Findings from a study led by the Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management have indicated there’s great potential for cities within the Greater Bay Area (GBA) to collaborate further in their tourism strategies.

The project, which also involved the University of Macau and Sun Yat-sen University, started about two years ago.

Researchers conducted site visits to Hong Kong, Macau and nine other GBA cities on the mainland to look at their tourism resources.

They also analysed 200,000 comments from popular online platforms and interviewed 182 residents, tourism officials and business owners in local communities to better understand travel experiences in the GBA.

The study found that GBA cities share many similarities in their tourism strengths, such as food, cultural heritage and natural resources.

But Professor Tony Tse from the study team said the region has failed to take advantage of them, noting that there is a dearth of long-haul travellers in many GBA cities.

"The 11 cities have all their attractions, they have their own unique points about tourism... I think they can work together in a very complementary way to attract visitors from both within and outside the region," he said.

Professor Hung Kam, the principal investigator, said GBA cities should build a "regional tourism brand," such as by coming up with travel itineraries that include multiple destinations.

"Hong Kong has a very unique cuisine with its [cha chaan teng] and others, such as Michelin restaurants," she said.

"Macau has a very unique cuisine with Portuguese cuisine fusioned with Chinese.

"Zhongshan has its famous roast pigeon, and Guangzhou has double-skinned milk dessert.

"So every destination has its uniqueness," she said.

"And we can organise this gastronomy tour, not only to explore cuisines in Hong Kong but across the region.

"And that could be more appealing to those who only offered Hong Kong cuisine, for example."

The PolyU professor said that even though Hong Kong is a well-developed tourism destination, there are still many opportunities for growth through working more closely with others in the GBA.

She proposed authorities in different cities establish a central unit to coordinate regional branding efforts and set up a one-stop online platform to distribute travel information to travellers.