As one of the most unique attractions in Hong Kong, Ngong Ping 360 is one of the world's top 10 amazing cable car rides. [Photo/VCG] HONG KONG - Around 1.83 million tourists visited Ngong Ping 360 in 2018, a famous tourist attraction in Hong Kong, up 75 percent from 2017, Ngong Ping 360 operator told the press on Tuesday. The average number of tourists per day increased by about 6 percent to 5,385, reaching a 10-year high, according to statistics released by Ngong Ping 360. In 2018, more than 50 percent of tourists were from foreign countries, 27 percent from the Chinese mainland and Macao, and 15 percent from Hong Kong. Last year saw an apparent growth in the number of tourists, Andy Lau, the acting managing director of Ngong Ping 360, said. He explained that the growth was brought by the official operation of two cross-border infrastructures, namely the Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Before the official operation of the two infrastructures, we introduced our products to local travel agencies in the Chinese mainland and delivered customized offerings. During the Chinese New Year holiday, from Feb 5 to Feb 11 this year, the average number of tourists per day increased by 12 percent, Lau said. We will forge close partnerships with large-scale e-commerce platforms in the Chinese mainland, and introduce more high-end products to tourists in order to explore a bigger market in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Lau said. custom bar braceletcustom sports braceletscustom logo wristbandsde securite pour personne ageeembossed wristbandscolorfilled wristbandsembossed printed wristbandsdual layer wristbands
A mother and her two children. [Photo/VCG] The number of births in China is expected to continue to fall this year, the third year of the implementation of a national policy designed to encourage couples to have a second child, according to president of the China Population Association. The number of people born will undoubtedly continue to fall this year, as well as over the next few years, Zhai Zhenwu, who is also a prominent professor in population studies in Renmin University of China, said. Zhai, president of the China Population Association, said a major reason for the declining birth rate is the rapidly decreasing number of women of childbearing age, which has kept going down by between 5 million and 6 million every year. So even if the birth ratio remains the same, the total number of people born will keep decreasing, he said. Another reason for the expected decline of births is that many women who planned to have a second child rushed to get pregnant and give birth in the first several years of the implementation of the policy, and the peak in births will be over soon, Zhai said. However, Zhai said the universal second child policy has helped to increase the birth rate, and the number of second children born in China has accounted for about half of all the births in China last year. Without the universal second child policy, the number of births would see a more drastic fall, he said. Zhai suggested creating a more friendly environment for couples to give birth, such as establishing more nurseries for infants, to encourage the birth of a second child. However, we should realize the fact that various measures designed to encourage births will not stop the dwindling birth rate, as experiences in some developed countries such as Japan and South Korea have shown, he said.
