Exchange meetings of Joint Regulatory Alliance of the Tourism Market of 9+2 Cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area held in Hong Kong (with photos)

     The exchange meetings of the Joint Regulatory Alliance of the Tourism Market of 9+2 Cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (JRA) were held yesterday and today (September 11 and 12) in Hong Kong. The Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, the Macao Government Tourism Office, and the representatives of the tourism regulatory departments of nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA), namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, gathered in Hong Kong for the meeting.    
      
     The representatives of the JRA visited the Travel Industry Authority (TIA) yesterday to understand the work of the TIA since the full implementation of the new regulatory regime for the travel industry in Hong Kong on September 1, 2022. They went to a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui that receives inbound tour groups to understand the measures in place under the Administrative Scheme for Registered Shops for Inbound Tour Groups to safeguard mainland inbound tour groups' interests during their shopping itineraries arranged by travel agents. In addition, the representatives of the JRA also visited the West Kowloon Cultural District to inspect the Hong Kong Palace Museum and its related facilities, to understand the crowd control management arrangements and ancillary facilities at the attraction.

     The representatives of the JRA held an exchange meeting today to discuss various aspects of joint regulation of the GBA tourism market. The aim of the exchange meeting is to prepare for the joint meeting of the JRA at the end of this year.
      
     The JRA was jointly established by the tourism authorities of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and nine cities in the GBA based on the agreement on joint regulation of the tourism market signed in 2020. The JRA is committed to improving and strengthening the supervision of the tourism market, and jointly maintaining a good market order, with the goal of promoting the healthy development of the tourism market in the GBA. The JRA's joint meeting is held once a year, with the participating cities taking turns to host and serve as the chairman of the joint meeting. Hong Kong is the rotating chairman of the 2023 joint meeting.