The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s inaugural five-year plan and the 2026 Policy Address emphasize the city’s strategic ambition to establish itself as the “events capital of Asia” through a robust “mega events + tourism” strategy. While major sporting, cultural and entertainment events can raise the city’s global profile, attract visitors and stimulate consumption, greater emphasis must be placed on developing the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector in order to translate the ambition into lasting economic value.

Unlike one-off entertainment events, MICE can strengthen the city’s role as a two-way business platform: helping Chinese mainland enterprises go global, enabling overseas companies to access mainland and Asian markets, and generating professional exchange, investment promotion, and repeat business travel.

To succeed, Hong Kong must look beyond venues, subsidies, and marketing as the “events capital of Asia” ambition will not be achieved merely with infrastructure. The mega-event strategy should now shift its focus to building up a pool of professional talent required for organizing world-class MICE, sporting, cultural and corporate events.

Global event organizers look beyond incentives and venues when selecting host cities. They assess not only the availability of facilities but also of professional talent, industry networks and operational experience necessary to deliver high-quality events. Thus destinations compete on both hardware and software.

For many years, Hong Kong’s greatest limitation was the lack of suitable facilities. Since the opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park in March 2025, the city’s capacity to host major sports, entertainment and corporate events has expanded significantly. The planned expansion of AsiaWorld-Expo and the proposed expansion of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre demonstrate the SAR government’s commitment to strengthening the city’s long-term MICE competitiveness.

As venue capacity expands, the talent pipeline must develop in parallel to complete a comprehensive ecosystem.

Many young people are interested in developing a career in sports, hospitality, tourism and event management. Hong Kong’s higher education institutions already offer a wide range of programs covering these disciplines. Yet graduates often struggle to secure their first industry role because employers place a premium on practical experience.

Unlike professions such as accounting, engineering or architecture, event management in Hong Kong has traditionally developed through hands-on learning rather than structured professional pathways. Given the high-pressure nature of event delivery, where success depends on managing multiple stakeholders, tight timelines and operational risks, employers naturally place greater confidence in candidates who have demonstrated their capabilities in real-world environments.

It’s a Catch-22: Students cannot obtain jobs without experience, yet they cannot gain meaningful experience without first securing employment. This weakens the industry’s talent pipeline and discourages capable young people from pursuing long-term careers in the sector.

It’s therefore encouraging to see the Policy Address introduce the new 30,000 Youth Employment and Internship Programme. This initiative presents a valuable opportunity for the MICE and events sector. Major event organizers, venue operators and tourism stakeholders could become active partners in providing structured placements that help young people gain industry experience while strengthening the sector’s future talent pipeline.

Another way to address this challenge is to better align public funding with talent development. Through programs such as M-Mark and the Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund, the government has already invested significant public resources in attracting and staging major events. Organizers benefiting from such support should also be encouraged, or even required, to contribute to the development of the city’s future MICE and events workforce.

As recipients of public funding, event organizers are uniquely positioned to provide useful opportunities for students and young professionals. Rather than limiting participants to administrative support roles, programs should expose them to event planning, sponsorship development, stakeholder management, commercial negotiations, client servicing and operational decision-making. Such experiences would equip young people with practical skills, strengthen their professional portfolios and improve future employability.

More importantly, they would help create a sustainable talent pipeline for an industry that continues to struggle with the gap between academic training and practical experience. This would be consistent with the five-year plan’s emphasis on the integrated development of education, technology and talent, ensuring that investment in mega-events contributes not only to visitor arrivals and consumption but also to long-term human-capital development.

If Hong Kong can create structured pathways from classroom learning to major-event delivery, public investment in mega-events can also become an investment in human capital. Such a requirement would not impose a significant burden on organizers. The incremental cost of mentoring and training young professionals is modest compared with the public resources already being invested. Yet the long-term benefits for the event industry could be substantial.

Entry-level training, however, is only one part of Hong Kong’s talent challenge. The city also faces a shortage of experienced professionals capable of managing complex international events and servicing global clients. Delivering a world-class convention, exhibition or sporting event requires expertise in sponsorship acquisition, convention sales, business development, event bidding, client relations, sustainability management and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting. These capabilities take years to develop and cannot be achieved overnight.

In the longer term, higher education institutions should align more closely with evolving industry needs. While traditional event management programs remain valuable, demand is growing for specialized disciplines such as strategic sponsorship marketing, convention sales, association management, event sustainability, digital event technology and ESG reporting. These capabilities will become increasingly important as Hong Kong competes with leading event destinations around the world.

This challenge extends beyond any single bureau or institution. Talent development for mega-events sits at the intersection of tourism, commerce, education, sports and culture. No individual bureau has sole responsibility for building the future MICE and events workforce. This is why the government’s high-level Mega Events Coordination Group, chaired by the deputy financial secretary, is uniquely positioned to take ownership of the issue. The group already coordinates cross-departmental efforts to attract and support major events. Its mandate should be broadened to include a long-term talent strategy, bringing together government, universities, event organizers and industry bodies to establish clear pathways for both entry-level and executive-level talent.

The author is a senior lecturer at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and co-chair of the Advocacy and Policy Research Committee, the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.