Residents in all 21 cities in South China's Guangdong Province will be permitted to travel as individuals to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) beginning in May.

Hong Kong Tourism Board Executive Director Clara Chong said yesterday in Shanghai.

Only residents in eight cities in Guangdong have previously enjoyed that privilege, since last year.

Tourists from other cities in Guangdong were only permitted to travel to Hong Kong with tour groups.

Beijing and Shanghai have already enjoyed the policy for individual tourists.

Chong also said that areas surrounding the Bohai Sea, including Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang and Jinan, have been targeted by her board for possible tourism in the future.

"We have conducted detailed investigations into the cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta areas as well as areas surrounding the Bohai Sea. Results will be submitted to the National Tourism Administration," Chong told China Daily yesterday.

"We hope more and more Chinese cities can open to more convenient trips to Hong Kong. But it needs a decision from the central government," Chong said.

Chong made the remarks yesterday in Shanghai at the sideline of the inauguration ceremony of promotions in the mainland for the Avenue of Stars, a new touring destination in Hong Kong's Tsin Sha Tsui that displayed achievements made by Hong Kong's booming film industry.

Facing the Victoria Harbor, the 122-metre avenue will open to the public on April 28, she said.

Jacky Chan, an international film star born in Hong Kong, who has been chosen as Hong Kong's "tourism ambassador," yesterday made a hand print in Shanghai. The print will be displayed on the avenue, together with handprints of other film stars.

(China Daily March 29, 2004)