Chairman’s Message & ED's Statement
Board Members
2024 Tourism Performance
Strategic Initiatives
About HKTB
In line with the Development Blueprint for Hong Kong’s Tourism Industry 2.0, the tourism sector continues
to attract
high value-added overnight visitors to Hong Kong while expanding potential market and
segments.
In 2024/25, HKTB worked closely with the Government and the travel trade to maximise
the contribution of tourism
to Hong Kong through driving high value-added visitor arrivals. Alongside established high value-added
segments such
as Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) and Cruise, HKTB also expedited the growth
of
Muslim-friendly tourism, strengthening Hong Kong’s appeal to diverse visitor groups.
In recent years, the HKSAR Government actively drove the exchange between Hong Kong and
ASEAN, the Middle East and
Belt-and-Road markets, which has a large Muslim population and possesses great tourism
potential. According to professional
research, global Muslim population has surpassed 2 billion, accounting for a quarter of
global population. It is estimated that the
number will grow to 2.4 billion by 2034, while number of Muslim travellers will reach
230 million by 2028, which is about 60%
more than 2019 level. The tourism expenditure by Muslim travellers will reach US$225
billion (about HK$1.7 trillion) in 2028.
To capitalise on the tremendous
potential, HKTB actively establishes Hong Kong as a Muslim-friendly destination with its
“accreditation,
education and promotion” strategy, working closely with various trade partners. The
results of the initiatives were promising.
HKTB collaborated with leading certification authorities to encourage restaurants, hotels,
attractions, and MICE venues to
review their Muslim-friendliness, while promoting the importance of Halal certification
among the trade.
HKTB commissioned CrescentRating to assess local hotels,
attractions, shopping malls and MICE venues based on categories
and standards on par with international benchmarks while taking into account of Hong Kong’s
actual situations. For restaurants,
HKTB works with local halal certification authority the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic
Community Fund of Hong Kong
(Board of Trustees, BOT) to promote the existing accreditations in the city and encourages
F&B establishments to apply for
certification.
As of March 2025, 55 hotels, 5 attractions and MICE venues have
obtained accreditation from “CrescentRating”. These include
luxurious establishments including five-star hotels Kowloon Shangri-la and Hong Kong Ocean
Park Marriott Hotel, which
obtained the highest rating of Level 5. In addition, more than 160 restaurants across the
city have been certified by March
2025 —up from around 100 at the beginning of 2024— offering a more diversified catering
choice for Muslim consumers.
With a view to diversifying dining options for Muslim visitors, HKTB encouraged restaurants
and eateries of different cuisines
to apply for halal-certification. With HKTB’s support, Chinesology, an award-winning
high-end Cantonese restaurant in the
city’s CBD, was assessed to be “Halal-Friendly” by the BOT and become the first high-end
Chinese catering establishment to
achieve similar certification in Hong Kong in November 2024.
The restaurant
innovatively recreated traditional Chinese dishes according to halal eating requirements,
such as replacing pork
and alcohol with other halal ingredients and using separate utensils for Muslim and
non-Muslim diners, preserving the Chinese
culinary experiences for Muslim consumers to enjoy the authentic Hong Kong culinary
culture.
Following the success of Chinesology and its pioneering example, HKTB
stepped up promotion to further encourage
restaurants to apply for the accreditation and become halal-friendly restaurants.
Consequently, some other local restaurants
ranging from local noodles shop to hotel diners were also certified as halal-friendly.
Various hotels in town also started offering
Ramadan dinner buffets to accommodate the dietary needs and arrangements of Muslim
travellers during the period. These
initiatives have greatly enriched the overall experiences for Muslim travellers beyond
traditional halal cuisines.
In addition to dine-in experiences, HKTB also encouraged and supported the halal
accreditation of edible souvenir vendors so
that Muslim visitors may bring home Hong Kong snacks as souvenirs and gifts for their
friends and family.
These include exquisitely handmade cookies made from Chinese
ingredients, cute animal-shaped cookies made by well-known
local brands, and hotel palmiers that have long been tourists’ favourite. These products not
only preserve Hong Kong’s
authentic tastes but also suit the dietary needs for Muslim consumers, enabling them to
bring home Hong Kong’s culinary
culture and extend their experience to their friends and family upon their return.
