盛事貴精不貴多
特區政府自去年開始推動盛事經濟，希望透過舉辦及支持國際級大型盛事（mega events），吸引高增值旅客訪港，加強本港旅遊業的競爭力，提振經濟。
根據政府提供的盛事年表，香港在2024 年全年將舉辦多達數百項大型盛事，數量之龐大，不禁讓人臆想，這些活動真的能稱得上是「盛事」嗎？
現時，對國際級大型盛事較主流的定義源自蘇黎世大學在2015 年一篇論文中提出的標準。作者認為一項盛事活動的訪客人數（visitor attractiveness）、轉播收益（mediated reach）、活動成本（cost）及對城市基建規劃的影響（urban transformation）都要達到一定規模才能定義為國際級大型盛事。
按照上述定義，如Taylor Swift 及其他國際級巨星舉辦的巡迴演唱會，或像 LIV Golf 巡迴賽和國家七人欖球賽等大型體育賽事都屬於國際級大型盛事。但規模如此龐大的活動，涉及海量的前期籌備工作，對場地亦有一定要求，每年能舉辦一至兩場已是不易。
反觀盛事年表所羅列的活動，不少活動或規模太小，或目標客群太窄，有些只是行業展覽，難以吸引境外旅客訪港，實在不能稱之為盛事。更令人嘆息的是，特區政府為不少「盛事」提供了資助，但這些活動本身的吸金能力相當有限，非但不能振興消費市道，反而導致公帑打了水漂。
以今年2 月舉辦的「Chubby Hearts Hong Kong」為例，政府慷慨地資助主辦方780 萬港元，但對活動的討論始終只停留在本地的媒體間，並未引起境外媒體關注，遑論吸引旅客訪港。
雖然政府推動盛事經濟的政策初衷良好，但這些所謂盛事屢次甩碌出醜，加上現時財政緊絀，政府應重新檢視成效。長遠而言，我認為政府應放棄「廣撒網、多斂魚」的思維，集中資助有真正吸金能力的盛事，避免再次「倒錢落海」。
Quality is more important than quantity for mega-eventsSince last year, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has been promoting the mega-events economy, hoping to attract high-yielding visitors to Hong Kong through hosting and supporting international mega-events, strengthen the competitiveness of the local tourism industry, and boost the economy.
According to the event calendar provided by the government, Hong Kong will host over hundreds of major events throughout 2024. The massive scale prompts wonder – can these activities truly be called “mega-events”?
Currently, the more mainstream definition of international mega-events comes from criteria proposed in a 2015 paper by University of Zurich. It argued that the visitor attractiveness, mediated reach, cost and impact on urban planning of an event need to reach a certain scale to be defined as an international mega-event.
According to these definitions, concerts by Taylor Swift and other international megastars, or large-scale sporting events like the LIV Golf Tour and National Seven-a-Side Rugby would constitute international mega-events. However, events of such scale involve tremendous preparation work and have certain venue requirements – it would already be difficult to host one to two annually.
In contrast, many events listed in the calendar have either too small a scale, narrow target audience or are simply trade exhibitions, failing to attract foreign visitors to Hong Kong and not qualifying as mega-events. More regrettably, the SAR government has subsidized numerous “mega-events” but their ability to generate revenue is limited, instead of stimulating consumption they divert public funds.
Taking “Chubby Hearts Hong Kong” in February as an example, the government generously funded the organizer $7.8 million HKD but discussion around the event was confined locally, without catching foreign media attention much less attracting tourists.
While the mega-events economic policy intent is sound, these so-called events have repeatedly underdelivered. With fiscal austerity, the government should re-evaluate effectiveness. In the long run, relying less on a scattergun approach and concentrating resources on events with genuine revenue-generating ability could prevent further waste of public money.
盛事貴精不貴多 (撰文：葉劉淑儀，原文刊於《明報》)
