Hong Kong’s government has been pushing ecotourism hard as part of its Tourism Blueprint 2.0 and the “Tourism is Everywhere” campaign. The goal of luring visitors beyond the city’s hotspots and into country parks, to brand the city as an urban-nature escape.
The government had set aside HK$500 million in 2021 for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) as part of its Enhancement of Hiking Trails programme, to enhance hiking trails and their ancillary facilities, such as toilets, rain shelters, water-filling stations, and information boards.
Inbound tourists jumped 16% in 2025 according to the city’s Tourism Board, with more than 80% consisting of southbound mainland tourists.
While the project launched in 2018 is scheduled to conclude in 2026, it was never intended to account for the sudden surge of visitors to country parks, which was partly driven by trends on mainland social media platforms popularising hiking trails in Hong Kong, and partly by government promotion in the post-COVID era.
As inbound travel surges continue, we look at five popular spots that have been overloaded, causing damage to the trails.
1. Po Pin Chau, Sai Kung
Po Pin Chau, a dramatic sea stack just off the East Dam of High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung East Country Park, has become one of the most photographed geological landmarks for mainland tourists.
The landmark popularised on RedNote for its hexagonal volcanic rock columns is part of the Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark. The Hong Kong government decided to build a dedicated viewing platform at Po Pin Chau, costing around HK$7 million and opened it at the end of 2023.
However, looking at the photos, multiple secondary pathways and shortcuts have been created on the path to the viewing deck, with apparent removal of vegetation due to high traffic, causing its inability to restore.
2. Long Ke Wan
Long Ke Wan, tucked away in the Sai Kung East Country Park, is also a favourite among visitors, with just a short 20-minute hike from the East Dam of High Island Reservoir, also in proximity to Po Pin Chau. It is a popular campsite suitable for all ages, for its easy access, fitting the trend of ‘low-cost travel strategies’ on RedNote.
Comparing the satellite images from after (bottom) the boom in ecotourism and before(top), the vegetation turned more sparse and showed to have retreated a significant amount near the entrance and at the plain.
3. Ham Tin Wan, Sai Kung
Ham Tin Wan, a succeeding campsite of Long Ke Wan along the McLehose Trail, showed the same symptoms of retreating vegetation.
Despite the campsite being a more difficult route and hence getting fewer campers and hikers and attention on RedNote, the beach shares the same fate.
4. Sunset Peak, Lantau Island
Sunset Peak, Hong Kong’s third-highest mountain at 869m on Lantau Island, is known for its golden silvergrass seas in autumn and sunset views. With the Tourism Board’s efforts to promote it as one of the “Four Corners of Hong Kong’, it’s a top RedNote check-in spot for that perfect low-effort, high-reward photo.
Comparing satellite images of one of the photo hotspot peaks showed trampling on vegetation to extend and widen the pathways by visitors, causing the vegetation to fail to restore year by year.
5. Wan Kuk Shan, Ma On Shan
Ma On Shan is portrayed as a niche option for more experienced travellers to Hong Kong on RedNote, while the trail through Wan Kuk Shan is a pathway to the popular campsite NgongPing, and a separate shortcut leading to the campsite can be seen carved out by traffic.
Following the internet’s exposé of the terrible hygienic conditions of the Ham Tin Wan public toilets, the public’s concern about supporting facilities, and the limits of the country parks has been raised again.
Wong Shiu-hung Brian, researcher of the Liber Research Community, is worried that the proliferating number of tourists visiting ecologically sensitive areas, like country parks, will overload their carrying capacity, incurring irreversible damage, as they overflow with trash and vegetation is unable to regenerate.
“The lack of ancillary facilities is a small problem. It’s useless to point fingers at the AFCD when their resources are drained to deal with surging tourists. All while the government lacks a systematic approach to eco-tourism,” said researcher Wong.
Country parks have long been managed by the AFCD under the Environment and Ecology Bureau. However, the department has been increasingly sidelined in recent years, according to Wong. Recent development and tourism policies are now handled almost exclusively by departments under the Development Bureau and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.
This inconsistency of management principles in country parks and their surrounding areas, driven by different government departments, could seriously damage these ecologically sensitive zones, Wong warned. “Po Pin Chau is a perfect example,” he added. “The design competition for its viewing deck was supposed to promote the ‘leave no trace’ principle, but now the government has had to reinstall trash bins to cope with the influx of tourists — completely reversing the 2016 policy of removing bins from country parks.”