Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced its new year work plan, setting out a series of flexible strategies to prepare for the return of tourists and continue support for the local hospitality industry.
Dane Cheng, executive director of HKTB, said, “In formulating our strategies for 2021/22, we focused on two major areas. Firstly, we saw a need to offer support to the trade and boost the ambience in Hong Kong, while ensuring the city’s continued exposure on the international stage ahead of the resumption of international travel.
“Secondly, we anticipate competition for tourists will be intense once the pandemic is over, with rival markets going to great lengths to bring visitors back. The HKTB is therefore setting aside resources for large-scale promotions so that Hong Kong will stand out against competing destinations.”
Cheng emphasised that the HKTB would maintain a flexible approach and be prudent in its use of resources while the pandemic continued.
The marketing budget for the 2021/22 financial year of HK$1,138 million, including recurrent funding.
Some of the short-term strategies include boosting local consumption and encouraging the people of Hong Kong to explore the city. When the pandemic situation has stabilised, they plan to launch a new Spend-to-Redeem programme, a “staycation” credit reward initiative.
Besides, the organisation will launch a large-scale promotional platform called “Open House Hong Kong” when cross-border travel gradually resumes. The campaign will leverage exclusive experiences two and citywide offers to drum up visitors’ desire to travel to Hong Kong.
For medium-to-long-term strategies, which is one of the major focus of the planning, for instances, they will create and enhance a digitally enabled travel experience for visitors through a one stop e-solution platform, and conduct a holistic review of Hong Kong’s tourism brand and positioning.
In terms of ongoing initiatives, the organisations will continue to support trade members to hasten business recovery.
