A new culture, sports and tourism bureau to promote integration of arts, sports

As the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games drew to a close, Hong Kong continues to be in exuberance and high spirits. Our 46 athletes who delivered their best in Tokyo have brought all Hong Kong residents together. We cheered in unity and we clapped together for their outstanding performance.

With one gold, two silver and three bronze medals, Edgar Cheung Ka-long, Siobhan Haughey and our entire Hong Kong, China delegation have made history for the city, demonstrating that anything is possible. Who would ever forget the scene where the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region rose not once, but six times, at the Olympic medal ceremonies? Everyone in Hong Kong is beaming with pride.

But our success is not a matter of luck. Rather, it is an embodiment of the multiyear perseverance and resilience of all Hong Kong athletes. It is also teamwork — backed by professional sport coaches and management, long-term investment of the government, unwavering commitment of our country and last but not least, passionate residents in Hong Kong. I, as an advocate for community sports, wish to express my appreciation to all those who dedicate themselves to sports development in Hong Kong.

At the stadium of the Tokyo Olympics, we witnessed the sportsmanship and the solemn respect all athletes held for their competitors, referees, audience, and rules of the game. As the Chinese saying goes, winners should not carry arrogance and the others should not feel defeated. Now that Hong Kong’s Olympic achievement reached an all-time high, this should prompt the government to carefully think about the next steps of sports development, which can sustain the sense of optimism and unity in our city.

Hong Kong needs a clear vision for sports development, along with a comprehensive long-term strategy, specific targets, and action plans. Look no further, the Central Government has already added mass sports participation to the national agenda of Healthy China. Hong Kong ought to have greater aspirations too. With “Sports for All” as an overarching theme, we should encourage a more systematic development of sports as an industry, in addition to the government’s existing push for promoting sports in the community, supporting elite sports development and promoting Hong Kong as a center for major international sports events.

Top on the to-do list for promoting sports in the community all year round is to increase the supply of community sports ground and facilities. In the Policy Address of 2017, a “Five-Year Plan for Sports and Recreation Facilities” was announced that aimed to invest HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion) between 2017 and 2022 to develop new and improve existing sports and recreation facilities. Nonetheless, hardware alone can hardly generate sufficient public interest. Creative arts and design can play a role in turning conventional and obsolete sports ground into state-of-the-art venues that are visually appealing.

The government can consider starting from popular locations such as the Macpherson Playground in Mong Kok, the Southorn Playground in Wan Chai, and of course the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. Through redesigning the public space and incorporating local district elements, Hong Kong may eventually build an impressive collection of modern sports architecture. Additionally, the Housing Authority and Housing Society can revamp sports facilities in public housing estates, so there are adequate recreational options for every age group.

Schools and our education system are instrumental to support the spread of sports culture in Hong Kong. The government can help mediate between the pursuit of academic excellence and the cultivation of athletic talent. In fact, it is well proven that sports can benefit both the physical fitness and mental qualities of children. The Education Bureau can strengthen the component of physical education in formal school curricula. Hong Kong secondary students get to enjoy only 90 minutes of physical education class per week, which is 30-60 minutes less than peers in Western countries.

A report on “Healthy Exercise for All Campaign – Physical Fitness Test for the Community” in 2012 has shown that only 8.4 percent of students aged between 13 and 19 meet the World Health Organization’s recommended level of physical activities. In the next five years, it would be critical to improve physical education at schools to guarantee children and adolescents aged between five to 17 will have at least 60 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous intensity of physical activities and at least three days of vigorous intensity aerobic activities.

Moreover, the government can continue to increase the utilization of sports facilities located inside schools by opening for public use and leverage technology tools. Since 2017, the Home Affairs Bureau and the Education Bureau have jointly implemented the “Opening Up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme”. Participating schools can charge rental fees and receive up to HK$130,000 of a subsidy. In the past two years, over 100 schools have completed 400 projects with various sports organizations and 15,000 students have benefited from the scheme.

In the next five years, Hong Kong can develop a smartphone application like ActiveSG in Singapore that allows members of the public to book any indoor and outdoor sports venues hosted by 135 secondary and primary schools currently enrolled in the scheme. The scheme may further extend to all 1,000 schools across 18 districts. Citizens can enjoy a wider range of facilities at weekends and during public holidays, without resorting to illegal reservation resales at public sports centers.

