Hello Hong Kong
With the gradual lifting of COVID-related inbound control measures by the government, Hong Kong’s tourism doors fully reopened at the beginning of 2023, allowing visitors to explore Hong Kong hassle-free.
In addition to stepping up ongoing promotional efforts, HKTB leveraged the global promotional campaign “Hello Hong Kong” to effectively spread to the world the key message of Hong Kong’s full return to normalcy to the world. With a spectrum of combined strategies, the campaign showcased the undiminished appeal and boundless vitality of Hong Kong, reigniting travellers’ interests in visiting Hong Kong.
As tourism had been put on hold for some time due to the pandemic, it was crucial for the city to reconnect with visitors from around the world, and to clearly convey the message that life in Hong Kong has fully returned to its norm. With the simple, direct and friendly greeting of “Hello”, which is universally understood, HKTB rode on the launch of the campaign to take the initiative in encouraging the local public to greet our visitors with a simple and heartfelt “Hello” to create a warm and welcoming ambience for our guests while leading various sectors in Hong Kong to answer the call for extending their greetings to visitors by fostering a city-wide welcoming ambience, with a view to attracting visitors to greet us back in person by visiting Hong Kong, enjoying the joyous ambience together in town when travel resumed.
Widespread reciprocation upon global launch
On 2 February 2023, the large-scale global promotional campaign “Hello Hong Kong” was officially launched in the presence of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The campaign was fully supported by government officials, and a “Hong Kong team” of representatives from the commercial sector and the community in general. HKTB also actively promoted the campaign in key visitor source markets, showcasing Hong Kong’s full resumption to normalcy and extending a warm welcome to global visitors.
Since the launch of “Hello Hong Kong” in February, HKTB has joined hands with the government, business sector, travel trade and celebrities to produce about 330 greeting videos and distributed over 1 million shares of “Hong Kong Goodies” with dining and retail sector as well as attractions. Over a thousand of media and travel trade representatives, KOLs, showbiz personalities have been invited to “seeing is believing” and experience the newest Hong Kong for themselves. In addition, HKTB also led trade partners in hospitality, aviation, attractions and other tourism-related sectors to participate in about 30 trade fairs and travel shows outside Hong Kong, promoting the city’s tourism appeal to audiences in visitor source markets. HKTB also supported various arts, sports and cultural happenings to be staged again in Hong Kong and drove the recovery of MICE and cruise tourism and the development of new markets and segments, demonstrating the reopening of Hong Kong’s tourism doors in response to the calling of welcoming visitors and enhancing their experiences as conceptualised in “Hello Hong Kong”.
Extending Greatest Welcome to the World
First, HKTB greeted visitors from around the world through a series of captivating videos and inbound rewards, with a view to widely communicating a positive messages of Hong Kong’s enthusiastic welcome to visitors worldwide. At the initial stage of travel resumption, HKTB seized the chance to roll out a series of videos to drum up visitors’ interests in Hong Kong by first increasing the city’s exposure in source markets and raising consumers’ awareness of Hong Kong; after securing their attention, various immersive contents of in-depth and new travel experiences were blasted out on social media platforms to present the city’s diverse experiences to target audiences, maximising the publicity effect.
Hello from Hong Kong: Faces & Places
In the debuting thematic video, artists with widespread popularity in local and key source markets such as Aaron Kwok, Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen spread the message of “Hong Kong is back” with the destination’s unique appeal, followed by celebrities, key opinion leaders (KOLs), “Hong Kong Super Fans”, business leaders, as well as trade representatives from the travel trade and Meeting, Incentive Travels, Conventions, and Exhibition (MICE) sector, to speak to a worldwide audience in over 330 dynamic video messages.
To attract audiences in visitor source markets, the HKTB lined up different local personalities and expats such as “Father of Lan Kwai Fong” Allan Zeman, Brazilian Netflix celebrity chef Rafa Gil, champion pianist Niu Niu and many more to greet worldwide consumers and share their lives and their go-to places in Hong Kong in more than 330 videos, creating words-of-mouth and introducing Hong Kong’s newest attractions, tastes, arts & culture, and urban oases, with a view to inviting visitors to come for an in-depth experience.
