In recent years, outbound travel in Vietnam has kept growing, as the country’s economy expands steadily. Seizing the opportunities brought by this trend, the HKTB has listed Vietnam as one of our targeted emerging markets this year.

In early September, we joined 13 Hong Kong travel trade partners to attend the ITE HCMC 2011, the biggest travel trade show in Vietnam, for business-building. Leveraging on our “Asia’s World City” marketing platform, we showcased Hong Kong’s ineffable charm as a cosmopolitan city and raised awareness of the city’s tourism offerings among the show’s participants, with a focus on the young travellers. Through direct contact with the Vietnamese travel trade and consumers, we were able to gain better insights into their preferences and market trends.

We are already planning travel missions to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi in November, where we will consolidate networks with the Vietnamese travel trade.

Halloween is nigh! Mischievous “ghosts” are ready to give visitors and local residents leaps of the heart, as they concoct hullabaloos in Hong Kong’s key theme parks and shopping malls.

We spotted that Mainland visitors, especially those from South China, are increasingly enchanted by the thrills of the Hong Kong Halloween. To promote the city’s wide-ranging Halloween activities to these visitors, we are leveraging on the viral effect of the social media.

In view of the huge popularity of Weibo in Mainland China, we have created a software program for users of the networking site to detect the number of their “vampire fans” – a jargon referring to inactive followers. The software will generate, besides a “vampire index”, recommendations on “Hong Kong Halloween Treats” activities. Users can share not just their “vampire indexes”, but also information on these activities. They can even stand the chance to win admission tickets to various theme parks in Hong Kong for a first-hand “spooktacular” experience during the atmospheric festival.

As Hong Kong’s largest outlying island, Lantau Island offers not only beautiful scenery, world-class attractions and experiences of the distinctive living culture of Hong Kong, but also comprehensive MICE and hotel facilities. To promote the diverse MICE offerings of Hong Kong and to unlock the vast potential of Lantau as a hub for MICE activities, especially exhibitions and incentive travel, the HKTB is joining with a number of attractions, as well as MICE and trade partners to package and showcase Lantau to MICE organisers and visitors.

As part of this co-operative initiative, we will highlight the tourism facilities and products of Lantau at international MICE trade shows, as well as promoting MICE tourism products and special discounts by the travel trade. We will also devise familiarisation tours to the island and encourage organisers to feature Lantau in their events’ itineraries. On top of these, we will put forth the benefits of holding MICE events on Lantau on selected websites and social networks to reach MICE organisers extensively.

Besides trade shows, the HKTB is making use of public relations activities, such as features by the media, to increase Hong Kong’s exposure in the emerging markets.

Following visit by Indian writer Chetan Bhagat in August, who came to the city for producing a travelogue, we hosted media guests from the Netherlands (including magazines Cosmopolitan and Going Down Under, dailies Metro and Telegraf, and TV channel Op 3 Reis of BNN) and Russia (such as food magazines Gastronom and Simple Wine News, as well as lifestyle magazines Marie Claire, GQ and Time Out) in September.

We took our guests to Michelin-star restaurants, cha chaan tang and tea houses for an all-round gastronomic experience. We also arranged for them to visit the latest fancy hotspots, where they immersed in the fusion of Eastern and Western, traditional and modern cultures. Their first-hand experience of Hong Kong will help enhance consumers’ knowledge of Hong Kong, and spread the message of the city’s excitement in the respective markets.