Having an adequate supply of recreational facilities fulfills the pre-requisite of creating a “Sports for All” culture in society. The government can then launch media campaigns that share inspiring stories of athletes and core values of sports. Riding on the success of voucher concepts, the government can consider issuing “sports vouchers” to motivate citizens to commit to at least one sport for a longer period.

A new district-based outdoor fitness program can also be introduced to provide physical activities and competitions catered to the different needs and demographics in the 18 different districts of Hong Kong. It would be a pleasure seeing adolescents, elderly people, physically challenged people, and women  finding activities that are suitable and enjoyable. By that time, professional and retired athletes would be highly sought after, and they can develop the second phase of their career.

On elite sports, the government ought to proceed to designing a strategy with a time horizon of five to 10 years. This would ensure the sustainable development of high-performance sports in Hong Kong and mitigate the risk of discontinuation arising from the retirement of individual athletes. We have learnt from the Tokyo Olympics and our Hong Kong athletes that winning a gold medal is an honest reflection of the hard work of multiple generations in the sports ecosystem.

In the next five years, there is no doubt the government will expand its funding of the training and supporting resources for high performance athletes. We acknowledge that the career of professional athletes can be very short. Hence the government is responsible for maintaining the essential living standards of athletes, while our sports talent focuses on doing the best in competitions in honor of Hong Kong.

Going down the line of developing sports in a more systematic way, Hong Kong requires more private sector participation. Taking the UEFA Champions League in Europe and the NBA in the US for example, it is clear that a positive ecosystem around soccer or basketball can attract international players and commercial brands to come to one place. The ecosystem in turn stimulates the demand for professional managers, facility investments, training and marketing personnel etc.

To further boost the development of sports as an industry, the government ought to mobilize private sector companies to invest and bring in additional high-quality resources to our athletes and sports teams. Title sponsorships, and branding collaborations are common means used by other countries to increase funding for sports and to build a complete ecosystem. It is an encouraging start to see some local companies give out lump-sum rewards to our winning athletes. Yet how can we bridge such initiatives into long-term sustainable support for a more robust sports industry in Hong Kong? This is a question worth pondering.

The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, the Hong Kong Sports Institute, and other local sports federations should continue the course of improving their governance capabilities. The government should perform a holistic review of current resource allocation in sports and at the same time, uplift the application of sports-tech and data, introduce world-class coaches, identify and nurture more high potential athletes in Hong Kong.

Local sports have gained momentum to step up to the next level. It is a natural next step for Hong Kong to develop sports as an industry in a systematic manner. By extending our advantages of a business-friendly environment and credible legal system, Hong Kong is well positioned to be an international sports center to provide high value-added services in the areas of sports businesses, sports brands, sports IPs, sports science and data management, sports litigation, sports media, and sports philanthropy.

As these new industries emerge, it is inevitable there will be an exciting wave of new products, new business models and new dynamics coming to the market. Hong Kong should be well-prepared for the transformative changes of our sports ecosystem. We would require a large crew of local, Chinese and overseas experts across business, science, media and non-profit sectors to facilitate the changes.

The much-anticipated Kai Tak Sports Park will open its doors in 2023. It can be a helpful catalyst for promoting the integration of arts, culture and sports. The 28-hectare large park can be a key venue for major sports competitions and activities to raise Hong Kong’s profile and reaffirm our status as Asia’s best city for international events. Beyond this, it is no fantasy that Kai Tak Sports Park should collaborate with the West Kowloon Cultural District to establish a unique platform for consolidating arts and sports resources from Hong Kong, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, other parts of China and Asia. The platform shall have great synergy and shall elevate the soft power of Hong Kong in the world.

To achieve all of this, I recommend setting up a new Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau that can effectively coordinate different departments for the better development of the sports industry in Hong Kong. The Bureau shall determine a five- to 10-year strategic plan, as well as strengthen our leadership in cultural, sports and tourism policies. This institutional setup is essential for accelerating our efforts on community sports, elite sports, sports events and the sports industry. It would lead Hong Kong to become an arts and cultural center between the East and West, an international sports center and also, the ideal destination for world-class arts and sports events.

The Tokyo Olympics has shown us a glimpse of the real potential of our athletes and the local sports industry. I look forward to seeing how sports as a universal language can drive greater positive social change and strengthen the collective identity in Hong Kong. I have strong faith in Hong Kong’s sports industry, that it can give us a unique proposition to become an international cultural, sports and tourism center.

The author is a board member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.