Hello to Hong Kong: Worldwide Celebrities Share Their Love for the City
HKTB has also invited celebrities around the world to say “Hello” to Hong Kong to share their impression for Hong Kong and their anticipation for visiting the city to deepen consumers’ impression of Hong Kong. These include Song Ji-hyo, core member of the popular Korean variety show Running Man, Filipino model and TV host Kelly Misa, renowned Japanese actor Fujimori Shingo, to name a few.
The series of videos was released in phases and was broadcast on over 3,300 different platforms worldwide, reaching a cumulative audience of over 200 million.
Hello within Hong Kong: All-round Greetings in Town
At the same time, with the support of various sectors, the HKTB also added “Hello” themed decorations at the airport, city landmarks, transport, shopping malls and various locations across the city to echo the publicity they had seen on social media before arriving in Hong Kong, so that travellers would continue to receive the message and feel familiar with Hong Kong after their arrival.
Strategic promotions according to market situation
HKTB also launched all-round promotions in different source markets. Expecting Mainland and Southeast Asian markets to be of the first to visit Hong Kong when travel resumed, HKTB prioritised the resources and kicked off promotions in these markets first.
In Mainland markets, HKTB implemented holistic promotional activities to maximise awareness of the campaign among consumers, including the launch of “Hello Hong Kong” videos in commercial buildings in short-haul markets such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and advertised the campaign in subway stations and other public areas. These advertisements highlighted Hong Kong’s arts and cultural offerings, urban oases, and brand-new experiences.
HKTB also leveraged popular social media platforms on the Mainland, such as WeChat, Douyin and Weibo, to convey messages of Hong Kong’s warm welcome to visitors. Among those, HKTB has collaborated with Douyin to launch a dance challenge, inviting renowned Hong Kong artist Samantha Ko and Xingtong, a virtual idol with many fans in mainland markets.
In Southeast Asian markets, HKTB collaborated with local media on various television and online programmes, as well as outdoor advertising in prominent shopping malls, railway stations and cinemas, to entice Southeast Asian travellers to visit Hong Kong.
Moreover, HKTB invited 80 Southeast Asian “Hong Kong Super Fans”, celebrities and KOLs to participate in the “Hello Hong Kong” dance challenge, together with their sharing on their own stories about Hong Kong to their extensive social networks. Their followers responded with over 1.2 million dance clips, with a global viewership of 1.5 billion, making it TikTok’s highest-grossing publicity event of the first season of 2023 in the Southeast Asian market, which results in an increase of 300,000 followers for HKTB’s official account and rendering it the official account of the travel sector with greatest growth in the season.
HKTB also started early in promoting the destination through the thematic videos in South Korea, gaining presence through local television channels, and outdoor visibility at pedestrian tunnels, and cinemas. In Taiwan, artists and KOLs were invited to share their Hong Kong travel experiences on social media platforms.
Preview of Hong Kong through streaming events
To further drum up Mainland visitors’ interested in Hong Kong, HKTB collaborated with Trip.com and mainland’s major lifestyle service platform Meituan Group in organising a series of live streaming destination showcase and limited-time promotions. In each session, these online initiatives introduced Hong Kong’s hotel and town offerings in various themes targeting different segments, allowing Mainland consumers to gain a better understanding of the city’s newest tourism experiences, which in turn called for their action to book travel products to visit Hong Kong. The activities successfully reached potential customers before travel restrictions were fully lifted, helping attract first-time overnight visitors from the Mainland.
Placing Hong Kong under global spotlight again with air ticket giveaway
Another highlight of “Hello Hong Kong” was the distribution of a total of 500,000 free air tickets to various global markets in stages by the Airport Authority Hong Kong through three local airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Express, and Hong Kong Airlines.
HKTB supported the promotions of the giveaway in both Mainland and overseas source markets. This included media partnership and KOL engagement, as well as social media promotions on Facebook and Instagram maximising the campaign’s impact of attracting global visitors’ attention and heightening awareness of Hong Kong as a tourism destination.
The giveaway campaign was first launched in Southeast Asia. HKTB partnered with Cathay Pacific to promote the campaign in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia. This collaboration successfully generated a viral publicity effect through extensive media coverage, and heightened consumer attention.