To enhance frontline tourism practitioners’ ability in welcoming Muslim travellers, HKTB also
developed a series of new
training materials to familiarise tourism practitioners with the culture and lifestyle of
the Muslims, such as simple greetings,
customs, dietary requirements, attire to daily life situations, with infographics and
videos, with a view to propagating the
development of the growing Muslim market segment.
In particular, HKTB hosted two
seminars themed “Unveiling Potential: Hong Kong as a Muslim-Friendly Travel Destination” and
“Promoting Muslim Friendly Experiences” in June and December 2024 respectively to provide
training to the hospitality
industry on the specific requirements of Muslim tourists, attracting more than 500
participants from hotels, restaurants,
attractions, shopping malls, and MICE venue operators.
Besides local efforts, HKTB also proactively promoted Hong Kong as a Muslim-friendly
destination around the world,
leveraging different channels to attract Muslim visitors to Hong Kong, while further
expanding high value-added segments.
Given many Muslim travellers from member states
of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have a preference in high-end
tourism experiences and specially curated itineraries, in May 2024, HKTB launched a new
guidebook “Travel in Luxe ．Hong
Kong”, featuring a wide range of the city’s distinctive lifestyle travel experiences,
including thematic selections in Cultural
Encounter, Exploring Hong Kong in Style, Family Bonds and Exquisite Services, to appeal to
Middle Eastern travellers.
Following “Travel in Luxe”, in the third quarter of 2024, HKTB rolled out a webpage dedicated
to Muslim visitors on its official
website, DiscoverHongKong, which consolidates travel information on food, accommodation,
prayer facilities, cultural
experiences and activities suitable for Muslim visitors. The webpage is available in four
languages including English, Arabic,
Indonesian and Bahasa Melayu which are commonly used among Muslim travellers, and is
constantly updated with the latest
information to ensure visitors and the trade can keep abreast of Hong Kong’s latest
offerings.
Promotions on social media were also strengthened to appeal directly to
Muslim consumers in the Middle East and ASEAN
markets with large Muslim populations.
HKTB also actively reached out to Muslim-dominant markets to establish strategic partnerships
with major trade partners. In
May 2024, HKTB strengthened its networks with the Middle East by leading the largest-ever
trade delegation from Hong Kong
with more than 30 representatives of the Hong Kong travel trade to the member states of the
GCC, showcasing Hong Kong
as a Muslim-friendly travel destination. HKTB and the delegate participated in the largest
international travel trade show in the
Middle East, Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.
During the ATM, HKTB signed two
partnership memoranda of understanding (MoU) respectively, one with the leading airline
in the Middle East Emirates, and the other with leading online travel agent Dnata Travel
Group. The partnerships would deepen
exchange in promoting Hong Kong as an ideal tourism destination among Middle Eastern
markets. HKTB would partner with
Emirates to organise familiarisation trip to Hong Kong for media, KOLs, travel trade and
other stakeholders from GCC
countries, allowing them to experience Hong Kong in person through specially curated
itineraries. On the other hand, HKTB
and Dnata Travel Group would jointly promote Hong Kong tourism through the travel agent’s
online and offline platforms.
Following HKTB’s participation in the ATM, HKTB invited a group of decision makers of corporate and tourism sector from the GCC countries in the Middle East to visit Hong Kong in person in late May 2024 to introduce the city’s latest development in Muslim-friendly tourism. In addition to core tourism experiences, luxurious customised itineraries such as helicopter tour to the Hong Kong Geopark, private party tram tour around Hong Kong Island, and horse racing experiences were arranged for the guests. These activities engaging high-level decision makers in these markets paved the way to speeding up closer tourism ties between Hong Kong and the Middle East, and further sealed Hong Kong’s strategic status in the global Muslim tourism market.
In 2024, Hong Kong welcomed 1.42 million overnight MICE visitors, equivalent to 72% of
pre-pandemic levels. Per capita
spending of overnight MICE visitors was HK$7,800, 40% higher than the general overnight
visitors. Further development of
MICE tourism not only boosted Hong Kong’s economy but also promoted the development of
hotel, F&B, transport, retail and
MICE related sectors.
