HONG KONG - Tourist arrivals in HK reach new peak

chinaview.cn, 2008-01-07

Tourist arrivals in Hong Kong surpassed the 28 million-mark in 2007, up 10 percent on 2006, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said Monday.
Once finalized, tourist spending for last year is expected to have grown to more than 130 billion HK dollars (16.7 billion U.S. dollars), breaking the 119.43 billion HK dollars record in 2006.
Per capita spending by overnight arrivals is forecast to be about 5,100 HK dollars compared with 4,799 HK dollars in 2006.
As for same-day in-town visitors, their average per capita spending is expected to rise to about 1,100 HK dollars from 1,015 in 2006.

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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau Meet For Tourism Cooperation

Chinahospitalitynews.com, December 5, 2007

The tourism authorities from the three places agreed in the meeting to set up a rotation of chairmanship system under the Guangdong - Hong Kong – Macau Tourism marketing cooperation framework, with the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau assuming chairmanship in 2008, while Hong Kong Tourism Board and Macau Government Tourist Office will be the chairman for 2009 and 2010, respectively.
In addition, the three places have reached consensus to strengthen promotion in overseas markets, in particular, to develop more multi-destination itineraries of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau for the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets.

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HONG KONG - Tourism Board voted Best Asia Pacific Tourist Board

Asiatraveltips.com, 22 November 2007

The Hong Kong Tourism Board UK office has been voted Best Asia Pacific Tourist Board in the British Travel Awards 2007. The awards invited both industry professionals and the public to cast their votes.
HKTB Chairman The Hon James Tien said that the Board was greatly honoured by the accolade. “Since our UK office in London came into existence in 1972, we’ve been working closely with the British travel trade to promote Hong Kong,” he remarked. “Our recent strategy is to position Hong Kong as a hip and trendy destination, and winning the award shows how positively our promotions have been received by the UK travel trade and consumers.”

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HONG KONG - Brand lessons from an 80-year-old

TTGasia.com, Nov 16-22, 2007

IS the world better off with fewer hotel brands, or more hotel brands?
There are at least 47 well-known brands in the global hotel industry today and still, there are not enough! During the recent Horwath Hotels Investment Conference Asia-Pacific at Hotel InterContinental Hong Kong, I listened with incredulity to global hotel chain CEOs saying more brands were needed. Indigo to me is a jazz number (as in the popular Blue Indigo). Soon it will be plastered on hotels as the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) pushes its expansion. A Pullman to me is a train car. Soon, it will be the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) hotel brand of the Accor group, as the Crowne Plaza is to IHG.

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HONG KONG - Hotel crunch

TTGasia.com, Nov 16-22, 2007

WHILE hoteliers elsewhere would moan in the face of new competition, Hong Kong properties performed well the first seven months of this year despite a jump in room inventory, from 43,866 rooms at the end of 2005 to 51,742 rooms by July 2007.Projected inventory by the end of 2007 is 55,174 rooms, which translates into an increase of 26 per cent in two years.According to the Hong Kong Hotel Association (HKHA), the swelling number of rooms has had such limited impact on occupancy, there was only a slight two percentage point decline from January to July 2007 to 83.4 per cent, versus 85.4 per cent in the same period last year.Meanwhile, average hotel room rates rose robustly by 11.9 per cent compared to the same period last year.

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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS - Two SARs plan closer cooperation on tourism

thestandard.com.hk, October 23, 2007

Hong Kong and Macau have agreed to negotiate with the mainland government on combining into one the current separate visas for mainland tourists visiting the two cities.
The aim is for mainland tourists, under the Individual Visit Scheme, to travel to both places in one trip, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman James Tien Pei-chun who revealed the plan yesterday.
Hong Kong and Macau are not competitors but partners in tourism promotion, Tien said after meeting with Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah and Macau tourism officials in the neighboring SAR.
He said increasingly severe international competition has driven them to embrace their partnership.

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MACAO - threatens Hong Kong for popularity

China Daily, 2007-10-01

Macao is expected to catch up with Hong Kong in the near future in terms of mainland tourist traffic, an expert said.
The estimation is based on the increasing trend of Macao's growing shares in the mainland tourist market and Macao's enriching tourism facilities.
The number of mainland tourists bound for Macao has been rising since 1999, causing annual growth of over 30 percent between 1999 and 2004, said Dai Bin, a professor at Beijing International Studies University, in a recent interview.
Although the growth rate has slowed a little in the past two years, it still beat the comparative rate for Hong Kong last year, when Macao registered 14.6 percent growth compared to Hong Kong's 8.4 percent.

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HONG KONG - Visitor Arrivals for August 2007

ASIATravelTips.com, 1 October 2007

Hong Kong visitor arrivals in August 2007 numbered 2,758,337, the highest single-month total on record. The achievement represents 16.9% growth over last August. Arrivals from Mainland China also increased by a substantial 23.5% to over 1.68 million – the best-ever monthly record for the Mainland.
All long and short-haul market regions showed positive gain this August. On top of Mainland China, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific also performed exceptionally well.

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HONG KONG - Tourism Board launches Three New Eco-Oriented Tours

Asiatraveltips.com, 4 September 2007

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has introduced three new eco-oriented tours under the Hong Kong Nature Kaleidoscope Programme to tie in with the seasonal climate, providing visitors with more choices of eco tour products. New itineraries available for visitors include the wetland tours in Long Valley and Mai Po, as well as the re-packaged Northeast New Territories Islands Hopping Tour offered by the HKTB in collaboration with the travel trade.
“To help sustain the continued development of tourism, the HKTB is working closely with travel trade in introducing more commercially-operated eco-oriented tours in the market under the Hong Kong Natural Kaleidoscope Programme.

