The Hong Kong Jockey Club has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Travel Service Hong Kong Limited to strengthen its strategic partnership in support of tourism, sports, cultural exchange and youth development.
The aim is to promote tourism in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, help Hong Kong consolidate its position as an international tourism hub, and facilitate youth development and exchange between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
This collaboration comes at a moment when horse racing tourism has been included in the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry, as proposed by the HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee. By integrating resources and leveraging strengths, the Club and CTS will promote horse racing tourism, cultural exchange and youth development and work to promote the GBA as a world-class tourist destination.
Under the memorandum, the HKJC and CTS will:
- Jointly promote horse racing tourism by including the Club’s Happy Valley, Sha Tin and Conghua racecourses into CTS’s travel itineraries (Conghua will host regular race meetings from 2026). To further enhance the popularity of horse racing tourism, they will also develop unique travel packages that integrate horse racing and related entertainment activities.
- Strengthen exchange and cooperation in tourism, sports and culture and enhance exchange between Hong Kong and Mainland provinces and cities. By leveraging Hong Kong’s advantage of “having direct access to the huge Mainland market and strong international connectivity at the same time”, they will promote Hong Kong as the “Events Capital of Asia” and consolidate the GBA’s position as a demonstration zone of world-class equine sport and industry development.
- Cooperate to launch study tours to promote exchange between Hong Kong and the Mainland. These will encourage Hong Kong’s young people to actively integrate into the overall development of the country, while also helping young people from the Mainland understand the development opportunities in Hong Kong.
- Explore opportunities to enrich outer island tourism.
The HKJC’s Chief Executive Officer Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said the Club has a leading position in international racing, as well as world-class event-organising experience and racecourse resources in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, while CTS has an extensive tourism network and wide industry knowledge.
Leveraging these joint strengths can further promote exchange and cooperation in tourism, especially equine tourism, sports and culture between Hong Kong and the Mainland. It will also enable Hong Kong to strengthen its international connectivity, as well as inject new vitality into the development of world-class tourist destinations in the GBA.
He especially looked forward to welcoming more Mainland visitors to the Club’s Conghua Racecourse starting from next year, where they will be able to appreciate the uniqueness of racing, via collaboration with CTS.
