Hong Kong, a year after the Occupy protests: How to get the visitors back

​Mark Jones outlines his plan to save tourism in the island city - it's all about the 'gweilos'

It's been a difficult year for Hong Kong. Last September, pro-democracy protesters pitched their tents on and around the main highway and began the Occupy Central sit-in, which lasted until 15 December. The protest was a disaster for the post-handover image- makers and the carefully cultivated one country/two systems model that the Chinese and British governments signed up to in 1997.

This was not yin and yang but opposites rebelling. Young vs Old. Establishment vs Students. Policemen vs Street Artists. Taipans in their Mansions vs Kids in Tents. The authorities cleaned it up, gassed some people, broke a few heads. A year on, everyone is exhausted by the often farcical politics. But the spirit of Occupy hasn't gone away. In the recent local elections, the Umbrella Soldiers (named after the symbol they adopted during Occupy) did well.

There have also been glimpses of a seedy, grimy side away from the glare of this glittering city. An English banker was arrested for the murder of two prostitutes. The badly beaten face of an Indonesian helper was displayed on the front pages. Her Chinese employer was arrested too. The maids took to the streets in their own protests.

And the bad blood between what China calls the Special Administrative Region and what Hongkongers call “mainlanders” was a constant. The parallel traders, Chinese nationals who crossed the border to clear the shelves of milk powder and other commodities and sell it at a profit, were abused, assaulted and legislated against. Pukka 'Kongers winced at the behaviour of newly rich mainland consumers in their malls and hotel lobbies – but when their numbers began to decline because of official crackdowns and a weakening currency, the retail tourism business took a hammering. Can't live with them, can't live without them?

Hong Kong looked all the more bemused and bruised when you compare its year with that of its sibling rival, Singapore. Singaporeans unaffectedly mourned the death of their founding father, then celebrated their 50 years of dazzling commercial success and ethnic harmony. Their election passed without incident or bitterness. Businesses continued to move there, often from Hong Kong.

In fact, I sit in a Quarry Bay office vacated by an ad agency team that also hightailed it south-east over the South China Sea. I've been here throughout this annus difficilis. And as I look out of the office window at the black kites wheeling between the crumbling tower blocks of Kings Road, the sleek towers of Taikoo Place and the densely forested slopes of the county park (it is an amazing view to have from an office), I want to grab a flipchart and write the words HOW TO GET THE VISITORS BACK TO HONG KONG.

The local media say the tourism industry is “at a crossroads”. Every month they report on declines and row over strategy. No doubt there are a lot of people getting paid handsomely for their advice. They can have mine for free. I've come, as we newly arrived gweilos (foreigners) do, to love this place and to feel very strongly that it's time Hong Kong fought back – especially against Singapore, that slick, blemish-free, Botox job of a city.

Lots of people agree where they should start. Stop focusing all efforts on mainlanders and shopping. The HK dollar is strong, the yen and the euro are weak – they are taking their renminbis to the Louis Vuittons in Paris, Tokyo and Seoul. Let them.

Start trying to win back people who have reasons to love Hong Kong – such as the British. Don't go on about it being a shopper's paradise. Once you've gone into M&S on Queen's Road and realised your usual knickers and bras are in La Perla territory price-wise, you'll see that's not true.

Dim sum (Getty)

But you can talk about affordable Hong Kong; in fact, you need to. The taxis are incredibly cheap, the MTR underground laughably inexpensive, and it costs 20p to go from one end of the harbour to the other on a very skinny and very cute tram. Because there's an oversupply of rooms and the mainlanders are staying away, the hotel prices are falling – as long as you avoid the festivals.

The food is amazing, of course. You can have Michelin-starred dim sum for the price of a Pizza Express in Britain (mind, Hong Kong has the best Pizza Express I've ever tasted too). If you really want to budget, sit outside one of the street stalls at the bottom of the Central-Mid-Levels escalator and see if you can spend more than a tenner on noodles, veg and beer – and it's delicious. Fill your boots at lunchtime: every place, top to bottom, has deals.

And you can shop. Don't cry when you see the Ted Baker prices compared to London. Go and see Jack at Lapel, Quarry Bay (or a dozen other tailors – but not the touts Kowloon-side) who will tailor a suit in beautiful Italian cloth and hand-make two shirts for less than £500. For women too, there are old-fashioned dressmakers charging old-fashioned prices for the latest catwalk styles. At 298 Hennessy Road, in an upstairs warren of cables, wires and monitors, the geeks of Hong Kong patch up the most knackered computers and trade in reconditioned bargains.

