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TRAVEL AND TOURISM
The HKTA's headquarters are in Jardine House (formerly Connaught Centre) in Central, on Hong Kong Island. In 1988, the Information and Gift Centre at its head- quarters, and similar centres at the Star Ferry Concourse in Kowloon and the ground floor of the Royal Garden Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui East, as well as an HKTA information counter at the Hong Kong International Airport, assisted 1.38 million visitors. The association also runs 'hotline' telephone services in both English and Japanese, and these together handled 44 956 enquiries during the year. The association monitors all calls to provide further insight into visitors' interests and spending patterns. In 1988, the HKTA distributed 6.84 million pieces of literature in six languages for visitors upon arrival.
The HKTA's marketing strategies are designed to attract higher-yield visitors to Hong Kong, with emphasis on increasing the amount spent in the territory and encouraging visitors to return.
Overseas marketing of Hong Kong as a tourist destination is carried out primarily by the 13 overseas offices of the HKTA, located in Tokyo, Osaka, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sydney, Wellington, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Paris and Rome. The association also has an agreement with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways whereby the airline acts as its information agent in an additional 44 cities around the world.
Co-operative advertising overseas, with airlines, wholesaling tour operators and hotels, is an important activity.
The HKTA arranged familiarisation trips for 1 341 travel agents and briefed a further 1 801 visiting travel trade personnel, with the aim of encouraging them to include Hong Kong in their innovative tour itineraries. It also organised and co-ordinated the Hong Kong tourism industry's participation in 22 major overseas trade promotions, such as the World Travel Market in London in November-December. In addition, it assisted 978 overseas media representatives with their reports about Hong Kong.
The association continued to publish research and surveys on tourism potential and industry performance, and to conduct its 'Visitors Survey', which monitors changes in the basic demographics of all visitors, their activities, spending patterns and their attitudes towards Hong Kong's tourism facilities.
Major research publications which the HKTA produces include: 'A Statistical Review of Tourism', 'Report on Tourism Receipts', 'Visitor Arrival Statistics', 'Visitor Profile Report', 'Hotel Room Occupancy Report', 'Hotel Supply Situation', 'Hotel Industry Report', 'Revenue and Expenditure of the Hotel Industry' and 'Airlines Statistics'.
The HKTA continued to promote Hong Kong as a year-round travel destination, marketing its unique blend of East and West and variety of attractions. Hong Kong's Dragon Boat Festival - International Races, organised by the HKTA in June for the 13th consecutive year, received wide international coverage through a special Visnews television clip which was picked up and screened around the world. A record number of 24 overseas teams took part in the 1988 festival and international races, and the 'Row for Charity' races raised a record $1,025,000 for the Community Chest.
The month-long 'Hong Kong Food Festival' organised by the association was held from August 14 to September 14. Once again the 'World of Flavours' food bazaar on board a floating restaurant in Aberdeen was a highlight, attracting an average of 1 500 people per day. A special feature of the 1988 Hong Kong Food Festival' was a new 'Peasant's Banquet' tour, which gave visitors the chance to see more of life in the New Territories. During the festival, the HKTA also organised a 'Marriage of Hong Kong's Chinese Cuisine with Western Wine' media event.