hong kong tourism board

Maybe "eco-tourism" conjures visions of bucolic days in the outdoors, enjoying dolphins, birds, hikes, or even relaxing meals in small restaurants in beautiful surroundings. I wish it were so pleasant in practice. Writing here, on my experiences in Hong Kong I have a few tales to relate that aren’t for the faint-hearted – if you want to skip them, note that I close with a few recommendations for tourism officials and companies.

First, a little background info on me. I’m British, and since my teens have loved birding. Whilst at university, I led a couple of expeditions to study birds at Beidaihe, east of Beijing – and after these I decided to live in Hong Kong, and try to do something for conservation in parts of east Asia, especially (at first) Beidaihe. I returned to Beidaihe for more surveys, and helped launch eco-tourism to the town.

Seeing “wild” places being damaged – and reading of many problems facing the global environment – I figured eco-tourism held some hopes for protecting wild places, so people could make some money whilst keeping these places intact. In Hong Kong, too, I occasionally led birding tours, though I focused more on writing articles, taking photos, covering wildlife and conservation when I could.