It has been three months since your last update. What recent changes are impacting life in Hong Kong now?

The Hong Kong border remains closed. Currently COVID-19 cases are stabilised with no local cases identified over 40 days. So far over half of Hong Kong’s population of 7.5 million have been vaccinated. The Hong Kong Special Administration Region Government implemented a consumption voucher scheme in August to encourage local consumption on goods and services. Vouchers worth HK$5,000 could be used at local retailers, catering and service outlets. The scheme was used to boost the real GDP which grew by 7.6 per cent in the second quarter compared to the previous year.

What is the general sentiment within the Hong Kong market tourism industry?

Riding on the back of the consumption voucher scheme, the Hong Kong Tourism Board launched a new round of their ‘Spend-to-Redeem – Staycation Delights’ program. The program offers a quota of 20,000 room nights to consumers discounted by HK$500 at over 140 hotels, to extend support to the travel trade after the summer vacation and continue to drive bookings. Dream Cruises sold ‘cruise nowhere’ packages on their cruise ship Genting. The first two cruises in July were fully booked (each carrying 1000 passengers). Royal Caribbean Cruise will start their schedule in October.

What are Tourism Australia’s plans for the year ahead?

Tourism Australia’s February 2021 Consumer Demand Project (CDP) showed Australia ranks first in consideration, experience awareness and intention for Hong Kong consumers. Tourism Australia’s Hong Kong team will launch ‘G’day from Australia’ in September in partnership with Austrade and

the Miramar Group. The ‘Wanderful Australia’ staycation package will showcase key Australian experiences such as self-drive, surfing, wineries, Indigenous, festivals and star gazing to Hong Kong consumers over two months. Tourism Australia will partner with Austrade’s campaign ‘Festival Australia’ to include an augmented reality photo booth with at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hong Kong. The booth will target staycation consumers and produce images containing an Australian immersive background. The promotion will also target elite members of the Artyzen Club through an Australian food and beverage promotion.

The Hong Kong team are continuing to run Tourism Australia’s ‘always on’ content amplification campaign to keep consumers engaged with destination updates and will launch a City Guide 2.0 marketing campaign on English lifestyle media as well as YouTube in September.

Product development and bringing new news into the market is a key priority to gain competitiveness. Lockdown hasn’t stopped our partnerships with online travel agencies to prepare self-drive content, this preparation phase will enable us to convert bookings within short period of time in once borders reopen. The team have also revamped the Aussie Specialist Program to make Traditional Chinese language options available for both Hong Kong and Taiwan Aussie Specialist agents’ usage.

And finally, please share your top three reasons why you believe the Australian industry should stay in touch with the Hong Kong market this year?

Hong Kong is still one of the most important hubs in North Asia, with Cathay Pacific running direct services into key gateway cities Sydney, Melbourne and Perth during lockdown. Furthermore, the location of Hong Kong will be influential to the Greater Bay Regions future growth hub within the southern part of China.

There is a pent-up demand after 18 months of lockdown. Hong Kong citizens would normally take an average of four trips abroad per year. This along with the large Australian expat community based in Hong Kong and international student enrollments keeps Australia in a strong position for Hong Kong consumers. Australia’s association with nature and wildlife, safety, aquatic and coastal experiences

continues to place the destination in a clear lead. From a food and wine perspective, Australia continues to place ahead of France for Hong Kong consumers.

The Hong Kong market is ready to ‘GO’ and as soon as the borders reopen, the Tourism Australia team will run as fast as we can to bring in Hong Kong visitors back to Australia.