Hong Kong's tourism industry should learn to be more accommodating to ethnic minority travellers from the mainland, DAB lawmakers said on Monday, after the central government announced it was adding eight more cities to the individual visit scheme.

From May 27, residents from eight more cities – including Hohhot of Inner Mongolia, Lhasa of Tibet, and Urumqi of Xinjiang – will be able to visit Hong Kong without joining tour groups.

Lawmaker Kennedy Wong pointed out the expansion meant more mainland visitors who are from ethnic minority communities coming to Hong Kong, including Mongolians, Zhuang people, and Hui people, and that the SAR had to be prepared to welcome them.

"Hong Kong's tourism industry, and actually every one of us here, should be more accommodating and should be more understanding towards the minority travellers' needs. For example, for Muslims and for Mongolians, they have their eating habits and they also have their own culture," Wong said.

"Some of these minority travellers probably prefer their own languages. Apart from the ability to speak Putonghua, perhaps in some signage and some areas we also need to display their languages too."

Starry Lee, another DAB legislator and also Hong Kong's sole delegate to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, urged officials to consider arranging more direct flights from those mainland cities.

There are currently direct flights from just four of these newly added cities – Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Yinchuan, and Urumqi, with airlines planning to add Harbin next month.

Lee also renewed calls for Beijing to raise the duty-free goods allowance for mainland tourists from 5,000 to 30,000 yuan per person for each trip, while capping the amount at 200,000 yuan.