Hong Kong is back, which has been the key message from the Hong Kong Tourism Board since the spring. With airlift resuming to near pre-pandemic levels, the destination is poised to have a banner year in 2024, ‘The Year of the Dragon.’ In this week’s Take Five, we sit down with Michael Lim, Director, Americas for the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) to discuss post-pandemic recovery and the many reasons why Hong Kong should be top of mind in 2024 and beyond.
1.Given the challenging times, what are you doing to target Canadian travellers to Hong Kong?
“Mastermind both a trade and consumer recovery plan.
“The trade journey includes webinars to keep abreast of latest developments, face-to-face interactions to re-energize the excitement that Hong Kong is back, the Hello HK Spotlight Series to highlight the fact that Hong Kong doesn’t sleep, with new hotels, attractions and restaurants, FAM trips because seeing is believing, and new products. And, as always, we have the HK Specialist program.
“As for the consumer journey, as Hong Kong only just opened in the spring, we’ll be focusing on top/mid-funnel media partnerships, inspiration through our Hello Hong Kong campaign, and media FAMS to showcase that Hong Kong is back.
All this is designed to showcase to both the trade and consumers that Hong Kong did not pause during the pandemic. We continued with new products, enhancements and refurbishments. To highlight just a few, we welcomed two new museums to the WKCD (West Kowloon Cultural District) – M+ and Palace Museum – and we’re opening 15 hotels, more restaurants and the sixth-generation Peak tram. We’re also marking the return of major events and conferences.”
Braemar Hill, Hong Kong
2. What key experiences are you promoting that would inspire travel to Hong Kong?
“Hong Kong has a multitude of experiences that appeal to Canadians, including:
- Arts & Culture: WKCD, neighbourhoods, art events, authentic cultural festivals
- Dining: street food, dai pai dongs (open-air food stalls), 77 Michelin-starred restaurants and over 17,000 eateries
- Great outdoors: Over 260 outlying islands, some of the best hikes in Asia including Dragon Back and Maclehose Trails
“We also have an array of new and upgraded attractions, including the sixth-generation peak tram and Disney’s first Frozen in the world at HK Disney.
“There’s a lot of excitement in the Year of the Dragon in 2024. It starts with Chinese New Year celebrations and the return of our Chinese New Year Night Parade, followed by an action-packed year of events and festivals. We’ll also be launching a new global brand campaign.”
3. What’s the current airlift from Canada?
“Air Canada has 11 flights a week, while Cathay Pacific offers 19 flights a week. In total, there are 30 flights a week from Canada, about 78% of the total pre-pandemic.”
4. How important is the business travel market, particularly from Canada? Would you say it has bounced back since the pandemic?
“Our key segments include bizcation, affluent Gen-Z/millennials and VFR (Visiting Friends & Relatives), which we identified as the first groups to travel after the pandemic. We initiated and integrated campaigns for each of the target segments through consumer media, OTAs and trade engagements.
“As of September, we’re approximately 53% recovered versus January-September 2019. We’ve welcomed so far over 170,000 Canadians through the end of September. The pace has been greatly impacted by the current capacity versus pre-pandemic so it’s recovering as capacity resumes.”
The Peak Tram
5. Do you have any incentives for either consumers of travel agents this winter season?
“Our Hello HK campaign kicked off with a giveaway of 500,000 tickets. In addition, we developed HK goodies where visitors can redeem HKD100 at various entertainment and shopping establishments. Currently, we have Hong Kong Night treats offering visitors dining coupons. You can click here for more information.”
For more information on travel to Hong Kong, go to www.DiscoverHongKong.com.
