Cooperation is of paramount importance in cruise tourism promotion. In 2018/19, the HKTB worked closely with other industry players including cruise lines, travel agents and neighbouring ports to drive the growth of cruise tourism in Asia, while highlighting Hong Kong’s intrinsic advantages and comprehensive offerings that make it the gateway to explore the region by cruise.
Cultivating source markets
- Publicity value generated by promotion on Formosa Television Channel: HK$25 million
- Total impressions of advertorials in India: 5.47 million
In 2018/19, we launched 37 fly-cruise cooperation campaigns in 11 source markets, offering attractive fly-cruise packages to entice consumers to book their next cruise holiday to Hong Kong.
In the Mainland, riding on the opening of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link Hong Kong Section, we put forward a series of rail-cruise promotions, including partnering with Dream Cruise to launch rail-cruise campaigns, to drive consumer demand.
In other markets, we focused on those with high growth potential, including Taiwan, India and South Korea. In Taiwan, we created two 70-minute episodes for a popular variety show on Formosa Television Channel showcasing the experience onboard a luxurious cruise ship and onshore excursions in Hong Kong, supported by press conferences as well as online and social media promotions.
Meanwhile in India and South Korea, we developed advertorials to promote cruise travel and Hong Kong’s destination offerings. In South Korea, we also came up with MICE-cruise itineraries for the incentive segment.
Driving ship deployments
- During their homeporting in Hong Kong in 2018:
- 103 ship calls by World Dream
- 18 ship calls by Voyager of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas
Through continued close partnerships with cruise lines, we successfully attracted more world-class cruises to make Hong Kong a homeport or major turnaround port. Dream Cruises’ World Dream made Hong Kong her homeport year-round throughout 2018/19, whereas Royal Caribbean International’s Voyager of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas had their homeport season in Hong Kong between May and August 2018.
Strengthening regional cooperation
- Publicity value generated by the TV programme “Cruise the World”: HK$34 million
We tightened our partnerships with members of Asia Cruise Cooperation (ACC). Along with three other ACC’s partners, namely Hainan, the Philippines and Taiwan, we engaged Discovery TLC Channel to launch a regional TV programme “Cruise the World” to promote the amazing cruise experience. The programme was broadcast on the TLC channel in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and India from January to March 2019.
