M+, Hong Kong's museum of visual culture, is counting on merchandise, artist collaborations and venue hire to grow annual turnover of about HK$200 million, its board chairman Paulo Pong Kin-yee said last Wednesday, as the arts district that houses it runs a deficit of close to HK$1 billion.

The numbers matter beyond the gallery walls. The West Kowloon Cultural District was built on a HK$21.6 billion government endowment that is expected to be used up by the 2026/27 fiscal year. How fast its two flagship museums can pay their own way will shape how much more support the district needs from the government, and how much rides on the commercial and residential land it plans to tender from 2027.

M+ income splits three ways

Pong told The Standard on Nov. 4 that the museum's turnover in the current fiscal year, about HK$200 million, comes in roughly equal thirds from merchandise and venue rentals, corporate sponsorships, and ticket sales. He said creative cultural products would be a main driver of revenue from here. M+ has worked with more than 300 artists and 200 brands on merchandise, and with more than 50 organizations on venue rentals and other income, according to the report.

M+ covered 47% of its costs in the latest fiscal year, Pong said. That is above the 40% cost recovery rate for the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority as a whole, which rose from 37% a year earlier, according to figures the authority gave the Legislative Council in October.

Pong, who also chairs the board of Ocean Park Corporation, said M+ would study joint opportunities with the theme park. He also addressed pay for the museum's leadership. The four most senior M+ executives earn a combined nearly HK$11.44 million a year, The Standard reported, and Pong credited their expertise for the museum's overseas partnerships and its cost recovery. He warned that other cities could poach Hong Kong's museum professionals, one reason M+ set up the M+ Academy this year to train and keep local staff.

The museum signed a framework agreement with New York's Museum of Modern Art and Paris's Centre Pompidou in late October, an alliance to share collections that coincided with its fifth anniversary.

West Kowloon deficit widens to HK$998 million

The authority's books show why earned income has become a priority. Its deficit widened by HK$229 million to HK$998 million in the year ended March, The Standard reported in October, citing a paper presented to lawmakers. The authority blamed higher spending on the WestK Performing Arts Centre, a wider scope of business, more visitors and greater outlays on facilities management and digital technology.

Operating income excluding interest rose 19% to HK$768 million, and corporate sponsorship grew 30%. Total underlying income including interest slipped 1.72% to HK$856 million, however, because the authority has far less one-off money sitting in bank deposits, and that interest income will keep shrinking.

A government reply to a lawmaker's question in July gave a similar picture. The authority raised HK$219 million from fundraising in 2025-26, up more than 30% from the year before, which made up about a third of its recurrent operating income. Combined income at M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum rose more than 20%, split roughly evenly among admissions, sponsorship and commercial revenue. Pay for seven senior executives at the two museums totaled about HK$20.9 million in 2025-26, according to Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law. The authority has also installed self-service donation kiosks, which it said carry no extra cost because a technology company covers their development and running expenses.

Crowds are not the problem

Visitor numbers are rising. The district recorded more than 17 million visits in 2025, up 13% from a year earlier, the authority said in February. M+ drew more than 2.6 million visits and the Palace Museum about 1 million, with mainland and overseas visitors making up roughly 60% to 70% of audiences at the two museums.

The gap is between those crowds and the cost of running world-class venues. The authority told lawmakers it plans no job cuts and will move staff to new projects, and that senior management pay has been frozen for years. Its longer-term answer is property. The first residential site, in Zone 2B, is due to be tendered in the first quarter of 2027, with up to 108,500 square meters of housing and about 20,000 square meters of retail, dining and entertainment space. A hotel, office and cultural-creative project is being prepared in Zone 2A, and three office towers under the district's first public-private partnership are expected to be finished within 2027.

In September the government's 2026 Policy Address called the district a strategic cultural infrastructure project, and its first Five-Year Plan set out steps to draw arts trading businesses there. The WestK Performing Arts Centre is due to open in 2027, taking the district's performing arts venues to 10. Its first full year of ticket sales, and the Zone 2B tender early that year, are the next tests of whether the district can narrow a deficit that its endowment will soon no longer cover.