Bon appetit: The "World of Food & Wine" festival will put Hong Kong on the global map as a wine hub for Asia.

This year's Budget shines a spotlight on tourism, a sector that currently employs a workforce of more than 170,000, Financial Secretary John Tsang says. He outlined measures that will stimulate growth and create jobs in the retail, catering and hotel industries.

To promote Hong Kong as an Asian wine and gourmet centre, the Hong Kong Tourism Board and famous wine producers will jointly organise the "World of Food & Wine" festival in October. This will also leverage the recent release of the Michelin Guide Hong Kong Macau.

"The market has responded favourably to my announcement of the exemption of wine duties last year. Wine trading, distribution and other related businesses have all shown notable growth. In the 10 months ending last December, the total value of imported wine reached $2.6 billion, an increase of 82% over the same period in 2007," Mr Tsang said.

Hong Kong has signed co-operation agreements with winegrowing trading partners, covering investment promotion, trade shows and manpower training, he said.

"They will reinforce Hong Kong's status as a regional hub for wine distribution and trading. We will actively encourage wine traders intending to access the Asian market to participate in wine fairs in Hong Kong and to set up business here."

The tourism board plans to step up promotion in high-growth source markets, including Japanese seniors, young Taiwanese and Indian families.

Other tourism initiatives include:

* designating 2009 as "Hong Kong-Japan Tourism Exchange Year" to promote Hong Kong's tourism products to Japan and arouse Japanese visitor interest in Hong Kong;

* Government financing of the Kai Tak cruise terminal's construction, with work expected to begin this year, creating more than 3,000 jobs;

* setting up the dedicated Meetings & Exhibitions Hong Kong office last November for overseas promotion campaigns and one-stop support services;

* completing the atrium link extension of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre in the first half of this year, to increase the centre's dedicated exhibition space by 40%; and

* discussions with The Walt Disney Company regarding the expansion of Hong Kong Disneyland and any capital realignment of the joint-venture company involved.

"We hope that agreement will soon be reached on a proposal that will both make Hong Kong Disneyland more attractive as well as serve the overall interests of Hong Kong," Mr Tsang said.

By the end of 2008, more than 35 million Mainlanders had visited Hong Kong under the individual visit scheme, launched in July 2003. In December, the Central Government expanded the scheme to cover more than 8.6 million Shenzhen residents.

"As a next step, we will, in collaboration with the Guangdong and Macau governments, seek to extend the coverage of the pilot liberalisation measures from Shenzhen to the rest of Guangdong Province," Mr Tsang said.