The tourism industry is Hong Kong's second largest earner of foreign exchange. In 1995, tourism receipts totalled HK$75 billion, accounting for eight per cent of GDP. Visitor arrivals for the year totalled 10.2 million, reflecting a growth of 9.3 per cent over 1994.

Hong Kong is the most popular travel destination in Asia, reflecting the high quality and wide variety of visitor attractions and facilities. The territory's hotels cater to all markets and their outstanding restaurants offer a superb range of Chinese, Asian and Western cuisine. Choices of shopping outlets, variety of nightlife, heritage and culture, and sporting opportunities all add to Hong Kong's appeal.

The Early Years: The promotion of tourism in Hong Kong began in 1957 with the creation of the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA). In that year, some 50 000 visitors came to Hong Kong, mostly from the United States of America and Western Europe, to experience the exotic and fascinating Oriental lifestyle of the territory. Over the years, Hong Kong has become an increasingly-popular travel destination for visitors from all parts of the world. By 1961, total visitor arrivals reached 221 000, a 34.2 per cent increase in less than five years and, by 1972, arrivals passed the one-million mark. The market mix has also changed, with some 70 per cent of visitors coming from within Asia.

Ways of Entry: Some 67 per cent of visitors to Hong Kong in 1995 arrived by air. Hong Kong International Airport is the third busiest in the world (in terms of international passengers), with an aircraft taking off or landing every two minutes during peak hours.

Accommodation and Length of Stay: At the end of 1995, Hong Kong had 86 hotels, with 33 052 rooms; the average occupancy rate for the year was 85 per cent. To date, the range of new hotels scheduled to open over the next few years will bring the total number of rooms available to some 40 000 by the end of 1999. The average length of stay of all visitors in 1995 was 3.87 nights but, when surveyed on departure, they recommended a stay of 5.5 days, demonstrating a high rate of satisfaction and showing they wished they had stayed longer.

Visitor Expenditure: In 1995, visitors spent an average of HK$7,151 per capita during their stay in Hong Kong. Shopping accounted for 50.8 per cent of visitor spending.

The Hong Kong Tourist Association: The HKTA has six related aims: to increase the number of visitors to Hong Kong; to further the development of Hong Kong as a tourist destination; to promote the improvement of facilities for visitors; to market Hong Kong's visitor attractions overseas; to co-ordinate the activities of the tourism industry; and to advise the government on matters relating to the tourism industry.

The headquarters of the Association is located in the Citicorp Centre in North Point on Hong Kong Island. There are 18 overseas offices: in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Barcelona, Stockholm, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Sydney, Auckland, Taipei and Johannesburg.

Marketing: The HKTA invests a substantial portion of its budget in marketing Hong Kong abroad. The marketing strategies of the Association are designed to attract higher-yield visitors to Hong Kong, thereby maximising the tourism industry's contribution to Hong Kong's economic prosperity.

In April 1995, the HKTA launched a new worldwide marketing campaign. Based on the theme of 'Wonders Never Cease', the campaign incorporates radical new design and conceptual styles that will position Hong Kong as Asia's most desirable visitor destination well into the next century.

Based on this concept, the Hong Kong Pavilion - an innovative mobile exhibition - travelled through 60 European countries in 1995 promoting the "Wonders Never Cease" concept to the travel trade, media and potential visitors to Hong Kong.

Other examples of the association's activities in 1995 were: co-ordinating the Hong Kong travel industry's participation in 12 major trade events overseas to develop new business opportunities; arranging familiarisation visits for some 2 347 travel agents; and briefing a further 801 visiting travel trade personnel to update them on the latest developments in the Hong Kong tourism product and encourage them to include Hong Kong in their itineraries.

A major initiative in December 1993 was the beginning of the joint marketing of the 'Pearl River Delta' region (Hong Kong, the Chinese province of Guangdong and the Portuguese enclave of Macau). This marked the start of a new era for the tourism industries involved, signifying a new co-operative marketing approach designed to maximise the tourism potential of the entire region and highlight the fact that each of these three areas offers its own unique attractions.

The HKTA also runs an extensive media familiarisation programme, targeting quality publications and electronic media, to acquaint general and specialist writers with Hong Kong's excellent attractions. Some 1 200 representatives of the overseas media were assisted in 1995.

The HKTA publishes an extensive range of material for the overseas trade and consumers, and for visitors in general. Regular publications include: for the trade overseas, the monthly English-language Hong Kong Travel Bulletin, the annual Travel Trade Manual, and the biennial Who's Who in the Hong Kong Tourism Industry. The monthly Official Hong Kong Guide, the weekly Hong Kong This Week and Hong Kong Diary, and a variety of brochures about Hong Kong are available for visitors in Hong Kong.

In addition, the Association publishes a regular newsletter for Hong Kong students studying overseas, which backs up the HKTA's annual Student Ambassador Programme; the monthly Tourism Action newsletter for members; and the monthly Voice of the Tourism Industry in Chinese for front-line employees of the service industry in Hong Kong.

The Courtesy Campaign, initiated in 1976, incorporates various programmes aimed at maintaining and improving the standards of service, courtesy and professionalism in Hong Kong's tourism industry.

In December 1995, the third 'Tourism Walks For Charity' was held at the Sports Institute in Sha Tin, raising HK$1.9 million for three charities in Hong Kong.

