TRAVEL AND TOURISM
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departing visitors. The board shares this data with the Government and its tourism industry partners to enable visitor facilities, products and services to be planned most effectively and the industry to capitalise on new business opportunities.
A wide range of marketing strategies is employed to target different market segments world-wide. In 2003, the HKTB hosted 1 350 international media visitors and over 2 000 travel trade representatives on familiarisation trips.
Major travel agents and wholesalers are kept informed of the latest tourism information and given assistance to develop attractive travel packages. To add value to travel itineraries and provide new experiences for visitors, 16 new local tour products were introduced or repackaged during the year, with a number of them targeted at individual travellers from the Mainland or elsewhere. The HKTB also works with other tourism offices in the Mainland and around Asia to promote visits to Hong Kong as part of multi-destination itineraries.
Information Network
In 2003, the HKTB helped over 1.1 million visitors, either directly through its Visitor Information and Services Centres or by responding to enquiries received by mail, over the Internet, through its Visitor Hotline or at information counters set up at major international conventions and exhibitions. About 11.6 million pieces of HKTB literature were distributed during the year by the board and its partner organisations. The discoverhongkong.com consumer website now receives over seven million page views a month. The HKTB also maintains a specialised website, PartnerNet, to provide information to the local and international travel trade.
To cater for the growth in Mainland visitor arrivals, a new Visitor Information and Services Centre was opened at the Lo Wu boundary crossing in October. This supplements the existing HKTB information centres in Central on Hong Kong Island, at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon and at Hong Kong International Airport. Self-service information racks are also provided at some 150 other entry points, hotels, shopping centres and tourist attractions.
Marketing
Following the SARS outbreak, the HKTB launched a major Global Tourism Revival Campaign in late June, under the aegis of the Government's Economic Relaunch Campaign.
The campaign adopted a two-stage approach. The first phase was designed to attract visitors back to Hong Kong through generous travel offers and special welcome privileges, to help local businesses achieve a swift recovery. The second phase focused on sustaining long-term growth and reinforcing Hong Kong's destination image through a series of spectacular mega events and a new global advertising campaign.
Phase I took the form of a two-month promotion from mid-July to mid-September, entitled Hong Kong Welcomes You! With extensive support from the airline and hotel industries, the HKTB and its travel trade partners were able to launch a wide range of consumer promotions world-wide, and brought over 580 media and 1930 trade representatives to Hong Kong on Seeing is Believing familiarisation visits. At the same time, some 1 360 local travel trade members joined overseas market visits and roadshows organised by the HKTB. The highlight of the Hong Kong Welcomes You! promotion was a special 'Welcome Day' on August 17 with more than 3 500 VIP