HONG KONG TOURISM BOARD WELCOMES THE BUDGET S PROPOSED ADDITIONAL FUNDING

Dr Peter Lam, Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), said he welcomed the
proposed additional funding of HK$80 million in the 2015-16 Budget for the HKTB to step
up its marketing work in order to uphold Hong Kong’s image as the most preferred travel
destination in the world.
Dr Lam said the Occupy Central movement, which took place in the last quarter of 2014,
had affected the intention of international visitors to travel to Hong Kong. To rekindle
visitors’ interest in Hong Kong and drive arrivals during Chinese New Year, the HKTB
was joined by representatives of the local travel trade to organise road shows to a number
of short-haul markets earlier this year. Given the importance of the short-haul markets to
Hong Kong’s inbound tourism, and the need to maintain a diverse visitor portfolio, it is
necessary to keep up our promotions in these markets with increased marketing resources.
The HKTB plans to use the additional funding proposed in the Budget to increase Hong
Kong’s exposure and arouse visitors’ interest in the city in various short-haul markets,
including selected Southeast Asian countries, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Initial ideas
include: (1) Bolster Hong Kong’s brand image through media publicity and promotional
activities; (2) organise promotions like shopping festivals and offer merchandise
concessions and electronic discount coupons in collaboration with the retail industry; (3)
arrange large-scale familiarisation tours for overseas trade missions; and (4) expand the
scale of overseas promotion fairs this year and waive local traders’ participation fees.
Details of these plans will be released in due course.