A tourism scholar on Monday said authorities should gradually drop all remaining curbs on visitors from the mainland coming to Hong Kong.

Kenneth Kwong, from the Department of Marketing at Hang Seng University, made the comment on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme after it was confirmed on Friday that residents of Qingdao and Xi'an would be able to come to the SAR as individuals instead of joining tours.

It takes to 51 the number of cities included in the Individual Visit Scheme. Kwong welcomed that move and said he hoped officials here would approach mainland authorities about further easing curbs.

"I think if we can allow all mainland people to come to Hong Kong without too much of a limit, that would be a good (thing). I think we can expand our visit scheme to more cities, especially the inland cities," he told RTHK's Janice Wong.

"We can open to all people to come to Hong Kong."

But the academic also said Hong Kong needs to do more to encourage people to visit and spend their money.

"We saw that, at New Year, many people came to Hong Kong, but they didn't spend a lot," he said. "So I think we need to make Hong Kong more attractive.

"On the other hand, we need to have a theme that will attract customer spending. We can't just expect that they will come here and spend money. We need to have some themes to motivate our customers to spend money here."

Kwong said attractions that bring in mainland travellers are also likely to prove attractive to visitors from overseas. However he says a different approach will be required to get them here.

"From a marketing perspective, I think it's about how we go to positioning Hong Kong, so I think it can be the same, but of course how we go to execute it will be a bit different.

"So for example those international visitors, from Europe or from the US, they are different. So when we promote Hong Kong we should have a different strategy."

On Friday, Chief Executive John Lee said the addition of Qingdao and Xi'an to the Individual Visit Scheme demonstrated Beijing's care and support for Hong Kong and would benefit the hotel, tourism and catering sectors.

Under the scheme, individuals with permanent household registration can apply to organise their own trips to Hong Kong. Other cities covered include Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the 21 cities in Guangdong province.