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Survey Findings on Views about the Individual Visit Scheme Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 16 to 20 December 2016 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to gauge public views about the current Individual Visit Scheme (IVS). 754 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 36.6%. The sampling error is + or –3.57% at a confidence level of 95%.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
In this survey, nearly half (49.5%) of the respondents thought replacing the “multiple-entry” Individual Visit Endorsements for permanent residents of Shenzhen with the “one trip per week” Individual Visit Endorsements, implemented in April 2015, brought more benefits to Hong Kong. About one-fifth (21.8%) thought it brought more detriments to Hong Kong while 18.7% said the changes brought both to Hong Kong.
Nearly half (47.0%) of the respondents preferred to keep the current IVS, which is 21.9% higher than the figure from the similar survey conducted on February 2015, two months before the implementation of the new “one trip per week” policy. More than one-tenth (13.3%) of the respondents wanted to expand the scope of IVS, increasing from last survey’s 3.4%. Meanwhile, there were still 35.1% of the respondents who would like to further reduce the scope of IVS, down from 66.7% of last survey.
Close to three-fifths (57.6%) of the respondents thought that comparing with one year ago, the number of Mainland visitors from IVS has decreased. More than three-tenths (32.4%) thought the number was about the same. Only 6.4% thought the number has increased. With regard to the situation of Mainland parallel traders, about two-fifth (41.5%) of the respondents said it has been improved compared to one year ago. However, there was also about exact same proportion (41.4%) of respondents who thought the situation has not improved at all, reflecting quite different opinions among publics on this issue.
In terms of the impacts of IVS on Hong Kong, more than two-fifths (44.4%) of the respondents thought IVS as beneficial, 30.1% believed it as detrimental, and 21.4% said that it brought both benefits and detriments. Around one-quarter (24.5%) of the respondents said IVS brought more benefits to themselves, 38.5% tended to believe that it caused more detriments, and 27.3% said “in-between”. Overall, the current attitude towards the current IVS were less negative than last survey.
Over one-half (55.5%) of the respondents said that visitors under IVS brought inconvenience to their everyday lives, while 43.5% reported they did not experience any inconvenience. Among the former group of respondents, 38.3% reported a low level of inconvenience caused by IVS, 38.1% found a moderate level, and 22.4% expressed a high level.
