ENG-1980 — Page 209

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IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

Developing Facilities for Visitors The objective of the HKTA's Product Development Department is to preserve and improve visitor facilities and to facilitate the development of new projects. These not only increase Hong Kong's attractions as a visitor destination, but also help to boost the length of stay of visitors - a direct means of increasing revenue for the tourism industry. The department's efforts have been concentrated on encouraging investment and development in hotels, holiday resorts, restaurants and other visitor facilities, and on the promotion and organisation of festivals, special interest tours, cultural and other events suitable for visitors.

In 1980, plans were made to upgrade the general standard of tourist guiding in Hong Kong, providing, on the one hand, for an assessment and evaluation of the training needs of this segment of the travel industry followed by the formulation of a training programme to meet those needs and, on the other, for a revision of entrance requirements for affiliated tour guides. A workshop on communication skills was organised to improve the working knowledge of HKTA staff and tour guides, and seminars were scheduled to keep guides fully abreast of the latest developments in Hong Kong. Four commentaries on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories were revised and updated, and translated into Japanese for the first time. A new commentary of the Eastern Hong Kong Island Tour was prepared.

The Third International Dragon Boat Races, held off the East Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, attracted six overseas and 68 local teams. The event was broadcast 'live' by satellite to Japan and was covered by television teams from Hawaii, Singapore and Japan. The sum of $400,000 was raised for the Community Chest.

During 1980, other product development activities included the annual lantern carnivals in Victoria and Morse parks, and the establishment of a permanent location for the weekly Chinese cultural shows which are presented free of charge in the Ocean Terminal-Ocean Centre lobby.

Marketing Hong Kong

The selective marketing programme concentrates effort and expenditure in overseas markets with the greatest potential for development. It aims to develop specific high-yield market segments such as incentive travel, special interest tour groups and international conferences and business meetings, all of which are becoming an increasingly important element of Hong Kong's visitor intake.

Hong Kong has become the venue for a growing number of international meetings by business groups and professional organisations. In 1980 there were 169 international conferences with an overseas attendance of more than 31,500.

Specific marketing projects during the year included moves to diversify established travel patterns from the peak season months to the lower occupancy periods, particularly from the shorter haul markets of Southeast Asia, Japan and, to some extent, Australia and New Zealand.

The tourism industry's priority markets in all visitor-producing countries are the high- spending visitors. The objective is to maximise total visitor expenditure for the benefit of Hong Kong while bearing in mind the need to ensure good occupancy rates for the new hotels through the promotion of additional high-yield group business.

Qualitative research projects were conducted in the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan (along the lines of similar projects conducted in 1979 in West Germany and the USA) to explore ways of attracting more high-yield visitors to Hong Kong. Other projects