HKTB also collaborated with Cathay Pacific and Narita Airport in Japan, inviting KOLs and frontline airline staff to appear in promotional videos displayed at the country’s busiest airport and on social media platforms to enhance the promotional effect.
Many source markets expressed that the air ticket giveaway and the relevant promotions had helped raise visitors’ interest in making Hong Kong their travel destination.
Extending welcoming gestures with “Hong Kong Goodies”
In addition to promoting Hong Kong’s new experiences, HKTB also distributed “Hong Kong Goodies” visitor consumption vouchers, a welcoming gift for visitors, starting from February 2023.
The “Hong Kong Goodies”, each worth at least HK$100, were distributed through HKTB Visitor Centres, travel websites, and online travel agents worldwide. Visitors could simply sign up on the Discover Hong Kong e-platform to redeem the voucher for a complimentary welcome drinks or a special offer at any of the about 4,000 designated dining or retail outlets or attractions throughout the city.
To motivate Mainland visitors to visit the city, HKTB partnered with Mainland KOL Rachel Chan, who is also one of the “Hong Kong Super Fans”, to create videos for Xiaohongshu, a popular social platform in Mainland markets. HKTB also solicited the support of China News Service to disseminate videos on tips for redeeming for the offers. As of the end of October 2023, HKTB has distributed over 2 million “Hong Kong Goodies” visitor consumption vouchers.
Furthermore, HKTB also designed a special edition of the “Hong Kong Goodies” for high value-added visitors who came for meeting, convention, exhibition and incentive trips in Hong Kong, offering exclusive privileges including a limited-edition “Hello Hong Kong” thematic Octopus card, M+ entry tickets, and access to airport VIP lounges.
Showering Visitors with Goodies at Ports of Entry
Together with the commissioning of the new Liantang/ Heung Yuen Wai control point, HKTB’s Visitor Centre at the control point also opened. To send visitors a warm welcome, HKTB handed out souvenirs at the new port, as well as other ports of entry, on the first day of travel resumption with the Mainland.
Since the resumption of cross-boundary travel, HKTB’s visitor centres citywide have served over 570,000 visitors, providing various services including recommendations of points of interests, designing itineraries and other practical travel information.
Hong Kong Locals’ Best Picks
In addition, HKTB also harnessed the collective strength of the entire city to welcome visitors through the “Hello Hong Kong · My Best Picks” campaign. HKTB invited the local public to pick their favourite Hong Kong experiences in three categories, including foodie’s delights, urban oases and city checkpoints. The top picks were consolidated into a credible list of recommendations from the locals, allowing visitors to follow these recommendations and savour the most authentic Hong Kong experiences.
The campaign has attracted over 30,000 participants, and the best picks were incorporated in HKTB’s promotions to global visitors through various channels, including its official websites, social media platforms, as well as promotional campaigns with celebrities.
Seeing is Believing
“Seeing is believing”. HKTB reckoned that inviting guests to come to Hong Kong in person is the best way for them to experience the city as a travel destination, which makes an effective and authentic way to promote Hong Kong’s latest travel experiences to the world after the pandemic through genuine word-of-mouth. As early as the gradual relaxation of COVID-related inbound control measures in late 2022, HKTB actively invited travel trade partners and celebrities from different parts of the world to come and see Hong Kong for themselves. Following Hong Kong’s travel resumption, HKTB further stepped up its efforts and invited over 1,000 industry partners, media representatives, KOLs and celebrities to experience Hong Kong first-hand, generating positive word-of-mouth and a positive reputation for Hong Kong.
Mega Familiarisation Trips for Travel Trade Partners
During the pandemic, HKTB leveraged its global network to maintain close contact with industry partners in source markets to keep them informed about the latest developments in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong travel restrictions were gradually lifted, HKTB took the initiative to invite overseas industry partners to come to Hong Kong. This provided trade partners with the opportunity to experience a refreshed Hong Kong and encouraged them to develop innovative travel products that showcase the tourism appeal of Hong Kong to visitors in their markets, thereby attracting them to travel to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
In mid-December 2022, HKTB hosted the first large-scale familiarisation trip since COVID-19 outbreak for the Southeast Asian travel industry, in which about 60 representatives from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore participated. The familiarisation trip allowed the travel trade members in these markets to personally experience Hong Kong’s new tourism elements and the city’s unparalleled winter festivity. Coincidentally, the familiarisation trip was met with the lifting of the inbound entry condition of amber code on their Leave Home Safe app, which gave the visiting trade representatives greater freedom to explore the city and made them the first inbound visitor group to fully enjoy Hong Kong’s long-missed cuisines and diverse experiences. HKTB also facilitated the exchange of the delegate with local tourism practitioners, arranging meetings for them to explore future collaboration opportunities.
