Hong Kong to open more tourist routes on Port Island, where dinosaur fossils were discovered

Hong Kong’s leader has pledged to develop more special tourist routes on Port Island, where the first dinosaur bone fossils discovered in the city were recently excavated.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday that the new tourist routes would combine the island’s existing attractions, such as the hexagonal volcanic rock columns, with exhibitions of dinosaur fossils.

The city leader’s remarks came a week after Hong Kong discovered for the first time dinosaur bone fossils on Port Island, a remote island off the northeastern coast of the city. Experts estimated that the fossils dated back to the Cretaceous period, about 145 million to 66 million years ago.

“The dinosaur fossil is the first discovery in Hong Kong. We are all very excited … So rightfully, we will be considering how to develop this into a good attraction,” Lee told reporters before a meeting with advisers on the Executive Council.

He said work was proceeding on Port Island to ensure the best handling and maintenance of the discovered fossils, adding that the government would “develop Hong Kong as a place for us to learn more about the history of dinosaurs”.

The site is a part of a geological region among a pair in Sai Kung designated as a geopark by the UN’s heritage body Unesco in 2011.