Free admission to permanent exhibitions of museums

In this year's Policy Address, I put forward the proposal of making free admission to the permanent exhibitions of designated Leisure and Cultural Services Department museums a standing practice. The relevant arrangement was gazetted last Friday (May 20) and will be tabled at the Legislative Council next Wednesday (May 25). If passed within the current legislative session, the arrangement will be implemented on August 1.

Under the new arrangement, the permanent exhibitions of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence and the Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum will be open for free to all members of the public, whereas the permanent exhibitions of the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Hong Kong Space Museum will offer free admission to full-time students.

To complement this new initiative, admission fees for the permanent exhibitions of the Hong Kong Science Museum will be reduced by 20 per cent and the prices of annual museum passes will be reduced by 50 per cent. These initiatives aim to provide the public with more free and interesting places to visit.

May 22, 2016