IVS, which is 20.2% more than 2005.
The HKTB continues to promote the destination to business and leisure travellers through its worldwide "Hong Kong – Live it, Love it!" campaign. Leveraging on the opening of several new attractions from 2005 onwards, the HKTB has designated 2006 as "Discover Hong Kong Year".
The global marketing campaign makes use of a series of strategic promotions to showcase the new image of Hong Kong and promote it as a "must-visit" destination in 2006. The HKTB began its travel trade promotion in May 2005 and rolled out the consumer promotions worldwide in late 2005. Aloagreement, a series of joint overseas marketing initiatives is being conducted with Macau and the nine provincial tourism bureaus concerned.
In the years up to till 2012, the number of anchor babies in Hong Kong had been increasing.Pregnant mainland women seeking to give birth in Hong Kong, specifically to benefit from the right of abode.Their parents came from mainland to give birth in Hong Kong, which resulted in their children gaining the right to abode and enjoy social welfare in the city.
Hong Kong citizens expressed concerns that the pregnant women and anchor babies put heavier burden on Hong Kong's medical system. Some of them even called mainlanders "locusts" which take away Hong Kong's resources from locals. Over 170,000 new births where both parents were mainlanders between 2001 and 2011,of which 32,653 were born in 2010.
CY Leung's first public announcement on policy as Chief Executive-elect was to impose a 'zero' quota on mainland mothers giving birth in Hong Kong. Leung further underlined that those who did may not be able to secure the right of abode for their offspring in Hong Kong.
Since 2012, there have been more mainland parallel traders coming to the northern parts of Hong Kong to import goods and export them back to mainland, which earns them some money for each transfer. Some products that are popular among these traders, such as infant formula, faced shortage in Hong Kong for an extended time as a result.
This made the government impose restrictions on the amount of milk powder exports from Hong Kong.Besides, since northern places like Sheung Shui became the transaction centres of the traders, this resulted in discontent from nearby residents.
Friday, 23 June 2017
HONG KONG: Wong Chuk Hang District Is Home To Street Art, Attracts Plenty Of Tourists
Since the opening of the MTR’s South Island Line, an increasing number of people are heading towards the Southern District to discover its hidden gems.
Here are five places that could soon put Hong Kong’s Southern District neighbourhoods on the tourist map.
The former industrial zone in Wong Chuk Hang district is home to street art and becomes an instant hit during the HK-Walls event earlier this year drawing local and foreign tourists.
This once-sleepy warehouse-and-factory neighbourhood is adorned with live mural paintings by Hong Kong and international artists, including Thai street artists, Mauy and Jecks who have large murals expressing their innermost feelings through colour, lines and shapes.
The Sensory Zero is gaining a following for the special drinks created by its owner Alvin, a coffee Q Grader and a tea taster, and his partner Dixon.
Try the popular Tea Champagne (Rose Oolong) with tasty dishes such as Beef Stew Super Bowl and Grilled Eel over Rice.
Mirth is a fascinating store that will amaze visitors with its wide array of homeware, stationery and toys.
Among the main attractions are children’s clothing designed by the shop owner, and accessories designed by her daughter.
It is located on M floor, B T Centre, 23 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Drop by the Happy Dinings Place eatery and you will enjoy tantalising delicacies such as pineapple bun with pork chop, chocolate spread and condensed milk toast, and iced milk tea with red beans.
A good destination for satisfying meals, minimeals and light snacks in nondescript surroundings.
It’s on the ground floor of Siu Kwan Mansion, 120 Old Main Street Aberdeen.
Travellers can get free 20th Anniversary Coupon Booklets upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Centre and various hotels citywide for smart traveller deals.
Here are five places that could soon put Hong Kong’s Southern District neighbourhoods on the tourist map.
The former industrial zone in Wong Chuk Hang district is home to street art and becomes an instant hit during the HK-Walls event earlier this year drawing local and foreign tourists.
This once-sleepy warehouse-and-factory neighbourhood is adorned with live mural paintings by Hong Kong and international artists, including Thai street artists, Mauy and Jecks who have large murals expressing their innermost feelings through colour, lines and shapes.
The Sensory Zero is gaining a following for the special drinks created by its owner Alvin, a coffee Q Grader and a tea taster, and his partner Dixon.