Likewise, HKTB continued to invite and host trade representatives from various markets, including the Mainland, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, UK, Australia and New Zealand, to visit Hong Kong and enjoyed the city as it returned normal. In late February 2023, HKTB organised a large-scale “Hello Hong Kong familiarisation trip” for over 100 Mainland travel industry representatives, who are responsible for designing travel products for various Mainland consumer segments.
Media familiarisation for broader promotion
Media partnership is also an important channel for Hong Kong to showcase the real outlook of the city. Therefore, HKTB extended invitations to media outlets from around the world, leveraging their networks and influence to broadcast first-hand, up-to-date information to visitors. In February 2023, HKTB organised the first media familiarisation tour after the pandemic for a total of 46 media organisations from Southeast Asia. This tour resulted in about 550 positive news reports, with a promotional value exceeding HK$ 18 million.
In response to the emerging consumer interest in Hong Kong’s arts and cultural offerings, HKTB also hosted a media tour for broadcaster from the Greater Bay Area. Media representatives from three major media outlets, including Guangzhou Broadcasting Network, GRT Greater Bay Area TV and Shenzhen Television, were invited to experience the new arts and cultural offerings in Hong Kong. Programmes based on their visits were later made to encourage viewers in respective markets to visit Hong Kong for its rich cultural appeal.
Leveraging the staging of Art Basel Hong Kong in March 2023, HKTB teamed up with the Government Information Services Department, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and the West Kowloon Cultural District to host a total of 30 media representatives from the Mainland and overseas to come to Hong Kong. Besides the Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Central, and the West Kowloon Cultural District, the group visited Wan Chai and Central as well for a holistic cultural excursion in the city’s local neighbourhoods.
Harnessing the power of social media
In recent years, visitors have increasingly relied on social media platforms to gather inspirations on new travel experiences, especially from KOLs with a large follower base. As such, HKTB enlisted KOLs of various target segments worldwide to visit Hong Kong and tailor-made itineraries for them to share with their followers. These itineraries covered a wide range of experiences, including arts and culture, attractions, culinary and neighbourhood explorations. Through their extensive networks, the KOLs helped spread the word-of-mouth about Hong Kong’s post-pandemic tourism appeal.
Riding on a series of international art events held in Hong Kong, HKTB collaborated with the Mainland social media platform Xiaohongshu to initiate a branded activity, inviting 16 renowned KOLs to enjoy and share their art and cultural journey in Hong Kong, reaching about 20 million online users.
Star Power
HKTB capitalised on the influence of celebrities and public figures to support its promotions. For instance, HKTB invited South Korean celebrity and MMA athlete Choo Sung-hoon, who rose to fame after his enigmatic appearance in the Netflix reality show Physical 100 to Hong Kong for about 100 hours. During his visit, a customised one-day itinerary focused on urban exploration was arranged, covering different unique attractions in Hong Kong. Choo’s visit generated 180 media reports.
Other prominent figures such as Paik Jong-won, a South Korean celebrity chef with 5.7 million YouTube subscribers, and Diana Chan, winner of Australian MasterChef, were also invited to Hong Kong to savour the local flavours. Together, they promoted the experience of Hong Kong as a “food paradise” to a wider audience.
Reaching out to the World
Besides welcoming visitors to Hong Kong, the HKTB also proactively reached out to the world through outbound promotion to the Mainland and overseas markets, showcasing Hong Kong’s appeal and new experiences.
Strengthening promotions outside Hong Kong
As travel industry events in the world gradually resumed, HKTB actively participated in various travel trade events such as trade fairs and consumer travel exhibitions, collaborating with industry partners in various markets. In the Mainland, HKTB has participated in events such as the China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2022, the China (Guangdong) International Tourism Industry Expo (CITIE) 2022, and the IT&CM (China) in both 2022 and 2023.
