Chairman’s Message & ED's Statement
Board Members
2024 Tourism Performance
Strategic Initiatives
About HKTB
In recent years, global travellers have increasingly prioritised depth and diversity in their travel experiences. As an international metropolis with East-meets-West cultures, Hong Kong possesses rich and distinctive tourism resources spanning diverse elements including arts and culture, festive events, nature, culinary delights, movies and many more, offering travellers boundless possibilities for exploration.
In 2024-25, Hong Kong showcased its diverse strengths in tourism by enriching visitor experiences through the “+Tourism” approach by combining these elements with tourism to create unique tourism products and in-depth experiences, thereby attracting global visitors to come and dive deep into Hong Kong’s appeal. Through innovative promotions and close partnership with the travel trade, HKTB strived to reinforce Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a world-class destination and bring to life the concept “Tourism is Everywhere”.
Hong Kong is a city where East and West culture converges. It preserves traditional Chinese heritage while encompassing the modern international innovation, giving birth to its one-and-only cultural ambience. As the Government works to reinforce Hong Kong’s position as an East-meets-West Centre for International Cultural Exchange, HKTB leveraged the idea of culture-tourism integration. Through promoting cultural tourism, HKTB strived to tell the good Hong Kong story and promote Chinese culture through expanding its promotions in cultural tourism.
Through its year-round art promotional platform “Arts in Hong Kong”, HKTB curated and supported a series of arts and cultural activities, and partnered with various art event organisers to elevate visitors’ experience in arts and culture in Hong Kong.
HKTB supported the “HKwalls Street Arts Festival” in March 2025. Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland and international artists including Australia, Japan and South Korea created 12 murals with inspiration of Hong Kong in Central and Sheung Wan to increase the neighbourhood’s artistic immersion. HKTB also supported guided tours on the artworks to further deepen the connection between art and tourism for visitors.
Hong Kong’s festive celebrations not only carry the city’s rich cultural heritage but also demonstrate the local community spirits. HKTB transformed local festivals into internationally appealing travel experiences through innovative technology, immersive activities and multi-channel promotion, attracting visitors to participate and experience Hong Kong’s festive charm.
Every year, crowds of visitors were drawn to traditional events of Buddha’s Birthday, Cheung
Chau
Jiao Festival (Bun Festival)
and the Tam Kung Festival. To enhance the appeal of these traditional holidays, HKTB staged
a
thematic drone show on 11 May
2024 and recreated experiences of these traditions in downtown Hong Kong.
1000 drones hovered 90m above Victoria Harbour and showcased thematic elements, such as a
60-metre giant lucky bun
tower, a 30-metre wide giant bun, celebratory decorations, dancing lions, and other festive
motifs. The awe-inspiring scenes
attracted spectators to take and share photos of the performance. HKTB also handed out free
ice-cream to the audience to
encourage families to enjoy the performance and foster community ambience, enhancing the
sense
of participation.
A recognised National Intangible Cultural Heritage and held annually during the Mid-Autumn
Festival, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon
Dance is one of HKTB’s long-time partners in attracting visitors. The 2024 edition took
place during the Mid-Autumn Festival
from 16 to 18 September 2024 for three consecutive nights.
With HKTB’s support, the scale of Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance was expanded again with new
highlights. In addition to the
performing zone of Wun Sha Street, a new performance zone was available in Tung Lo Wan Road,
allowing more spectators
to admire the Dance up close and cheer for the performers. The event also merges tradition
with innovation. A team of
children dragon dancers brought a small fire dragon with 10,000 LED light bulbs alive,
instilling a touch of playfulness to the
event. Other performances included energetic rope skipping, bringing a youthful touch to the
festival. Furthermore, with
HKTB’s support, a live broadcast at Victoria Park expanded audience reach beyond Tai Hang.
HKTB promoted the event across high-traffic areas, including the Central-Mid-Levels
Escalator, etc., to raise the public
awareness of the event. Before the event, a 3D fire dragon animation was launched at HKTB’s
Hong Kong International Airport
and Tsim Sha Tsui Visitor Centres, as well as MTR stations, alongside thematic outdoor media
to spark interest and encourage
participation among locals and visitors and enhance the festivity.
For online audiences, HKTB published various call-to-action posts on social media channels,
and launched a Hong Kong
comic-style animation, boosting event awareness and encouraging participation through an
immersive approach.