Try the popular Tea Champagne (Rose Oolong) with tasty dishes such as Beef Stew Super Bowl and Grilled Eel over Rice.
Mirth is a fascinating store that will amaze visitors with its wide array of homeware, stationery and toys.
Among the main attractions are children’s clothing designed by the shop owner, and accessories designed by her daughter.
It is located on M floor, B T Centre, 23 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.
Drop by the Happy Dinings Place eatery and you will enjoy tantalising delicacies such as pineapple bun with pork chop, chocolate spread and condensed milk toast, and iced milk tea with red beans.
A good destination for satisfying meals, minimeals and light snacks in nondescript surroundings.
It’s on the ground floor of Siu Kwan Mansion, 120 Old Main Street Aberdeen.
Travellers can get free 20th Anniversary Coupon Booklets upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Centre and various hotels citywide for smart traveller deals.
Sunday, 4 June 2017
HONG KONG: UBER, Do Not Undermine Our Monopolies,Or We Will Shut You Down
The arrests signal and symbolise what the Hong Kong government really thinks of technology: write all the apps you wish but do not undermine any of our monopolies. Or we will shut you down.
The taxi driver whipped out a tired-looking placard and reminded me of yet another regular increase in local taxi fares.
I paid cash, without complaining, for another uncomfortable ride in a dilapidated taxi that does not take credit, debit or stored-value cards and devices – in the 21st century.
It was like an existential scene out of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, where the loser-hero cannot understand the senselessness of the situation.
But there is a darker, more ignorant and sinister conspiracy against technology development in Hong Kong.
Technology is only supported if you do not threaten traditional, entrenched industries in the city – no matter what service improvements you offer for the general public.
Last week, 22 Uber drivers were arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of driving without a permit to operate a hired car and without third-party insurance during a three-week undercover police operation that ended with a series of raids across the city.
It certainly was a priority because it was the biggest operation of its kind, according to a report that cited police insiders.
They said the crackdown was “necessary” because a March court ruling against the city’s controversial online car-hailing service failed to discourage drivers from joining Uber.
It could have been worse. At least Hong Kong’s Uber drivers were not beaten up and forced to witness their cars torched like the ones in Paris.
However, this perverse campaign makes Hong Kong look exceedingly foolish, backward and hypocritical as it tries to market itself as a technology hub and gateway to the China technology market, where ride-sharing apps thrive.
InvestHK, the government’s foreign investment arm, is unable to explain how it assisted the establishment of Uber in Hong Kong, only to silently stand aside while Uber is persecuted like an international criminal organisation.
Then, our Innovation and Technology Bureau is simply mute in the face of the government’s attack on one of the world’s leading technology start-ups.
The mandate of the bureau is: We aim to develop Hong Kong into a knowledge-based economy and an innovation hub for technology and its application in the region.
To do this, it will strengthen support for the innovation and technology sector; facilitate the development of the information and communications technology industry, encourage commercialisation of research and development results, among others.
Uber Hong Kong, founded in mid-2014, has so far served one million passengers in the city using more than 30,000 drivers, with 80 per cent of them working as part-timers.
It certainly represents a proven and commercialised business suitable for Hong Kong.
Instead, we must witness the shameless protection of an old industry and a decrepit business model against innovative technology that threatens an existing monopoly.
Entrenched interests have persuaded the government to purge a clear and present business threat.
Disintermediation always causes pain among the established order, which will resist at all costs to public benefit.
While other major metropolitan areas have found a way to work Uber’s services into the insurance regime, the Hong Kong government has procrastinated for more than two years.
But worst of all, it signals and symbolises what the Hong Kong government really thinks of technology: write all the apps you wish but do not undermine any of our monopolies. Or we will shut you down.
All the glossy promotion about the city’s commitment to financial technology and other start-ups is only a shallow public relations campaign of the most cynical order.
The taxi driver whipped out a tired-looking placard and reminded me of yet another regular increase in local taxi fares.
I paid cash, without complaining, for another uncomfortable ride in a dilapidated taxi that does not take credit, debit or stored-value cards and devices – in the 21st century.
It was like an existential scene out of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, where the loser-hero cannot understand the senselessness of the situation.
But there is a darker, more ignorant and sinister conspiracy against technology development in Hong Kong.
Technology is only supported if you do not threaten traditional, entrenched industries in the city – no matter what service improvements you offer for the general public.
