Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said on Thursday that the government has relaxed rules for local companies so they can take part in initiatives to boost industrial tourism.

Four brands – food company Lee Kum Kee, bakery chain Kee Wah, sauce producer Pat Chun and probiotics company Yakult – will soon be hosting visitor tours at their factories in Hong Kong.

These are among nine tourism projects announced on Tuesday to offer more variety for visitors.

Cheuk said officials have made the factory visits possible by simplifying application procedures to allow the companies, whose factories are located within InnoParks or former industrial estates, to take part in industrial tourism.

"The stage is set...There used to be constraints such that the factories couldn't let people visit the premises commercially," he said on a Commercial Radio programme.

"We've now removed barriers and made sure the projects comply with town planning requirements."

Programme hosts asked whether or not the government had asked TVB to consider taking part, saying the broadcaster could be attractive to visitors from the mainland and Southeast Asian countries who watch its programmes.

Cheuk said officials had spoken to the station, but added that whether or not companies take part depends on their own business considerations.

The minister went on to say that planting dozens of pink trumpet and bougainvillea trees near the harbourfront at Tamar Park should create what he called a "powerful, full blossom" scene near Victoria Harbour.