On 17 September 2025 (Mid-Autumn Festival), HKTB staged a Mid-Autumn Festival-themed drone
show to spread the festive
ambience in the city. A series of auspicious images, such as mooncakes, rabbits and the Fire
Dragon captivated the public over
Victoria Harbour.
Closely after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hong Kong welcomed the western festival of Halloween.
For a fortnight in October
2024, HKTB launched a series of in-town “Hong Kong Halloween” activation to hype up
celebratory atmosphere across
different locations in town with innovative activities, encouraging visitors to participate
in city events. HKTB partnered with
Hong Kong Space Museum in Tsim Sha Tsui for the first time to feature daily projection to
transform the signature
dome-shaped landmark into five lively Halloween characters such as giant pumpkin, white
ghosts and pineapple bun, alongside
music accompaniment for a social media-worthy vibes. Besides, HKTB sent out a ghoulish
Halloween-themed party tram with
flash mob to dash across the Hong Kong Island and spread the spooky seasonal spirits. The
popular ice-cream truck was also
dressed up as a festive pumpkin carriage giving out free ice creams, bringing mischievous
fun to Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui
and Mong Kok. A special creative poster format was introduced on MTR escalators, designed to
mimic a spooky spirit trailing
passengers as they ascend, adding an extra festive atmosphere.
To stimulate nighttime spending, HKTB rolled out a dining guide on its website for
late-night food offerings, consolidating more
than 30 late-night dining recommendations, ranging from international tastes, local snacks,
desserts and hot pot. HKTB also
offered complimentary tokens to Wine & Dine Festival participants who dressed up for
Halloween, extending the festive
ambience to different tourism experiences.
Globally, HKTB promoted the festival in advance in different markets to encourage bookings.
In Taiwan market, HKTB
promoted the Halloween experiences through advance media promotions to encourage trip
bookings and KOL partnership.
HKTB invited tourism trade representatives from three travel agents and six KOLs from Taiwan
to experience Hong Kong’s
Halloween activities, including visits to the two major theme parks. As a result, more than
2,500 bookings were made for the
Halloween period from the market.
Hong Kong has a long and diverse history of filmmaking, which is deeply loved by movie lovers around the world. HKTB continuously leveraged the influence of Hong Kong movies in global markets to promote “Movie + Tourism” experiences. Through creative contents, immersive experiences and cross-sector partnership, the promotions motivated visitors to step into the scenes they saw on screen and explore the city’s urban appeal and cultural treasures.
In May 2024, HKTB rolled out a new campaign riding on its docufilm “Hong Kong Classics
Reimagined”, together with a travel
guide based on Hong Kong movies, paying tribute to local movies while triggering global
visitors’ interests in visiting Hong Kong
for the experiences they saw in these homegrown films.
For the first time, Hong Kong Classics Reimagined brings together movie makers to recreate
classic Hong Kong movies in a
new 60-minute film featuring six popular genres: romance, detective thrillers, martial arts,
action, comedy, and drama. The
docufilm stars celebrated actors including Sylvia Chang, Sammo Hung, Gordon Lam, Karen Mok,
and Charlene Choi and Gillian
Chung from the girl group Twins, and showcases Hong Kong’s unique appeal and rich cultural
heritage.
The docufilm premiered at the prestigious “Marché du Film” at the 77th Cannes Film Festival
in France and was presented to
movies industry representatives from more than 40 countries and regions, including
distributor, film festival curators and online
streaming platform buyers from France, Germany, the UK, the US, Spain, Japan, South Korea
and Canada. Through the preview
of the movie, HKTB successfully shared Hong Kong’s unique cultural characters and appeal on
the global cultural scene. The
movie was also premiered in Hong Kong afterwards, and was screened during the Venice
International Film Festival in
September 2024, further strengthening Hong Kong as a hub for the movie culture.
In line with the launch of the movie, HKTB presented a travel guide based on various classic
productions and introduced a
series of selected experiences and shooting sites for visitors to explore in person,
extending the effectiveness of movie tourism.
Riding on the success of local blockbuster Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, HKTB curated
a new movie exhibition “Live out
the Cinematic Charm of Hong Kong” in collaboration with the Airport Authority Hong Kong, the
Cultural and Creative
Industries Development Agency (CCIDA) of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau (CSTB) in
October 2024. The exhibition
recreated various impressive scenes from the movie to invite visitors and locals to follow
the movie as they explored Hong
Kong’s historical and culturally unique appeal.
