TokyoTomo Travel Guide

On 10th June, Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) opened a new website at which you can make up all your travel plan from information gathering to reservations. The site has a linkage with “MSN” portal site, “AB-Road” overseas travel information site, Twitter, and “webR25” information site for office workers. The aim of launching the new site is to convey Hong Kong’s diversity to various segments of the market. Kunio Kano, Regional Director-North Asia, HKTB, said, “Travel is something ‘personal.’ We would like to present in-depth fascination of Hong Kong by way of stimulating demand.”

The new site provides Hong Kong travel information multilaterally, and at the same time it contains AB-Road travel searching module and posts popular tour ranking. The site is designed to draw peoples’ interest and attention to Hong Kong, and then to lead them to actual travel, enabling to complete travel arrangement up to reservation. The site is run until 31st December 2010, aiming for 500,000 page views, with an object to increase the number of travelers to Hong Kong.

Specifically, MSN conducts a campaign in which popular spots in Hong Kong will be selected for Japanese tourists. Final selection will be made by votes from Japanese and Hong Kong web users. MSN will post an on-site report from a famous Chinese TV personality, Rola Chen. At the same time, official Twitter account has also been established in order to make the campaign interactive in user-participation style by sending out on-the-spot information in real time and allowing the follow-ups.

Also R25 will introduce Hong Kong information behind the scenes and trivia to explore the depth of Hong Kong which is under cover at the normal tourist information sites. HKTB intends to stimulate demand by those types of information, and prompts consumers to actual travel by the aid of the AB-Road’s search module.

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Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) organized a Hong Kong MICE travel mission in Tokyo and Osaka on the occasion of the first anniversary of establishing its MEHK (Meeting & Event Hong Kong) specialized in MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Congress and Event). On February 26, the seminar and workshop were held in Tokyo. 27 tourism delegations including convention facilities, hotels and local tour operators from Hong Kong participated in the event and elaborated on the respective sales points. Albert Tang, Representative, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Tokyo), mentioned during the welcome address that a construction of high-speed railways started in January this year, expressing his high expectation that the high-speed railway services should help make new travel plans featuring the respective counties in China as well as Hong Kong.

During the seminar, Go Furuya, Senior Marketing Executive East Japan, HKTB made presentations, revealing that a variety of “food” in Hong Kong is absolutely a top feature item and gets increased attention especially after the “Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau” was issued last year. Also, Hong Kong will see in the latter part of this year a completion of the International Commerce Centre (ICC Tower), which will be the world’s third tallest building with 118 stories. By the end of 2011, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel will be located in ICC Tower. 1881 Heritage which was opened last year offers excellent shopping, dining and other facilities, enriched with sophisticated services. On the other hand, there have been an increasing number of inquiries about nature experiences. Furuya explained about activities enabling visitors to Hong Kong to have contact with nature that include the pink dolphin-watching, tree-planting and volunteer work. As the Hong Kong government allocates a part of the profits from these activities to the conservation of nature, he said that the visitors to Hong Kong can also contribute to society while they enjoy experiencing nature.

Some companies decided already during the workshop to hold MICE in Hong Kong. An event of several thousands of people is said to have been planned during this year. Kunio Kano, Regional Director-North Asia, HKTB, reminded that “Japan-Hong Kong Tourism Exchange Year 2009” has been prolonged until March this year, hoping that the travel industry will also take full advantage of the extension in promoting MICE.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Hong Kong Tourism Board plans to launch the “Festive Hong Kong 2010.” Its promotion is to be kicked off worldwide, focusing on Hong Kong’s traditional festivals and events following the “Food & Wine” festival held worldwide in 2009. Chikayoshi Kawahara, Manager-East Japan at HKTB explained that it aims to promote a “Dynamic Versatility of the allure that Hong Kong offers to its visitors,” by “focusing on the unique traditional aspects of Hong Kong, not just routinely promoting its diversified allure.” Marii Hayashi, Marketing Executive, Marketing Communications at HKTB joined him to show enthusiasm that HKTB endeavors to offer the visitors to Hong Kong unforgettable memories, experiencing the high quality travel at first hand.

The “Festive Hong Kong 2010” is to be launched throughout the year 2010, during which festivals and events will take place in six periods with the respective themes, attracting the visitors to Hong Kong. The month of May, for instance, will feature “Cultural Celebrations,” introducing “Cheung Chau Bun Festival,” “Birthday of Load Buddha” and “Birthday of Tam Kung.” From June through to August, an event called “Summer Spectacular” is to be held. From July 23 to 25, “Dragon Boat Carnival” will take place. In addition, September and October will see “Halloween Treats,” followed “Wine & Dine Month” in November and “Winter Festa” in December. The month of January and February in the year 2010 will observe the “Chinese New Year Celebrations.” Also, HKTB plans to further enhance its sales promotion with theme featuring nature, arts and crafts and culture of Hong Kong.

Besides, Hong Kong Tourism Board will also boost a promotion of Hong Kong’s stunning night view, which is exclusively for the Japanese market. The promotion started last year. HKTB, as it meant to add a value of more than “one million dollars” to its night view, asked, meanwhile, Motoo Marumaru, a famous night view critic, to analyze the night view of Hong Kong and “was consequently convinced of the further promotion in the Japanese market,” said Hayashi. At present, the Hong Kong’s night view promotion is said to have received an excellent reaction from the Japanese travel agencies. By mid may, HKTB intends to set up a website to convey information on the night view of Hong Kong.

According to Hayashi of HKTB, the number of Japanese visitor arrivals in Hong Kong during the month of January this year, although it is not officially announced, showed an excellent start for the year 2010 with the double-digit growth. The “Wine & Dine Month” promotion kicked off last year helped create an appealing image of “Hong Kong and Wine” including “Chinese Cuisine & Wine.” Last year alone, 14 wine auctions were held in Hong Kong. In terms of the number of wine auctions, she said that Hong Kong won second place, beating UK. Hong Kong Tourism Board expects the “Wine & Dine Month” to continue to have a prominent place in the “Festive Hong Kong,” added Hayashi of HKTB.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.