Last week, 22 Uber drivers were arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of driving without a permit to operate a hired car and without third-party insurance during a three-week undercover police operation that ended with a series of raids across the city.
It certainly was a priority because it was the biggest operation of its kind, according to a report that cited police insiders.
They said the crackdown was “necessary” because a March court ruling against the city’s controversial online car-hailing service failed to discourage drivers from joining Uber.
It could have been worse. At least Hong Kong’s Uber drivers were not beaten up and forced to witness their cars torched like the ones in Paris.
However, this perverse campaign makes Hong Kong look exceedingly foolish, backward and hypocritical as it tries to market itself as a technology hub and gateway to the China technology market, where ride-sharing apps thrive.
InvestHK, the government’s foreign investment arm, is unable to explain how it assisted the establishment of Uber in Hong Kong, only to silently stand aside while Uber is persecuted like an international criminal organisation.
Then, our Innovation and Technology Bureau is simply mute in the face of the government’s attack on one of the world’s leading technology start-ups.
The mandate of the bureau is: We aim to develop Hong Kong into a knowledge-based economy and an innovation hub for technology and its application in the region.
To do this, it will strengthen support for the innovation and technology sector; facilitate the development of the information and communications technology industry, encourage commercialisation of research and development results, among others.
Uber Hong Kong, founded in mid-2014, has so far served one million passengers in the city using more than 30,000 drivers, with 80 per cent of them working as part-timers.
It certainly represents a proven and commercialised business suitable for Hong Kong.
Instead, we must witness the shameless protection of an old industry and a decrepit business model against innovative technology that threatens an existing monopoly.
Entrenched interests have persuaded the government to purge a clear and present business threat.
Disintermediation always causes pain among the established order, which will resist at all costs to public benefit.
While other major metropolitan areas have found a way to work Uber’s services into the insurance regime, the Hong Kong government has procrastinated for more than two years.
But worst of all, it signals and symbolises what the Hong Kong government really thinks of technology: write all the apps you wish but do not undermine any of our monopolies. Or we will shut you down.
All the glossy promotion about the city’s commitment to financial technology and other start-ups is only a shallow public relations campaign of the most cynical order.
HONG KONG: Sorry Uber, There Is No More Hope In Hong Kong
Embattled car-hailing firm Uber is seeking talks with Hong Kong’s incoming leader in the hope of securing a formal regulatory framework for its operations.
Car-hailing giant is up against a speculative lobby that has close links to government and that stands to lose HK$120b from any reform of the city’s taxi business.
Don’t bother, Uber. This is one you cannot win. You are up against a speculative lobby that has close links to government and that stands to lose HK$120 billion (US$15.4 billion) from any reform of the city’s taxi business.
It’s too bad, really, because with one single reform we could make Hong Kong taxis a model for the world with lower fares, better paid and happier drivers, better cars and all the latest in ride hailing apps, in short everything we want from our taxis.
This reform is to abolish a ceiling, in place for more than 20 years, of a maximum just over 18,000 taxi licences and make these licences available in future to every car that meets the operating standards we impose for taxis and every driver who qualifies to drive one.
We can even raise these standards if we wish. In fact it might be a good idea. But the key reform will be that if you want a taxi licence for your car you will be entitled to one for a nominal fee if your car meets the required standards.
The number of taxis on the road will no longer be limited by administrative fiat.
That’s it. That’s all we need to do. And it will never happen.
The reason is that by controlling both the number of taxi licences and the fares that taxis can charge, our government has created a distortion in the taxi market.
At present fare levels, taxi drivers would be able to take home about HK$25,000 a month, which is much more than the present standard wage level for a semi-skilled worker and would ordinarily attract a flood of workers to the trade.
Taxi licence owners take the view that the right to receive two payments a day of up to HK$440 for the use of a taxi is at present worth HK$7 million.
That’s the price level at which these licences now trade.
But few drivers these days own their own taxis. They cannot afford them. The car itself costs only about HK$250,000 but the licence to use one as a taxi can only be had by buying one from someone else at a present market cost of about HK$7 million.
Because each and every hired driver must pay up to HK$440 per 10-hour shift to the owner of the taxi he drives. That HK$7 million is the capitalised value of the income stream at the present low yield rate of HK dollar financial assets.
Put another way, taxi licence owners take the view that the right to receive two payments a day of up to HK$440 for the use of a taxi is at present worth HK$7 million. That’s the price level at which these licences now trade.
