Sustainable Tourism in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong
Trends and Issues of Tourism in Repulse Bay
Over the past years there has been a rise in the number of tourists visiting Repulse Bay, both foreign and local tourists. Usually local tourists from around Hong Kong come to Repulse Bay on the weekend during the summer season to sunbathe, swim and for kids to have fun in the sand. The local tourists come to Repulse Bay individually, by bus, taxi or, uncommonly, by private car. Besides the local tourists, the main other group is mainland Chinese tourists. They come by bus in tour groups. They have a brief walk on the beach, watch the sea and islands, touch the water, and take photographs. A small number will visit the Tin Hau temple. Usually the tourists stay at the beach for no longer than around 15 minutes, then they head back to their bus. What the two groups of tourist have in common is that they spend very little money in Repulse Bay, even if they spend a long time there. In fact there is very little opportunity for tourists to spend money in the Repulse Bay beach area. This makes that tourism in Repulse Bay very low on added value. The opening of the large new mall in late 2014 or early 2015 could change that.
Trends
Issues
With all the positive aspects of tourism at Repulse Bay there are also some negatives. The biggest issue is the traffic. Even during the short period of two years that I have lived in Repulse Bay, it is very clear that traffic has become more and more a problem. The roads are busy at all times, but during peak periods such as the weekend or public holidays there are very long traffic jams, both to get into Repulse Bay (and Stanley) and to return from Repulse Bay to Aberdeen and Aberdeen Tunnel. The traffic jams cause problems to visitors; but they also cause trouble for the residents of Repulse Bay, who are hindered leaving home or coming back.
On the weekends the public buses cannot cope with the number of passengers; the same is true for the taxis. It means that people lose a lot of time waiting to get home. Another traffic problem is that the narrow roads leading to Repulse Bay are not really suitable for big buses. The number of public transport buses could still be managed, but in the past few years many tourist tour buses have come in addition. The result is that at the many bends in the road buses often have to stop and wait, because it is impossible for two buses to pass at the same time. This adds to traffic jams. Also, some of the tour buses are quite old and probably not very well maintained; I have seen quite a few times that they had broken down, causing major traffic jams.
Another issue with the tour busses is that after dropping of the tourists near the beach in Beach Road, there is very limited space to park. Also, the drivers often leave the engines running for the air-conditioning of the bus. This is not allowed but police are unable to enforce the rules. The result is that Beach Road has become a very unpleasant and even dangerous street to walk in, becasue of the congestion, the air pollution and the noise.
The rising number of visitors also means that there is more littering. This is both in the streets leading to the beach and on the beach itself. On the weekends the trash cans are often overflowing. Trash that is dropped on the beach ends up in the water. This pollutes the sea and damages the ecosystem and also harms the looks of the beach.
Another problem is that some visitors play very loud music, for instance with karaoke competitions.This disturbs other visitors but also the resident population. There is no enforcement of the rules for paying loud ampliefied music in the beach area.