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HONG KONG - Aberdeen dream takes shape

TTGasia.com, Jun 15-21, 2007

The blueprint for the redevelopment was in the form of a paper presented to the Southern District Council by the Tourism Commission last month.
Artist impression of a tree-lined promenade at the new Aberdeen harbour.
Artist impression of the new Aberdeen harbour.In it, the commission outlined the details of a tourist hub, blending thematic architecture with al fresco Chinese and western entertainment. Work is proposed to start in 2009 and is due to be completed by 2012.Holiday World Tours managing director, Mr Paul Leung, believed developments like these helped the tourism industry and promoted repeat tourism. “The biggest advantage of Aberdeen is the natural environment. The harbour combined with the heritage aspect is really great. “The old house boats and sampans are not as prominent (as before), but the redevelopment will bring the nostalgia back. “This sort of attraction really reminds people of what it used to be and gives us a taste of the heritage.”He added: “Ocean Park up to Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau is a very large geographical area.

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HONG KONG - Refusing entry to pregnant women if tourism is not the real motive

eTN Asia, 18-12-2006

Immigration authorities in Hong Kong are considering turning back pregnant women from the mainland at the border.

Observing that over 12,000 babies had been born in Hong Kong to non-resident parents in the
first 10 months of this year, a 20-fold increase since 2001, a senior official in Hong Kong has referred to such trend involving Chinese women as a serious and sensitive issue.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong has shared that one of the options on
board was for immigration authorities to refuse entry to pregnant women if the “tourist’s real reason for entering Hong Kong is not tourism”.

“Chinese women in advanced stages of pregnancy are testing the limits of the “one country, two
systems” arrangement between mainland China and Hong Kong by nipping across the border into the former British colony, delivering babies in public hospitals — and in many cases leaving without paying their bills,” reported media. “One reason why this “maternity tourism” thrives is that Chinese babies born in Hong Kong get permanent residency rights — and a slew of welfare benefits like free schooling and medical benefits. Additionally, many women seek out Hong Kong’s vastly superior public health service.”

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ENVIRONMENT - Rising Number of Vehicles Feed Deadly air Pollution in Asian Cities

eTN, 14-12-2006

With 600,000 people in Asia dying prematurely from air pollution each year, the continent’s major cities face a key challenge in reducing the daunting figure, according to a new United Nations-backed report: although vehicle emissions are being reduced, the volume of vehicles is rising rapidly.

The UN - study, Urban Air Pollution in Asia Cities, released ahead of the first
governmental meeting on urban air quality opening today in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, reports that while air quality has improved in some, pollution remains a threat to health and quality of life in others. Asia’s growth in population, urbanization, motorization and energy consumption remain major challenges.

One of its key findings is that concentrations of the fine particulate matter PM10, one of the main threats to health and life is, “serious” in Beijing, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Shanghai.

“There is as strong an association between fine particulate matter and health issues in Asia as there is in Europe and the United States, but in Asia the concentrations of particulates are much higher,” the study’s lead author Dieter Schwela said.

But the report, focusing on 22 cities, also finds that Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo have an “excellent” capacity to manage air quality. Beijing, Busan and New Delhi are rated as having “good” air quality management capability. All these cities have achieved major reductions in key emissions but still need to address fine particulate pollution from vehicle fumes.

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MARKETS - Asia on their minds

TTGasia, Nov 17 - 23, 2006 / No.1502

UK tour operators say the region will be a hotbed of holiday activity next year

NO surprises as to what is hot in the market for 2007 as Indochina continues to feature strongly in brochures of UK tour operators next year.

With more people recognising the value for money in Asia and choosing to go upmarket, more luxury products are also being offered.

China had a good year in 2006 and this upward trend is expected to continue in 2007.

Kuoni Travel product manager, Mr Darren Lancaster, said: “We expect double-digit growth for Indochina, especially Vietnam and Cambodia.

“The draw is in the number of good hotel products, culture and beach destinations.

“The biggest challenge is accessibility. If Vietnam Airlines can put in a direct service, more travellers will be open to Vietnam and the rest of Indochina will follow.

“All UK operators are going to see growth in business to China predominantly from first-time clients. The demand is definitely there and it is up to us to service the market with new and fresh products.

“For India, travellers are mainly repeat visitors or adventurous first-timers. Taj tours remain a popular option with more clients asking for customised itineraries. Kerala is doing exceptionally well. We have contracted directly with suppliers in 2007 and have some great offers.

“The challenge for India is high rates and availability.”

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HONG KONG - Visitor Arrivals for September 2006

Asiatraveltips.com, 1 November 2006

Hong Kong’s visitor arrivals in September 2006 was 1,830,189 million, which is 2.4% more than in the same month in 2005. Cumulative arrivals for the first nine months of 2006 now stand at 18,571,976, a 9.5% increase compared with the previous year.More than 1.10 million arrivals (60.3% of the total) in September stayed in Hong Kong for at least one night, with the remainder of over 725,000 (39.7%) classified as same-day in-town visitors. This takes the cumulative January-September total for overnight visitors to more than 11.65 million (62.7%), while over 6.92 million (37.3%) left on the day of arrival.Arrivals from key regional source markets were as follows:

- Mainland China: 930,532 visitors (a 0.6% increase)
- Taiwan: 166,143 (-2.9%)
- South and Southeast Asia: 188,642 (9.5%)
- North Asia: 168,761 (2%)
- Europe, Africa and the Middle East: 151,650 (8.8%)
- The Americas: 120,522 (2%), and
- Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific: 61,949 (6.4%).

Visitors from Mainland China represented 50.8% of the September arrivals. Of these, 427,026 travelled under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS), 45.9% of the Mainland total, and 14.9% more than in the same month last year.

September 2006 Arrivals by Markets

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