Well received by the public, the first phase of the exhibition was staged in the Hong Kong
International Airport, followed by a
second phase in AIRSIDE, Kowloon City. The exhibition featured thematic zones based on
popular scenes from the film, such
as mahjong table, tea stall, barbershop and other shops and alleys. The second phase also
featured five thematic zones. Since its
opening in December 2024, the exhibition attracted a total of 320,000 visits, with highest
single-day visitor count of close to 4,500.
HKTB also offered guided tours for the exhibition, which were popular among visitors from
the Chinese Mainland, the UK,
Canada, Germany, France and Japan.
To further enhance its impact for tourism, HKTB curated a neighourhood travel guide map of
Kowloon City to encourage
visitors to extend their footprint to the vicinity in Kowloon City for deeper understanding
of the local history and culture,
expediting culture and tourism integration while reinforcing Hong Kong as a world-class
cultural tourism destination.
Hong Kong is famous for its rich green tourism resources, with its countryside and ocean resources being highly accessible from downtown. HKTB continued to promote the city’s outdoor and wellness tourism experiences and encourage visitors to explore Hong Kong’s tranquil and natural side, immersing themselves in the unique blend of the city’s metropolitan and green appeal.
In March 2025, HKTB continued to spotlight the city’s stunning natural landscapes through a
brand-new “Hong Kong Four
Corners” video series, designed to showcase the city’s diverse outdoor offerings. The series
featured four short films, each
exploring a different region— east to Sai Kung, south to Po Toi Island, Stanley, and Ap Lei
Chau, west to Lantau Island, and
north to Robin’s Nest Country Park—inviting viewers to discover the unique charm of Hong
Kong’s countryside, coastlines,
and ecological treasures. Together, the series painted a vivid picture of Hong Kong’s
outdoor diversity and positioned the city
as a compelling destination for nature lovers and adventure seekers.
To enhance
regional engagement, HKTB collaborated with celebrities from Thailand and Taiwan, including
popular Thai TV
actress Eye Kamolned Ruengsri as she explored the Robin’s Nest Country Park in the video
series. Similarly, Taiwan singer
Wayne Huang and actor Payne Pengwent on island-hopping in the video, adopting the lively
style of Taiwanese variety show to
add a playful twist to the promotion, further inspiring visitors to enjoy Hong Kong’s
outdoor experiences.
Besides content promotions, HKTB supported the staging of world-class outdoor and sports
events 2024 TransLantauTM
UTMB® and 2025 HK100 Ultra Marathon. The thrilling challenges draw athletes from around the
world and HKTB is keen to
build on their unstoppable momentum. The events attracted participation from around the
world among sports enthusiasts,
with non-local participation of more than 40% and 70% respectively, welcoming racers from
the Chinese Mainland, Japan,
France, the UK, and Southeast Asia. The events solidified Hong Kong as an international
destination for sports and green
tourism.
HKTB also partnered with the travel trade in launching novel green and wellness tourism
products. In February 2025, HKTB
rolled out the “Hong Kong Outdoor Festival” in South Korea with sports activities such as
running across Hong Kong to allow
travellers to experience Hong Kong’s natural charm. The campaign successfully recruited
travellers from younger segments
from the market. HKTB will continue to invite media and KOLs from Chinese Mainland,
Southeast Asia, the UK, India and other
key source markets to explore outdoor points of interests to create more engaging contents
to bring in more nature-loving
travellers to the city.
Hong Kong is home to various exciting sports and mega events, ranging from arts and culture, festivities, gastronomy to international sports competitions. Throughout the year, HKTB continued to organise and support various events to enhance “Mega Events + Tourism” experiences and attract participation from visitors. Please refer to Chapter: Driving “Events + Tourism” for details.
The opening of the Kai Tak Sports Park, Hong Kong’s largest-ever sports and entertainment
complex, in March 2025, marked
a milestone in Hong Kong’s promotion of mega sports and entertainment events. In addition to
the provision of world-class
venues which can contribute to securing more international events, the Park also makes a new
hotspots for tourism
exploration.
Riding on the commissioning of Kai Tak Sports Park, HKTB rolled out “The Ultimate Guide to
Kai Tak Sports Park”, a
comprehensive mega event travel guide with detailed transport routes between the Park and
ports of entry and piers, as well
as facilities like car parks and taxi stands, to help visitors streamline itinerary
planning. It also provided guides to the top ten
photo spots such as the South Stand of the Main Stadium, bowling arcade, rooftop bars,
etc.