Among which, HKTB teamed up with 30 representatives of different tourism-related sectors form Hong Kong in the IT&CM 2023 in Shanghai, facilitating about 1,500 business meetings between the Hong Kong and mainland travel trade.
HKTB’s footprint also reached various significant overseas travel exhibitions. In the Southeast Asian market, HKTB participated in events such as the Travel Tour Expo in Manila, Philippines, the Thailand International Travel Fair in Bangkok, the ASTINDO Travel Fair in Jakarta, Indonesia, the MATTA Fair in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Tourism EXPO Japan 2022, and the South Asia’s Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE).
HKTB also sent representatives to attend major MICE industry events such as IMEX Frankfurt 2022 in Germany, IMEX America 2022 in the United States, ITB Berlin 2023, as well as trade shows and travel events like IBTM World 2022 and AIME 2023, and UFI Asia-Pacific Conference 2023.
Creating Excitements & Opportunities
Hong Kong has long been dubbed the “Event Capital of Asia”, offering a wide range of excitement and happenings, from culinary delights, sports, cultural arts, entertainment, to world-class conferences and exhibitions.
During the pandemic, HKTB had continuously worked to bring back various events in physical format and provided full support to the city’s world-class festivities. With the lifting of inbound control measures, HKTB has swiftly organised various large-scale events and actively invited participation from both Mainland and overseas entities or exhibitors.
Creating Excitement
Arts in Hong Kong: A Cultural Showcase
Hong Kong is a cultural melting pot where east meets west. Riding on a series of international arts and cultural events in March, such as the Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Central, which bring together Asia’s emerging art talents, HKTB seized the opportunity to promote these world-class arts events and diverse local arts activities to global audiences through its year-round platform “Arts in Hong Kong”, attracting visitors to explore the city’s cultural landscape.
At the same time, HKTB supported Art Basel Hong Kong by bringing international art works from exhibition halls to the community. Selected works by local artists were displayed at bus and tram stops in Central and Admiralty, enticing visitors to embark on an artistic exploration in town.
Enjoying art at the leisure of a coffee break
HKTB invited eight local and international artists to co-create Hong Kong-themed artworks to demonstrate the vibrant fusion of Eastern and Western artistry. In partnership with Art Central, these artworks were exhibited in the “Arts in Hong Kong Café” within the exhibition venue. Visitors, both locals and tourists, could appreciate the ingenuity of the fusion arts at the leisure of a coffee break, immersing themselves in the artistic and cultural ambience of Hong Kong.
The Arts in Hong Kong won the HKMA Marketing Award in Marketing Collaboration, recognising its excellence in collaborative marketing efforts.
HKTB also invited these eight artists to redesign the “Arts in Hong Kong” logo, showcasing their individual styles. These logos were displayed at various entry points such as the Hong Kong International Airport, Lowu Station and Hong Kong West Kowloon Station. By scanning a QR code on the logos, both locals and visitors can learn about the artists’ creative inspirations. These designs will continue to promote Hong Kong’s artistic vibrancy globally.
HKTB also rode on these artworks to create diverse promotional content to enhance the overall artistic ambience across the city. Promotions have been launched on social media platforms, with The “Arts in Hong Kong” webpage garnering 790,000 visits, and reaching 21 million on social media, demonstrating the extensive impact.
Maximising publicity of citywide international happenings
Triumphant return of Hong Kong Sevens
After a three-year hiatus, the Hong Kong Sevens made a comeback in November 2022, and a full resumption of all men’s and women’s events in March 2023. As a supporting organisation, HKTB fully supported the promotion of the event and invited industry partners to experience the thrilling matches on-site, immersing different partners and delegates from Hong Kong and source markets in Hong Kong’s boundless energy.
In the March 2023 event, HKTB incorporated the “Hello Hong Kong” theme into the opening ceremony, staging exciting performances by well-known artists together with heart-throbbing pyrotechnic effects, transforming the event into a glamorous party that combined entertainment, dining and sports.
The HKTB also invited Australian travel YouTuber Twosome Travelers and British photographer Jacob Riglin to support their national teams, who also took part in various outdoor and cultural activities. The journey garnered nearly 900,000 followers on their social media accounts, showcasing to the world the strong return of Hong Kong’s sporting events.
