Hong Kong - A wine school, a wine museum and even wine
tourism are among the plans being considered by the government to
make Hong Kong into a wine hub for the region, a media report said
Friday.
Other proposals include the conversion of a munitions store and
heritage sites into wine cellars, the South China Morning Post said,
quoting Finance Minister John Tsang.
'We are identifying heritage sites that may be used for storage as
well as many other wine-related activities, such as a wine school, a
wine museum and venues for wine appreciation events,' Mr Tsang said.
He added that the conversion of an underground munitions tunnel on
Hong Kong Island into a public wine cellar and a private club was a
'good working example' of what was possible. The tunnel was
redeveloped into a wine centre by Crown Worldwide, a Hong Kong-based
removals and logistics company.
Mr Tsang said the Tiger Balm Garden theme park in the Kowloon
district of Hong Hong or a munitions storehouse on Stonecutters
Island could be ideal places for conversion into wine-orientated
facilities.
Nicholas Pegna, manager director of wine merchant Berry Bros &
Rudd, said using heritage sites for wine related activities would
benefit the community and tourism.
'It may include a museum, a wine school and a wine centre with
commentary and wine tasting. I do encourage the idea for the public
use of old buildings because it is preserving the heritage,' Pegna
said.
Tsang pointed out that Hong Kong investors own about a million
cases of fine wine overseas with about half stored in facilities in
Britain with the rest stored in France, Spain, Germany and the US.
Conservative estimates predict that given the right facilities and
incentives about 50 per cent of this could be brought to Hong Kong
for storage or trading.
The government has already ended all taxes and customs controls on
wine so that traders no longer need a permit to import, export, store
or manufacture wine.
This comes as a research report for Hong Kong's Trade Development
Council forecast that the value of wine consumption in Asia,
excluding Japan, is forecast to double to 17 billion dollars by 2012
and rise to 27 billion dollars by 2017.
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