HKTB also included a guide on dining options in the Kai Tak neighbourhood, such as local
cuisines, Asian delights and
international tastes, alongside various shopping guides. HKTB also collaborated with
merchants in the vicinity to offer special
discounts to stimulate consumption in the area.
HKTB aimed to further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an ideal host for major local and
international sports and
entertainment events through the promotion of the Kai Tak Sports Park. At the same time, it
sought to extend the benefits of
these events to surrounding communities, creating additional business opportunities and
enhancing the overall experience for
both locals and visitors.
In summer 2024, Hong Kong welcomed the first pair of locally born giant panda twin cubs “Jia Jia” and “De De”, and two giant pandas “An An” and “Ke Ke” gifted again by the Central Government, forming the new panda family. This landmark moment not only sparked a citywide giant panda craze, but also injected new elements to Hong Kong’s tourism experiences.
The CSTB, jointly with HKTB and Ocean Park, has collaborated with various parties in Hong
Kong to organise a series of
promotional activities themed “Come and Enjoy a Pandastic Hong Kong”. The Hong Kong giant
panda family has been
promoting “tourism is everywhere” travel experience in Hong Kong, further enhancing the
international tourism appeal of
Hong Kong.
In September 2024, HKTB activated dedicated a one-stop “Giant Panda Special Page” on its
travel information platform
“Discover Hong Kong” consolidating giant panda-related events, itineraries and promotional
offers. HKTB sustained its
promotion through social media, featuring activities such as giant panda naming
competitions, updates on themed events and
interactive contents, successfully attracting widespread attention.
Subsequently,
HKTB continued to roll out a series of giant panda-themed TV advertisements in December,
showcasing the four
core experiences of Hong Kong tourism, namely gastronomy, great outdoors, arts and culture,
and mega events. The
advertisements featured Olympic medalists fencer Cheung Ka-long and swimmer Siobhan Haughey
interacting with the adorable
giant panda family at Ocean Park. The promotional videos are also available on social media
to deepen the publicity effect.
The giant panda family in thematic style also made appearances in different locations of
Hong Kong including MTR stations,
Central Piers, the Central Mid-Level Escalators, and downtown outdoor billboards. The six
adorable giant pandas became a
popular photo icon across the city, generating a buzz of giant panda popularity across Hong
Kong. HKTB also teamed up with
the Tourism Commission and Hongkong Post to set up giant panda-themed post boxes featuring
three-dimensional figurines of
the pair of twin cubs in different districts across the city and were hugely popular among
visitors and locals.
HKTB also integrated giant panda elements into major events, including the Hong Kong Wine &
Dine Festival, where
participants won games for wine charms with adorable giant panda designs featuring Hong Kong
street food, and the
International Chinese New Year Night Parade on 29 January 2025, where a giant panda-themed
float added a fuzzy warmth to
the celebrations.
HKTB and CSTB also supported various giant panda-themed events, including “HELLO PANDAS”
Carnival, “PANDA GO!
FEST HONG KONG” and Hong Kong’s first drone show with pyrotechnics, etc., in December 2024.
“PANDA GO! FEST
HONG KONG”, the city’s largest giant panda exhibition featured 2,500 giant panda sculptures
in eight designs across iconic
locations, including Avenue of Stars, Ngong Ping 360, Ocean Park and Sun Yat Sen Memorial
Park, as well as a giant
panda-themed drone show. The event attracted over half a million visitors, reinforcing the
appeal of panda tourism.
As the locally born twins “Jia Jia” and “De De” greeted the public in February 2025, HKTB,
CSTB, and Ocean Park jointly rolled
out a second-phase promotion. HKTB arranged various online influences, KOLs and celebrities
to film promotional videos in
Ocean Park and invited travellers to visit the giant panda family. HKTB also partnered with
the MTR Corporation in
transforming Admiralty, Hong Kong and Ocean Park Stations, and train cabins with giant panda
decorations and interactive
installations to display promotional videos and living footage of the giant panda family,
extending the coverage of the promotion.
Likewise, HKTB also refurbished its Visitor Centres with giant panda decors to deliver the
passion and vibrancy of giant pandas
in Hong Kong upon their arrivals and visits.