HKTB also invited media organisations to cover the games and promoted the event extensively on social media. With the Art Basel Hong Kong also staging in March, Hong Kong Sevens and the art events generated widespread coverage from global media outlets, including CNN Indonesia, Philstar from the Philippines, and Astro Awani from Malaysia. Media coverage of the event reached 12 million viewers globally, with 22 million social media contacts and over 17 million video views.
Incentivising corporate travellers to visit with Clockenflap
Similarly, the city’s major outdoor international music carnival, Clockenflap returned to the city after four years in early March 2023. HKTB helped promoted the festival both locally and internationally. Attracted by the upbeat music event was a group of corporate incentive travellers from a Singaporean PR company, GOODSTUPH, with about 100 employees choosing Hong Kong as the destination for their incentive trip as they were attracted to the city by this remarkable pop celebration.
The group arrived in Hong Kong for a 4-day, 3-night trip during the staging of Clockenflap. In addition to the concerts, HKTB also helped arrange the group’s itinerary in Hong Kong, which also covered M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in West Kowloon Cultural District, fully showering the group with the city’s one-of-a-kind cultural appeal.
Creating Opportunities
Opening up MICE tourism Opportunities
MICE tourism plays a crucial role in attracting high-value visitors to Hong Kong and is an important component of Hong Kong’s overall tourism promotion strategy. MICE events provide an ideal platform to tell Hong Kong’s good stories and contribute to enhancing the city’s international image.
Therefore, HKTB has been actively attracting world-class MICE events to Hong Kong, with a view to building up Hong Kong as the “World’s Meeting Place”. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, HKTB continued its efforts in maintaining close connections with event organisers and advocated for large-scale international MICE events to be staged in Hong Kong.
A strong recovery of MICE tourism
As HKTB made preparations in advance for MICE tourism recovery, a strong recovery in MICE tourism was in place even before travel restrictions were lifted, when the “24th Asia-Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology Congress” returned to Hong Kong after a 12-year hiatus on 6 to 9 December 2022 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The event attracted over 1,000 participants, including more than 400 experts from the Mainland and overseas attending in person, making it the largest physical international conference in town with the largest number of Mainland and overseas participants secured by HKTB since the pandemic outbreak.
The recovery of MICE tourism gained stronger momentum in early 2023. Since travel fully resumed in February 2023, Hong Kong has welcomed a series of large-scale MICE events with a large number of participants. Just in February and March 2023, Hong Kong hosted over 120 incentive travel groups from various Asian countries.
Lobbying for the return of events
Under the facilitation of HKTB, several large-scale conferences have chosen Hong Kong as their inaugural destination or returned to the city, further demonstrating Hong Kong’s appeal as the World’s Meeting Place.
Among them, the Web3 event WOW (World of Web3) Summit made its first foray into the Asia-Pacific region in 44th and picked Hong Kong as its host city. Other notable events include the 2023 Asia-Pacific Dental Conference, and the 2024 East Asian Insurance Congress.
Other internationally renowned conferences successfully bid for by HKTB include:
1. WOW Summit 2023
2. 44th Asia Pacific Dental Congress (APDC 2023)
3. 2024 East Asian Insurance Congress
4. Asian Pacific Society of Respirology (APSR) Congress 2024
5. International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) 2025 Annual Meeting
6. 2026 Asian Congress on Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
7. 2027 International Association for Energy Economics Annual International Conference
Large-scale international exhibitions also returned to Hong Kong after relocating to Southeast Asia, including:
1. Jewellery & Gem WORLD Hong Kong (JGW)
2. Jewellery & Gem ASIA Hong Kong (JGA)
3. Cosmoprof Asia
4. ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA
Stronger alliance of convention ambassadors
To strengthen efforts in soliciting MICE activities, HKTB launched the “Hong Kong Convention Ambassador” programme in 2020, which brought together outstanding leaders from various business and professional sectors in Hong Kong and leveraged their extensive networks to identify and persuade international conference and exhibition organisers to choose Hong Kong as their host destination.