But, above all, I'd say to the tourism people and the potential tourists: don't be embarrassed to push the tourist stuff. The view across the harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong from the InterContinental and the vertiginous heights of the Ritz-Carlton bar are amazing. The Star Ferry is the most magical short boat ride in Asia. The Peak remains one of the most sublime urban views and walks anywhere, however many selfie sticks you have to fight through.

Then again, the appeal of Hong Kong to serious adventurers is scandalously under- exploited. Last May, before it got too hot and sticky, a bunch of us left the office, turned away from the trams and tower blocks and headed up towards the Tai Tam reservoir. An hour later I took a video in which the only sounds were the tree sparrows and soft breezes. I panned over the harbour and focused on the most densely populated area of land in the world. It was (and is) about a mile away.

Even Hong Kongers, not the least vain of people, are beginning to get an inferiority complex about their regional rivals. Seoul is funkier, Tokyo twice as civilised, Taipei is cooler, Bangkok more innovative, Singapore better at just about everything. But in the end they're just Asian mega-cities, all malls and grids and boulevards. Hong Kong is a sliver of Manhattan plonked on a tropical jungle island with English country lanes winding up vertical slopes to dense acres of forest and hills, which tumble down the other side to bays and beaches and fishing villages.

Then there's the sky: polluted, I know, but at night you get these smoky clouds playing above the tower blocks, and the whole island is this miasma, half heaven, half hell and all gobsmackingly wondrous.

And it's interesting. The tourist board won't use this, but really, Occupy helped. We're not seeing, thank goodness, the embittered, entrenched quasi-military standoffs of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, nor are we likely to. But Hong Kong is fractious, bruised, argumentative and above all, very, very alive.

Getting there

Cathay Pacific (020 8834 8888; cathaypacific.com) flies to Hong Kong from Heathrow and Manchester; BA (0344 493 0787; ba.com) and Virgin Atlantic (0844 209 7777; virgin-atlantic.com) compete from Heathrow. Connecting flights are available on airlines such as Air France/KLM, Lufthansa, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Emirates.

More information

discoverhongkong.com

Street food vendors (Getty)

Only in hong kong: city highlights

Star Street

Beneath the gleaming five-star hotel towers of Pacific Place, a dimly-lit Wan Chai haven of bars, cultural centres and music.

PMQ

Only Hong Kong could have a hip enclave of boutiques, galleries and a Jason Atherton restaurant in a block called, not Prime Minister's Questions, but “Police Married Quarters”. Check out the steep Montmartre-style streets as in-your-face Soho becomes under-the-radar Sheung Wan (pmq.org.hk).

Sai Ying Pun

The west – here and Kennedy Town – always had atmosphere. Now they have the MTR train stations and a brand new hipster nightlife too.

Cheung Chau

Any one of the outlying islands will have you pinching yourself as you sip cold beers on a tropical beach within sight of the ICC tower. Cheung Chau – manic at the weekends – was nearly flattened to make way for the airport. Thank the common sense of the gods of urban planning that it has survived.

The Peninsula, InterContinental and Ritz-Carlton

The Kowloon-side walkway, The Avenue of Stars, is being redeveloped, so drink in the five-star views of Victoria Harbour in the comfort of hotels symbolising different eras of Hong Kong's mad architectural evolution.

Optical illusion on the Peak Tram

Your brain sometimes struggles with the Hong Kong skyline. Literally so on the Victorian tram that climbs up to the peak: the skyscrapers appear to be falling into the mountainside. It's an agreeably surreal experience.

Happy Valley

Have a European-style pavement café drink, a very Cantonese noodle dish in the cooked food centre (plastic chairs, huge plates of seafood) then (on Wednesdays) totter to the racecourse and shout a lot. Royal Ascot it ain't (hkjc.com).

Duddell's and The Upper House

Just a little reminder that when it decides to do boutique bars, restaurants and hotels, Hong Kong can match anywhere in New York or London (duddells.co; upperhouse.com).

Learn Cantonese

Only joking. You won't. One word can have up to nine different meanings depending on a (to Western ears) slight change in intonation. You may have good intentions, but jo san (good morning) and mm goi (thank you) will probably be as good as it gets.