Throughout the year, HKTB adopted a four-pronged strategy
to drive MICE tourism growth. First, HKTB strived to bring in
more international MICE events to Hong Kong with enhanced travel experience of business
events’ travellers, followed by
positive word-of-mouth and testimonials. HKTB also elevated incentive travel
experiences, while actively reaching out to
Mainland and overseas MICE industry events.
Together, these strategies solidified
Hong Kong’s status as the “World’s Meeting Place” and brought along more high
value-added visitors to Hong Kong. The remarkable achievements have also been widely
recognised by international awards.
As of March 2025, Hong Kong has won over 40 awards for multiple campaigns across B2B
marketing programmes, MICE
tourism video promotions and website development, as well as a premier MICE destination
for its professional support and
services. The majority are top honours, notably the ultimate GRAND Winners from Galaxy
Awards, iNova Awards, and the
“Gold” award of Sparks Awards.
HKTB continued to support large-scale international MICE events to be staged in Hong Kong. In
2024, HKTB successfully
secured 65 major events held or to be held in the year or beyond. These events are expected
to draw over 123,000 high-yield
visitors covering sectors such as innovation and technology, aviation, sports, and medical
sciences.
Notable first-time events include the International Society for Stem Cell
Research Annual Meeting 2025, World Football
Summit 2025, Routes World 2025, and World Cancer Congress 2026. The city also welcomed other
inaugural events including
Super Terminal Expo, Consensus Hong Kong, IEEE Electron Devices Technology and Manufacturing
Conference, Sports Law
Mega Event, Connect Marketplace Hong Kong, and the YUM CHINA RGM Convention.
Moreover, Hong Kong hosted a range of high-profile (A-list) events such as the 5th Annual
Technology for Change Asia by the
event brand of globally authoritative media The Economist Impact and the Robb Report Hong
Kong – Leaders of Luxury Summit,
alongside others.
Looking ahead, Hong Kong will host ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2025, Airspace
Asia Pacific 2025, Lions Clubs International
Convention 2026, and IAAPA Expo Asia 2026, further reinforcing the city’s reputation as a
world-class MICE destination.
To bring more events to Hong Kong, HKTB launched the Hong Kong Convention Ambassador
programme in 2020 and invited
elites and leaders in various sectors to be part of the programme. Leveraging their
influence and network in respective fields,
HKTB worked with them to identify and bring more important international conventions to Hong
Kong.
In May 2024, HKTB hosted a “Hong Kong Conference Ambassador Appreciation
Night”, where ambassadors shared success
stories during the panel discussion.
In 2025, HKTB further expanded the network of
Hong Kong Convention Ambassadors with 72 new members, bringing the
total to around 180 ambassadors across 13 sectors including business and trading, medical
science, professional services,
innovation and technology and many more. Since its establishment, the Hong Kong Convention
Ambassadors have been
instrumental in securing and referring 77 convention wins, which have collectively brought
in approximately 90,000 high-yield
overnight visitors.
Apart from offering comprehensive support for event organisers from bidding stage to event
execution, HKTB also arranged
various activities for MICE visitors to enjoy the city’s multi-faceted appeal beyond the
convention halls. For instance, the Asian
Financial Forum delegates have enjoyed the unique bleisure offerings from the classic Peak
Tram ride to Victoria Harbour
cruise, and from the city’s traditional cultural immersion at Man Mo Temple to revitalised
heritage tour at Tai Kwun.
To highlight Hong Kong’s professional standing across
industries, internationalism and versatile appeal both as a leisure and
business destination, HKTB visited about 20 large-scale MICE events across 8 industries to
consolidate positive reviews on
Hong Kong from event organisers, exhibitors, speakers and participants, with a view to
showcasing Hong Kong’s capability in
hosting international business events through their first-person sharing.
Targeting the Incentive traveller segment, which has demonstrated robust growth in recent
years, to capture the growing
opportunities and elevate Hong Kong’s appeal, HKTB launched the thematic guidebook “Hong
Kong Incentive Playbook” in
April 2024 to introduce to Incentive travellers Hong Kong’s exciting and immersive
experiences, inspiring unique itineraries
for different incentive travel groups.
