The Development Bureau said on Monday it expects private grade B and C offices will likely join a pilot scheme that allows commercial buildings and hotels to be easily converted into student hostels.

The bureau is proposing that the definition of hotels be expanded to cover student dormitories so that developers do not have to be put through any planning procedures should they wish to convert buildings into student hostels or construct dormitories on commercial sites.

Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, Permanent Secretary for Development Doris Ho said having the support facilities in place is a prerequisite for the SAR to better develop its "Study in Hong Kong" brand, which was first unveiled in last year's Policy Address to attract more overseas students to study here.

"The industry told us that maybe there is a higher chance of grade B and C offices joining the scheme," she said.

"We also looked at some figures – these two grades of offices have a vacancy rate of more than 10 percent in the past year.

"Therefore, if we have this scheme and they are willing to participate, it will allow commercial buildings that have not been fully utilised to be put to better use, and we think that's worth supporting."

The government, Ho said, will leave it up to the industry to decide whether medium- and low-cost hotels will participate in the scheme.

She said the SAR has sufficient hotel capacity to support tourism development for the time being.

This is because the occupancy rate for the 90,000 hotel rooms in Hong Kong stands at 80 to 90 percent, Ho said, and with the change in travel patterns, travellers do not necessarily stay overnight.

Under the scheme, the bureau also hopes to waive floor area requirements to offer developers greater flexibility.

For instance, Ho said, they can retain the area previously used as a covered parking lot to offload goods and convert them into facilities such as laundry, study and gym rooms.

She said the government has set neither a target on how many more student dormitories would be set up under the scheme nor a cap on the number of applications.

Metropolitan University vice president Charles Kwong welcomes the scheme.

As the bureau's development projects facilitation office will be responsible for the scheme, he said, it will save a lot of time and costs as schools no longer have to liaise with government departments one by one when they are trying to convert buildings into hostels.

He believes institutions are not looking for Grade A private offices for conversion.

Instead, vacant buildings located in preferred areas will be more suitable as schools can follow through with the conversion with better time control, Kwong added.

The scheme will start accepting applications in the middle of next month.