Printing, publishing
lead local creative industries

By Winnie Ngan

In September, the Central Policy Unit released a study on Hong
Kong’s creative industries. The baseline study was the Hong Kong Government’s first attempt to map out the current state and position of creative industries in Hong Kong.

In the study, “creative industries” were defined as “economic activities that exploit and deploy creativity, skill and intellectual property to produce and distribute products and services of social and cultural meaning – a production system through which the potentials of wealth generation and job creation are realized.”

According to the study, printing, publishing and other related services account for the largest share of the aggregate value of the whole creative industries.

Creative industries in Hong Kong contributed over $46 billion to the local economy in 2001. The figure accounted for 3.8 percent of gross domestic product. In 1996, the sector accounted for 4.1 percent of Hong Kong’s GDP. It is reported that the decline was due to the economic slowdown that has been affecting the region since 1997.

Despite the slowdown, the printing and publishing industries have experienced a growth of 2.4 percent in the past 7 years.

In terms of employment, there has been a growth of 11 percent in creative industries over the past 7 years. In 2002, the number of people employed in the industries was 170,011, accounting for 5.3 percent of the total employment.

According to the Trade Development Council, although the contributions of creative industries to the economy in Hong Kong are relatively small compared to similar contributions in Western countries, Hong Kong’s creative industries are still competitive and enjoy a high reputation in Asia, especially in entertainment, architecture, design and advertising.

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