“Hong Kong Incentive Playbook” landed as a
dedicated thematic website, covering five themes in “Arts & Culture”, “Wellness
& Nature”, “Neighbourhoods”, “Nightlife & Parties” and “Hong Kong Signatures”. The Playbook
consolidates over 100 novel
and unique group experiences and team building activities for meeting and incentive groups,
such as Chinese ink painting,
traditional Taichi class, singing bowl experience, forest bathing, kayaking, mahjong
carving, Hong Kong pastry bakery workshop,
tea-infused cocktail mixing, nostalgic bar party, and many more. These journeys offer a
direct encounter with the city’s new and
unique ideas and showcase the vibrant possibilities Hong Kong has to offer.
Alongside
the campaign launch, about 110 agents from the Mainland, Southeast Asia, South Korea and
India were invited to
the familiarisation trip curated by HKTB to get a first-hand experiences highlighted in the
Hong Kong Incentive Playbook,
encourage them to design more innovative tourism products for high-yield visitors.
To further engage local Convention Ambassadors with Mainland leaders, HKTB hosted a
networking luncheon in March 2025,
welcoming 39 senior association executives. During their stay, the leaders from the Chinese
Mainland had also taken the
opportunity to visit Hong Kong’s latest venues, attend executive seminars, enjoy
East-meets-West experience from
horseracing party to Cantonese opera workshops. The programme showcased Hong Kong’s
strengths through venue tours,
executive seminars, and cultural experiences, deepening interest and confidence in hosting
future events in the city.
HKTB also leveraged its network in Chinese Mainland
markets to deepen the influence of the Convention Ambassadors. HKTB
organised study missions to Hong Kong for Chinese Mainland convention and exhibition
organisers, and collaborated with China
Convention Congress hosted by CCPIT to carry out an exclusive forum on the event to showcase
the city’s core advantages as
an international financial centre, global trade platform, and international MICE hub to
Chinese Mainland event organisers,
attracting more than 730 potential organisers to participate and contributing to five wins
of about 6000 high-yield visitors.
In June and October 2024, HKTB organised two trade seminars in Chinese Mainland markets, four
trade workshops
cooperating with trade partners and a familiarisation tours to Hong Kong. These events
targeted potential MICE buyers from
potential cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Guangzhou,
Shenzhen, Xiamen, Wuhan, Changsha,
Chongqing and Chengdu to drive quick arrivals from small and medium-sized MICE
groups.
To sustain the momentum, HKTB also launched a “Super Partner Programme” to
carry out integrated joint-promotion with
50 core MICE partners across the Mainland to win the larger groups. Together with major
trade event partnership with
third-party organisers in direct selling, brand marketing and sectors with strong MICE
tourism demands, these outreach in the
Chinese Mainland attracted about 2700 corporate participants in 13 cities and won about 160
MICE groups, contributing to
over 55,000 MICE visitor arrivals.
In terms of communication, HKTB continued to make
use of the MICE mini-programme on WeChat to expand Hong Kong’s
nationwide reach among MICE trade partners and further enhance awareness of Hong Kong as a
MICE destination. An
interactive online interactive campaign “The Vote for Hong Kong’s Most Popular MICE
Itinerary” was launched to further
engage Mainland high-yield travellers, shortlisting 10 itineraries for business travellers’
votes.
Outside the Chinese Mainland, HKTB also actively participated in a wide range of international MICE industry events, including the Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Event (AIME) in Australia, MICE Travel Mart (MTM) Mumbai and Delhi and MICE India and Luxury Travel Congress in Jaipur, India, Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings (IT&CM) Asia in Thailand, IMEX America, and Incentives, Business Travel & Meetings (IBTM) World in Europe, expanding Hong Kong’s influence in global markets and attracting more high value-added business travellers to the city.
Being “Asia’s Cruise Hub”, Hong Kong strives to strengthen its competitiveness in the
regional cruise market. In 2024/25,
HKTB leveraged its close ties with cruise lines from around the world to drive ship
calls to Hong Kong and continuously
enhances on-shore experiences , diversifying Hong Kong’s visitor portfolio and
attracting more high-yield cruise passengers to
Hong Kong.
In 2024, Hong Kong recorded a total passenger throughput of more than
half a million, with approximately 70% being non-local
visitors, a 63% increase over the previous year. Notably, cruise travellers from
long-haul markets doubled year-on-year,
reflecting the effectiveness of HKTB’s market-driven strategies. This reflects HKTB’s
success in elevating Hong Kong’s
international appeal in the global cruise market.