In 2022, HKTB expanded the programme to the Mainland for the first time and successfully secured 25 industry leaders to join the troop of Convention Ambassadors, providing valuable insights from the Mainland perspective to international event organisers. This initiative has helped drive Mainland organisations to host conferences in Hong Kong, promoting the development of relevant industries and fostering their connection with the world.
With the concerted efforts of HKTB and the “Hong Kong Convention Ambassador”, over 50 organisers have decided to stage their events in Hong Kong, attracting an estimated 67,000 high-value visitors.
Matching businesses for win-win opportunities
In March 2023, HKTB organised seminars and business matching meetings in Shanghai and Shenzhen, attracting about 160 industry representatives from Guangdong Province and major cities in East China. The events served as an opportune platform for Mainland participants to engage with Hong Kong’s industry professionals, lining up more than 770 one-on-one business matching sessions to help trade members from both sides to explore potential business partnerships.
HKTB also held events in Beijing and Shenzhen respectively to introduce to the local trade representatives about Hong Kong’s development in MICE tourism, with an on-site showcase of Hong Kong’s new attractions on offer as well as programmes for incentive travel. Additionally, a WeChat mini-program was launched to better feed up-to-date information to trade partners in the Mainland.
To further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as a premier destination for MICE, HKTB will continue to strengthen support for attracting more large-scale international MICE events to be staged in Hong Kong by enhancing existing and introducing new funding schemes, and collaborate with internationally renowned trade media for hosting high-end international conferences.
Discovering new markets
Expanding new sources of visitors
In addition to existing markets, HKTB actively sought out new markets. From February to March 2023, HKTB held first-ever briefing sessions in seven cities in Southeast Asia, including Medan and Surabaya in Indonesia, as well as Cebu in the Philippines, aiming to further develop new sources of visitors from these regions.
Muslim tourism
Muslim tourism is also a segment of great potential. HKTB collaborated with Muslim Hong Kong Super Fans in Southeast Asia to promote Hong Kong during the month of Ramadan. Through interactions with young Muslim audiences, the Muslim Hong Kong Super Fans shared their travel experiences in Hong Kong, testifying Hong Kong’s Muslim-friendliness as a travel destination with an introduction of the city’s latest tourism hotspots.
To enhance the interest of Muslim travellers in visiting Hong Kong, HKTB partnered with Muslim travel media, Havehalal Travel, to launch two promotional videos featuring two Muslim students living in Hong Kong, who took audience on an in-depth exploration of the lifestyle of young Muslims in the city. The videos was viewed by about 360,000.
New start for cruise tourism
The resumption of cruise tourism unleashed great potential for Hong Kong, as it not only brings in diverse visitors but also allows the industry to develop a variety of tourism products to enrich the overall visitor experience and further stimulate visitor arrivals. Throughout the pandemic, HKTB maintained close communication with cruise operators to ensure they were kept informed on the latest situation in Hong Kong, and plan for the swift resumption of cruise operations in the city.
Return of Silver Spirit
In January 2023, as Silver Spirit of international cruise line Silversea Cruises sailed into Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong’s cruise tourism resumed substantially, marking a return to the international cruise market.
Strong recovery with enhanced promotions
Hong Kong welcomed several cruise ships from different parts of the world in March 2023, with cruise liners making their first visits to the city. These included Mein Schiff 5 from TUI Cruises in Germany, Borealis from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines of the United Kingdom, MSC Poesia from MSC Cruises in Italy, together with other cruises. The first homeport deployment from Hong Kong after travel resumed, Resorts World One of Resorts World Cruises, also commenced its voyages in the same month.
By the end of March 2023, HKTB successfully secured at least 17 cruise companies to return to Hong Kong, offering over 160 sailings. HKTB will continue to support cruise companies in maintaining and increasing their presence in Hong Kong, as well as conducting promotional activities and establishing partnerships with ports in the Greater Bay Area.
Returning to global cruise stage
HKTB participated in the largest global event in the cruise industry, “Seatrade Cruise Global” in 2023, which attracted over 2,000 delegates. HKTB established connections with the global cruise industry in the event and promoted the recovery of cruise tourism in Hong Kong. HKTB also exclusively sponsored one of the highlighted events, “State of the Global Cruise Industry”, which proved Hong Kong’s influence on the global cruise map and strengthened the city’s cruise tourism brand exposure.
