From cultural festival to international sport – the Hong Kong dragon boat races

Being the second largest industry in Hong Kong, tourism plays a major role in the territory’s development. For many tourists, Hong Kong is regarded as a gateway to China, as a shopping paradise and as a place where the east meets the west. However, lack of diversity in the tourism product and low visitor awareness of existing attractions and activities seem to be barriers to full development of Hong Kong potential to attract visitors. In its efforts to attract tourists, Hong Kong Tourist Association has embarked on range of activities exposing certain cultural events one of which is the “Dragon Boat Festival”. The paper explores the origin of this event which is in Chinese antiquity and examines the way it has been re-shaped and manufactured into an international water sport. The recent trends in its developments reflect the move from an event which has been originally classified as a cultural-based to “sports tourism” with its unique maintenance of traditional features.