A cornerstone of HKTB’s approach is enhancing the value proposition of on-shore experiences
to attract high-yield cruise
visitors. In a landmark collaboration with Silversea Cruises, an ultra-luxury cruise line
focusing on exclusive experiences, HKTB
curated a one-of-a-kind programme for the cruise line’s top-tier members during the Hong
Kong Wine & Dine Festival in
October 2024.
Having secured the commitment from the cruise line six months ahead of
the arrival, this bespoke experience featured a
performance by the China Hong Kong Youth Symphony Orchestra and a refined wine-pairing menu
from local five-star hotel
that matched award-winning Chinese wines with Michelin-starred dim sum.
As the
largest partnership between HKTB and the cruise sector in recent years, this initiative not
only brought around 300
affluent cruise visitors from various long-haul markets, but also elevated Hong Kong’s
appeal as a premium cruise destination
with luxurious offerings.
HKTB also encouraged cruise passengers to participate in characteristic local tours to
explore Hong Kong’s culture and
heritage. In March 2025, HKTB curated immersive cultural activities that went beyond
traditional sightseeing for cruise
passengers. The visitors enjoyed an enriched onshore itinerary with a city walk through
Kowloon City, offering a meaningful
glimpse into the neighbourhood’s heritage and transformation.
With professional
docent, the on-shore journey included visits to the state-of-the-art Kai Tak Sports Park and
a cinematic
exhibition based on the local blockbuster “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”, staged by
HKTB at AIRSIDE mall. Guests were
engaged with the history of the Walled City through a lifelike movie experience and a stroll
in Kowloon Walled City Park. The
cruise passengers also tasted local delicacies like Hong Kong-style egg tarts.
The
tour continued with stops at the exemplary Chinese religious spot Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan
Lian Garden, known for its
representative architecture style.
These curated experiences allowed first-time
cruise visitors to discover a more authentic and nuanced side of Hong Kong,
fostering a deeper appreciation for its culture and history. Many expressed that the tour
helped them understand the city
beyond its skyline and inspired them to return for further exploration. This has played a
critical role in shaping visitor
impressions and motivating repeat visits.
To stimulate cruise demand and broaden market reach, HKTB launched a series of
consumer-facing promotions in
collaboration with cruise lines and travel agents, including Royal Caribbean International,
Resorts World Cruises, Costa
Cruises, Astro Ocean Cruise, and consortia in long-haul markets.
These campaigns
employed a mix of visibility-driven digital advertising, outdoor placements, and
content-rich social media
activations, complemented by KOL endorsements. Direct sales seminars were also conducted to
promote Hong Kong cruise
packages.
Furthermore, HKTB continues to enhance its positioning as a key node in
regional cruise circuits by launching promotions in
key source markets including Southern and Western China as well as Australia.
To encourage cruise lines to deploy vessels to Hong Kong, HKTB proactively participated in
various cruise tourism trade
events across the region and internationally.
In 2024/25, HKTB attended various
high-profile conferences and exhibitions, including the 2024 Shanghai International Cruise
Summit, China Cruise Shipping Conference, CruiseXChange at IT&CMA, Asia Cruise Forum Jeju,
CLIA Cruise360, Seatrade
Cruise Asia Pacific, and the flagship Seatrade Cruise Global in Miami.
During these
trade events, HKTB conducted targeted one-on-one meetings with key decision-makers from
cruise lines to
promote Hong Kong’s diverse offerings and discuss deployment strategies.
In addition to industry events, HKTB also engaged the travel trade to promote Hong Kong by
hosting familiarisation trips for
travel agents from key source markets to enhance their product knowledge and equip them to
better promote Hong Kong’s
cruise and on-shore experiences.
These efforts resulted in successfully securing of
150 ship calls from 31 cruise brands in 2024 and 17 international cruises in
March 2025 alone. HKTB will continue to promote Hong Kong as a preferred cruise destination,
maintaining close liaison with
cruise lines to drive ship calls to Hong Kong, thereby driving increased visitor arrivals
from different markets. We will also
encourage the tourism industry to offer cruise passengers more diverse shore excursion
experiences, showcasing Hong Kong’s
multifarious tourism appeal.
