The Hong Kong Tourism Board is a subvented organisation responsible for marketing and promoting Hong Kong internationally as a destination for leisure and business travel. The board of the HKTB comprises 20 members representing a broad spectrum of interests in the tourism industry. It operates through a Head Office in Hong Kong with 14 other offices across the world and eight representative offices.

Through its various marketing activities, the HKTB strives to reinforce Hong Kong's standing as a world-class city and the most popular destination in Asia. It aims not only to increase the number of visitors to Hong Kong by promoting the city's unique diversity and sophistication, but also to enhance their experience and satisfaction thus maximising their contribution to the economy in terms of length of stay and spending.

The HKTB undertakes extensive market research to assess industry trends, perceptions of Hong Kong in overseas markets and feedback from departing visitors. It shares information with the Government and its tourism industry partners to enable visitor facilities, products and services to be planned effectively and the industry to capitalise on new business opportunities.

A wide range of marketing strategies is employed to target different markets and demographic segments worldwide. The HKTB worked closely with major overseas travel trade partners to develop attractive tourism products. As for the media, the HKTB hosted more than 1 400 international media visitors and around 2 500 travel trade representatives on familiarisation trips in 2005.

To cater for the growing trend towards visiting more than one destination on a trip, especially among long-haul visitors, the HKTB also partners with other tourism offices on the Mainland and around Asia to promote Hong Kong as part of multi-destination itineraries.

Information Network

The HKTB operates Visitor Information and Services Centres on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, as well as information counters at the Hong Kong International Airport and Lo Wu boundary crossing. In 2005, these centres assisted 1.74 million visitors, distributed 10.86 million pieces of visitor literature, while more than 10 216 enquiries were handled through various channels including the Visitor Hotline. The HKTB also operates a Visitor Information and Services Centre in Beijing to cater for the growing demand for information from Mainland travellers.

The discoverhongkong.com consumer website now receives more than 7 million page views per month. To further enhance its information provision to visitors, an electronic version of the HKTB's popular Hong Kong Leisure Guide for Business Visitors formatted for personal data assistants (PDAs) was launched in 2005 with English and both simplified and traditional Chinese editions. The HKTB is also developing other platforms to disseminate destination information electronically.

Marketing

During the year, the HKTB focused its marketing campaigns on 16 major markets around the world that together account for 90 per cent of all visitor arrivals. It adopts a flexible and integrated approach tailored to different market needs, including electronic and print media advertising, trade and consumer promotions, trade and media cooperation activities, on-line marketing and public relations campaigns.

The HKTB also continued its efforts to attract high-yield segments such as business and family travellers, with special initiatives encouraging visitors to extend their stays and increase their spending. The themed Mega Events programme is a proven platform to attract visitors and enhance their stay. Four mega events — the International Chinese New Year Night Parade, Hong Kong Shopping Festival, Best of the Best Culinary Awards and Hong Kong Winterfest — were held during 2005.

The HKTB also announced its most ambitious global promotion ever, the 2006 Discover Hong Kong Year campaign, which builds on the opening of the major new tourism attractions in late 2005 and 2006. This two-year campaign, which was introduced to the travel trade in May and progressively rolled out in long-haul markets towards the end of 2005, combines Hong Kong's new and existing attractions to position the city as one of the world's must-visit destinations.

Convention and Exhibition Travel

Hong Kong is widely recognised as the conventions and exhibitions capital of Asia and continues to attract leading international events. The HKTB provides comprehensive support services to organisations planning to stage major events in the city.

This sector continued to perform strongly in 2005 with some 237 conventions and 55 exhibitions attracting more than 630 000 international visitors, surpassing the levels of 2004. Notable events during the year included the World Trade Organisation's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and the 88th Lions Clubs International Convention, which respectively brought some 11 000 and 20 000 visitors to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's ability to host major world events was significantly enhanced by the opening of AsiaWorld-Expo in December, while the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre also announced in 2005 that it would embark on a major expansion programme.

The HKTB continues to promote Hong Kong worldwide as an ideal corporate meetings and incentives destination, working closely with the city's overseas business community. Some 726 000 international visitors attended such events in 2005.

Cruise Travel

Cruise travel is another important, high-yield sector of the tourism industry. Hong Kong is a popular calling point for international cruise liners, and the city was voted one of the world's top 10 overnight ports in a 2005 survey of leading North American and European cruise executives.

The international cruise passenger throughput in 2005 was more than 52 000, a 61 per cent increase over 2004. Thirty international ship called at Hong Kong, a 7.1 per cent increase over the previous year. They included four mega cruise liners which each carried more than 5 000 passengers.