Developing the Product: The HKTA strives constantly to develop Hong Kong as a visitor destination and to improve existing attractions, facilities and services. This work includes the evaluation of such product components as special interest tours and co-operation in the development of such attractions and events as Ocean Park and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival-International Races, which was developed by the HKTA, is now a major event, as is the annual Hong Kong Food Festival, which highlights the fine dining opportunities available in the territory. In 1996, the Association created two new events - the Hong Kong Chinese New Year Parade and the Health and Fortune Expo - to increase visitor numbers at a traditionally less busy time of year. These events will now take place on an annual basis.

In 1995, the HKTA commissioned the Visitor and Tourism Study for Hong Kong, a consolidated long-term strategy for tourism development in the territory. The Study highlights the need for further new attractions, facilities, events, services and infrastructure to sustain the territory's tourism success. Feasibility studies on the priority projects recommended in the Study are currently underway, in particular the Hong Kong Millennium Programme - a series of events over the next few years culminating in a Hong Kong Millennium Fair in the year 2000.

The Association has also inaugurated a number of tours to develop the tourism product in Hong Kong and to further enhance visitor satisfaction. These include the Come Horseracing Tour, the Family Insight Tour, the Sports and Recreation Tour, The Land Between Tour, the Heritage Tour, and such special interest tours as those for the Tin Hau Festival, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival and various food-related tours during the annual Hong Kong Food Festival.

In addition, the HKTA has developed five walking and exploring guides covering Sai Kung, Central and Western District, Yau Ma Tei, Cheung Chau and Lantau Islands.

Visitor Information: The HKTA maintains two information and gift centres: at Shop 8, Basement, Jardine House, and at the Kowloon 'Star' Ferry Concourse. In addition, the Association operates two information counters at the Hong Kong International Airport at Kai Tak. Together, these centres assisted some 2.8 million visitors in 1995.

The HKTA also operates multi-lingual, Mandarin and Japanese telephone hotline services for visitors in Hong Kong. Fax users worldwide can also obtain current information about Hong Kong 24 hours a day through Infofax. The information service of the HKTA is offered in nine languages and literature about Hong Kong is available in 13 languages.

Information can also be obtained worldwide from the HKTA's homepage on the Internet's World Wide Web (http://www.hkta.org), and the Association produces a Wonders of Hong Kong CD-ROM for use by both consumers and members of the travel trade.

Membership: As well as carrying out the functions of an official tourist office in the territory, the HKTA is also an association of private sector members who are involved in tourism-related businesses. Membership of the Association has grown steadily over the years. In May 1996, the total stood at about 1 700.

HKTA Ordinary Members are entitled to become members of the Association of Retailers and Tourism Services (ARTS). ARTS was incorporated in November 1993 to promote the collective interests of the retail and tourism trades and to ensure quality service and value for money for consumers.

A number of retail/dining promotions, including Cathay Pacific Supercity Savings, Hong Kong Privilege, Wonder Value Wonder Sales, Silver Plus Programme, Hong Kong Food Festival '96 - Lucky Dining, and the 1995 ACTA/AFTA/TAANZ Joint Conference - Dine Around Programme, have been organised to encourage visitors to patronise HKTA-Member establishments.

Guidebooks listing HKTA-Member establishments are distributed to visitors to provide information about retail outlets and dining and entertainment establishments.

Industry Training: Working closely with other training bodies, the HKTA supports and promotes actively the importance of training.

The Association works with the Vocational Training Council and other training institutes that offer tourism- related programmes to ensure that sufficient quality training is available for personnel in the tourism industry. The HKTA also produces a Hotel, Catering and Tourism Courses Directory, which provides comprehensive information about the availability of such courses.

To generate and maintain a high professional standard among tour co-ordinators, the Association organises courses, workshops, seminars and activities which keep tour co-ordinators abreast of new developments. The HKTA operates a registration system through the Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Co-ordinators (HARTCO) and produces the HARTCO Membership Directory to assist tourism personnel in selecting qualified tour co-ordinators. In addition, the HKTA organises the Hong Kong Tour Co-ordinator of the Year Award to promote pride and professionalism.

The HKTA supports actively the Travel & Tourism Education Programme, which was launched by the Education Department in 1993 and offers tourism as a curriculum subject to Secondary 4 and 5 students. In 1995/96 academic year, 41 schools were registered on the Programme.

To further promote career opportunities in the tourism industry, the Association gives presentations to schools and other interested parties, organises career seminars and participates in career exhibitions.

The HKTA also gives presentations to such groups of people as hotel concierges and police officers to encourage an all-round high level of service to visitors to the territory.

Convention and Incentive Travel: The Hong Kong Convention and Incentive Travel Bureau is a specialist division within the HKTA which develops and promotes this lucrative business segment of the Hong Kong tourism industry. Research shows that visitors attending meetings or on incentive travel programmes tend to stay twice as long and spend three times as much money as the average visitor. The convention and exhibition business has grown from 15 international events in 1976 to 2 175 events in 1995, bringing in some 350 000 overseas participants. Incentive travel, in particular, increased from 996 groups in 1994 to 1 493 in 1995, an increase of 49.9 per cent.

Last updated: 1996