And 18,000 licences at HK$7 million apiece gives you a combined value of HK$126 billion. But we’ll round it down to HK$120 billion.
Meantime the taxi driver is back to earning the standard semi-skilled wage in the region of HK$10,000 a month while you are charged almost double what you really need to pay for a taxi ride and Uber has no chance of breaking into the taxi market without having its drivers regularly arrested.
Not only are the taxi owners generally patriots who would have the ear of Beijing if their speculative investment were ever threatened but, with the skewed voting arrangements common to functional constituency seats in the Legislative Council, they have absolute control of the key Transport seat.
The scandal is that they do nothing for their HK$7 million per licence. It is pure speculation, the result of a government induced anomaly in the market.
And we could get rid of it tomorrow by abolishing limits to the number of taxi licences.
All the reforms we want would quickly follow. Even Uber might then find itself falling behind the trends in ride hailing.
But it would mean wiping out HK$120 billion of speculative assets that contribute nothing to our economy and our government will never allow this.
It is simply too connected to the speculators. That’s the failing of our form of government.
So Uber, simply forget, you have no hope.
Car-hailing giant is up against a speculative lobby that has close links to government and that stands to lose HK$120b from any reform of the city’s taxi business.
Don’t bother, Uber. This is one you cannot win. You are up against a speculative lobby that has close links to government and that stands to lose HK$120 billion (US$15.4 billion) from any reform of the city’s taxi business.
It’s too bad, really, because with one single reform we could make Hong Kong taxis a model for the world with lower fares, better paid and happier drivers, better cars and all the latest in ride hailing apps, in short everything we want from our taxis.
This reform is to abolish a ceiling, in place for more than 20 years, of a maximum just over 18,000 taxi licences and make these licences available in future to every car that meets the operating standards we impose for taxis and every driver who qualifies to drive one.
We can even raise these standards if we wish. In fact it might be a good idea. But the key reform will be that if you want a taxi licence for your car you will be entitled to one for a nominal fee if your car meets the required standards.
The number of taxis on the road will no longer be limited by administrative fiat.
That’s it. That’s all we need to do. And it will never happen.
The reason is that by controlling both the number of taxi licences and the fares that taxis can charge, our government has created a distortion in the taxi market.
At present fare levels, taxi drivers would be able to take home about HK$25,000 a month, which is much more than the present standard wage level for a semi-skilled worker and would ordinarily attract a flood of workers to the trade.
Taxi licence owners take the view that the right to receive two payments a day of up to HK$440 for the use of a taxi is at present worth HK$7 million.
That’s the price level at which these licences now trade.
But few drivers these days own their own taxis. They cannot afford them. The car itself costs only about HK$250,000 but the licence to use one as a taxi can only be had by buying one from someone else at a present market cost of about HK$7 million.
Because each and every hired driver must pay up to HK$440 per 10-hour shift to the owner of the taxi he drives. That HK$7 million is the capitalised value of the income stream at the present low yield rate of HK dollar financial assets.
Put another way, taxi licence owners take the view that the right to receive two payments a day of up to HK$440 for the use of a taxi is at present worth HK$7 million. That’s the price level at which these licences now trade.
And 18,000 licences at HK$7 million apiece gives you a combined value of HK$126 billion. But we’ll round it down to HK$120 billion.
Meantime the taxi driver is back to earning the standard semi-skilled wage in the region of HK$10,000 a month while you are charged almost double what you really need to pay for a taxi ride and Uber has no chance of breaking into the taxi market without having its drivers regularly arrested.
Not only are the taxi owners generally patriots who would have the ear of Beijing if their speculative investment were ever threatened but, with the skewed voting arrangements common to functional constituency seats in the Legislative Council, they have absolute control of the key Transport seat.
The scandal is that they do nothing for their HK$7 million per licence. It is pure speculation, the result of a government induced anomaly in the market.
And we could get rid of it tomorrow by abolishing limits to the number of taxi licences.
All the reforms we want would quickly follow. Even Uber might then find itself falling behind the trends in ride hailing.
But it would mean wiping out HK$120 billion of speculative assets that contribute nothing to our economy and our government will never allow this.
It is simply too connected to the speculators. That’s the failing of our form of government.
So Uber, simply forget, you have no hope.
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