HKTB is celebrated for its East-meets-West gastronomy which incorporate tastes from around the world, especially among visitors. Throughout the year, HKTB continued to leverage Hong Kong’s reputation as a City of Gastronomy to promote tourism. With mega event promotion, partnership with globally and regionally established brands and media outlets and creative content marketing, HKTB spread the charm of Hong Kong’s diverse and rich gastronomy to worldwide travellers.
HKTB has been partnering with The 50 Best brand in staging world-acclaimed gastronomy award
ceremony. In July 2024, Hong
Kong hosted the Asia’s 50 Best Bars award ceremony for the second year under the support of
HKTB, attracting about 1,000
bar investors, mixologists and international media representatives from around the world. As
a homegrown bar topped the
list for the fourth time and receiving the award in its home city, the event sealed Hong
Kong’s leading place in the Asian bar
scene.
HKTB also arranged interviews with famous bars in Hong Kong before and after the award
ceremony to promote Hong Kong’s
bar scene. Media coverage included both local and international reports, generating
interests for Hong Kong’s nightlife among
locals and visitors alike.
HKTB entered a strategic three-year partnership with the brand in 2024, winning to host the
global hall-of-fame awards
ceremony “The World’s 50 Best Bars” in 2025, alongside other ceremonies. The partnership
solidified Hong Kong’s position
as a leading gastronomic destination on a global level.
To facilitate visitors’ itinerary planning, HKTB launched an interactive Hong Kong Bar Map
featuring award-winning bars in
Asia’s 50 Best Bars and consolidating the city’s finest bars in town while showing the
accolades of each establishment,
encouraging patrons to explore local nightlife as they go on barhopping in Hong Kong.
Besides The 50 Best, HKTB further targeted the Chinese Mainland markets to promote Hong
Kong’s gastronomy in
partnership with Dianping, a one-stop online lifestyle portal based in Chinese Mainland with
800 million users.
Dianping hosted its Announcement and Award Ceremony of “Must-Eat List” for Hong Kong, Macao
and Overseas Regions in
Hong Kong in mid-August—the first time the event was held outside Chinese Mainland. With 39
restaurants featured, Hong
Kong topped the list as the destination outside Chinese Mainland with most entries,
reinforcing its reputation as “City of
Gastronomy”.
Throughout the year, the HKTB worked with Dianping to promote Hong Kong’s culinary diversity
through curated content,
dining guides, and insider tips. This helped showcase the city’s food culture and enhance
its appeal as a travel destination.
Through solid partnership with international and Chinese Mainland brands, HKTB successfully
brought Hong Kong’s culinary
culture to a global height and further consolidated the city’s image as a top-notch
gastronomic travel destination in the world.
Catering to the travel needs of young travellers and study tour groups, HKTB actively developed Hong Kong as the premier destination for study tour and educational travel. Through resource integration, industry collaboration and marketing initiatives, HKTB expanded its reach to this emerging segment.
In 2024, HKTB consolidated more than 40 points of interests with study tour potential in
various districts of Hong Kong, such
as the Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage Centre, the Tai Kwun, the Hong Kong Sha Tau
Kok Anti-war Memorial Hall and
the Mai Po Nature Reserve. HKTB consolidated the relevant information and combined them into
nine major tourism themes,
namely Hong Kong’s Past and Present, Revitalisation and Conservation, Cultural Arts, Hong
Kong Intangible Cultural Heritage,
Natural Ecology, Environmental Protection, Technological Development, Public Services and
Red Tourism. This provided
inbound study tour groups with diverse learning experiences and itinerary references,
assisting educational institutions and
travel agencies in designing tailored study programmes.
Leveraging these itineraries, in August 2024, HKTB hosted an online briefing session for
over 70 representatives from the local
tourism and related industries, introducing Hong Kong’s study tour themes, landmarks and
attractions to enhance trade
partners’ understanding of and participation in study tours.
In September 2024, HKTB further enriched Chinese Mainland trade partners’ knowledge of Hong
Kong study tours with a
five-day-four-night familiarisation trip. 26 major study organisation partners nationwide
were invited to Hong Kong to explore
the educational resources and build connections with local travel trade.
After the familiarisation trip, various trade partners started to offer tourism products in
study tours. After a few months in the
beginning of 2025, the study tours attracted about 5,000 study tour visitors, making
significant achievement for the
development of this segment.
HKTB will continue to identify additional landmarks and attractions with potential for study
tours, and will collaborate with the
industry to develop suitable promotional initiatives and tourism products. We will also
conduct further promotional activities
in Chinese Mainland and overseas markets to expand the reach of the study tours.
