Hong Kong carves another special niche at Sapporo Snow Festival

Hong Kong was again one of the star performers today at the 54th Sapporo Snow Festival at Makomanai, Japan, being named Champion in the annual International Snow Statue Contest. Mainland China took the Grand Champion prize. Hong Kong has been sending a contingent to this festival since 1976, and has itself won the Grand Champion title 11 times.

Presiding at the opening ceremony were Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee Chairman, Mr Kazuo Satsu; Sapporo Mayor, Mr Nobuo Katsura; and Vice-Governor of Hokkaido, Mr Shoji Fujii.

For this, the 30th International Snow Statue Contest, the SAR's creation was the mythical Gam Gong - The God Guardian. The carving, which will stay on display throughout the seven-day festival, represents justice and the vanquishing of evils.

The ice-carving team, sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and the Hong Kong Hotels Association, consisted of Hung Siu-kay of the Hong Kong Ice Carving Association; Tam Wai-lun, Kitchen Artist of the  InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong; and Perry Yuen Kam-hung, executive chef at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Mr Yuen is Vice-President of the Hong Kong Ice Carving Association and a nine-year veteran of the event. 

Around two million local and overseas visitors are expected to attend the Snow Festival. The reigning Miss Hong Kong, Tiffany Lam Man-lee, is in Sapporo supporting the team and promoting Hong Kong as a tourist destination. On 5 February Ms Lam met more than 100 distinguished guests and local media at a Sapporo - Hong Kong Goodwill Association Reception held as part of the festival, and attended by local travel agents, airline representatives and Hokkaido government officials. She has also given a number of television and newspaper interviews arranged by the HKTB's Japan office.

Japan is Hong Kong's third largest tourism source market, contributing over 1.39 million visitors in 2002, an 8.4% share of total arrivals.

HKTB Executive Director Ms Clara Chong said that perceptions of Hong Kong among Japanese travellers were steadily broadening as a result of the Board's  strenuous efforts to promote the city's diversity as a destination.

"Traditionally, Hong Kong was seen by Japanese visitors as primarily a place for great shopping and dining, but now we are also having a good deal of success promoting its culture and heritage aspects in this market, as well as its green tourism attractions," she said.

"Our new Deai Hong Kong [See You in Hong Kong] campaign, based on the huge success of last year's Asahi TV drama series See You in Kowloon, offers Japanese visitors the chance to experience Hong Kong culture for themselves by, for example, joining tai chi or kung fu sessions, or learning about Chinese tea-making," Ms Chong added. "Japanese visitors are also very interested in  our colonial heritage and in the Hong Kong movie scene."

"The Sapporo Snow Festival always gives us an excellent opportunity to promote Hong Kong's latest attractions to a large Japanese audience, and  winning one of the ice carving awards is a delightful bonus. My congratulations to the Hong Kong team."