Tourists spoilt for choice

This is a bumper year for new Hong Kong attractions - an amazing new cable-car ride that will go over the mountains to the Big Buddha statue will be unveiled, an already-open convention centre is earning rave reviews and, later this year, the popular Peak Tower will reveal its new, revamped look. 

All are being eagerly anticipated by people in Hong Kong and overseas, none more than the Ngong Ping 360 cable car ride, that will whisk passengers from close to the international airport to a Lantau Island mountain plateau and then slowly down to the Big Buddha, at Po Lin monastery, the world's largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue. 
 
At Ngong Ping itself there will be a host of themed attractions including Walking with Buddha, Monkey's Tale Theatre, the Ngong Ping Tea House and   shops and restaurants. 
 
The Ngong Ping 360 facility will be the second major attraction to open on Lantau, the largest of the city's 200-plus islands, within a year. Disneyland, which made its debut to a great fanfare last September, has proved to be a popular spot, drawing enthusiastic crowds to enjoy a fun day of pure, American-style fantasy and razzmatazz. 
 
Also at the top of any list is Victoria Peak, reached by a cable car ride up from Central district of Hong Kong island.  The Peak Tower is set to open shortly after a major revamp. 

The largest scale project of all is a proposed mega-bridge bridge that will link the Pearl River Delta cities of Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai. The 29-kilometre link, which will cost an estimated US$2 billion, consists of a series of viaducts that will allow people to begin their car journey in downtown Hong Kong, glide across a series of tunnels and bridges, and alight from their vehicles half an hour later in   Macau or Zhuhai. 
 
The bridge is still at the early planning stages - but once the construction green light is given, expect work to go ahead at lightning speed. 
 
On the doorstep of Chek Lap airport, the US$300 million Asia World-Expo, a convention and exhibition centre equipped with its own dedicated airport express station. Asia World-Expo, a public-private partnership, came in on schedule and has snared its first major conference for later this year, luring the ITU Telecom World away from Geneva, where it has been held for more than three decades. 

Delegates have the option of staying at one of Hong Kong's cluster of newly-opened hotels. This past year has seen the debut of the ultra-trendy Landmark Mandarin Oriental and the Four Seasons; later this year, the venerable Mandarin Oriental, a favourite of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and actor Peter Ustinov, will reopen after a US$140 million renovation programme. 
 
Across the Hong Kong harbour, on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, the InterContinental hotel has unveiled its new, superluxury presidential suite, which has five bedrooms, its own infinity pool and a terrace that can accommodate 50 people. The price?   US$10,000 a night is the published rate.