Impacts of the new agreements reached Friday over cross-Straits chartered flights on Hong Kong's tourism are unclear at this stage with industry insiders holding diverse views.

Hong Kong Tourism Board figures showed that 724,000 Taiwanese visitors arrived in Hong Kong between January and April. Among them, 71.5 percent did not stay in the SAR overnight.

Last year the number of Taiwanese visitors was 2.2 million and 70 percent of them, estimated earlier by the board, would head for the mainland immediately after arriving in the SAR.

The government estimated that the economic impact caused by the loss of these visitors would not be significant.

Chinese University of Hong Kong aviation policy and research center associate director Law Cheung-kwok expected that demand for direct flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan will drop from the existing 100 flights per day to 80.

But he believed the opening of flight routes to new mainland cities will help offset the loss.

A spokesman for China Airlines said they have no plan to adjust the number of flights between Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Tony Fang, chairman of TransAsia Airways, also said they have no plan to cut down on the number of daily flights between the two regions.

Hong Kong Inbound Travel Association chairman Paul Leung Yiu-lam, however, said the negative impact on the city's tourism will become more obvious in two years when there are more direct travel options between Taiwan and the mainland.

"The travel industry needs to constantly enhance promotional strategies and target new customers," he said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Guangdong Boundary Crossing Bus Association secretary general Chow Hing-wong said he was worried that the demand for cross-border coach services will drop.

(HK Edition 06/14/2008 page1)