Sheffield Business School BSc (Honours) Tourism Management Title The Promotion of Hong Kong as a Tourism Destination Name LIM YING PO LLUVY Student No 91206696 Month Year April 2011 Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Business School Title The Promotion of Hong Kong as a Tourism Destination Full Name LIM YING PO LLUVY Student No 91206696 Supervisor DR. CONNIE MOK In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Tourism Management. Month Year April 201 Acknowledgements The author would like to express sincere appreciation to many people who provided value contribution to this dissertation. First, the author would like to thank her supervisor Dr. Connie Mok, for providing advices, directions and instructions to complete the work throughout this year. The author deeply appreciates she gives many useful suggestions and recommendations to complete this dissertation. Second, the author offers special thanks to her friends and classmates, especially Yumi Law, Mandy Lau and Janice Cheng who supported and encouraged the author during this year. Finally, the author wishes to thank her family for supporting the author when she was stressed in her work and study. I Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................ I List of Tables ................................................................................................ IV List of Figures .............................................................................................. IV Abbreviation .................................................................................................. V Section 1 Executive Summary ...................................................................... 1 Section 2 Introduction ................................................................................... 4 2.1 Tourism in Hong Kong ......................................................................... 4 2.1.1 Hong Kong Visitor Arrivals in 2010 ........................................... 4 2.1.2 Hotel Occupancy ...................................................................... 6 2.1.3 Visitor Spending in Hong Kong ................................................. 7 2.2 Aim ...................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Objectives ........................................................................................... 7 Section 3 Literature Review .......................................................................... 8 3.1 Destination Branding .......................................................................... 8 3.1.1 Destination Branding of Hong Kong.......................................... 9 3.1.2 Destination Image of Hong Kong ............................................ 10 3.2 Major Actors in Destination Marketing .............................................. 11 3.2.1 Public Sector Actors ................................................................ 12 3.2.1.1 The Roles of Destination Marketing Organization ........ 12 3.2.1.2 Hong Kong Infrastructure ............................................. 13 3.2.2 Private Sector Actors .............................................................. 14 3.2.3 Coordination of Public and Private Sectors ............................ 15 3.3 Promotional Tools for Hong Kong ..................................................... 16 3.3.1 Advertising .............................................................................. 17 3.3.2 Online Marketing..................................................................... 18 3.3.3 Travel Brochure ...................................................................... 19 3.3.4 Special Events and Festivals .................................................. 20 Section 4 Method of Investigation .............................................................. 22 4.1 Secondary Research ........................................................................ 22 4.2 Case Studies Method ........................................................................ 24 4.3 Advantages of Case studies ............................................................. 26 II 4.4 Limitations of Research .................................................................... 26 Section 5 Findings and Analysis ................................................................ 28 5.1 Outstanding Current Brand and Images ........................................... 30 5.2 High Standard Infrastructure ............................................................. 31 5.3 Diverse and Effective Promotion Channels ....................................... 33 5.4 Events Capital ................................................................................... 36 5.5 Diverse Attractions and Activities ...................................................... 37 5.6 Great DMO - HKTB ........................................................................... 39 5.7 High Service Quality ......................................................................... 40 Section 6 Conclusions ................................................................................ 42 6.1 Conclusions ...................................................................................... 42 6.2 Recommendations ............................................................................ 44 6.2.1 Encourage Tourists Be Aware of Traditional Culture ............... 45 6.2.2 Enhance Promotion of Hong Kong’s Events and Festivals ..... 45 6.2.3 Improve the Tourists’ Perception on New Developed Attractions ........................................................................................................ 46 References ................................................................................................... 48 III List of Tables Table 1 Number of arrivals from different market regions in 2010……….5 Table 2 Number of overnight arrivals in 2010………………………………6 Table 3 List of references of Figure 3……………………………………...29 Table 4 Promotion campaigns around the world by HKTB……………...35 List of Figures Figure 1 Old Hong Kong Brand Logo………………………………………...9 Figure 2 New Hong Kong Brand Logo……………………………………….9 Figure 3 Successful Elements of Hong Kong as a Tourism Destination..28 IV Abbreviation AWE AsiaWorld-Expo CNN Cable News Network HKCEC Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre HKTB Hong Kong Tourism Board HKTB PartnerNet Hong Kong Tourism Board PartnerNet ITB International Tourism Exchange in Berlin KITEC Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre MEHK Meetings and Exhibition Hong Kong MICE Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions MTR Mass Transit Railway WTM World Travel Market V Section 1 Executive Summary Hong Kong tourism industry plays an important role in country’s total revenue. According to Hong Kong Tourism Board PartnerNet (HKTB, 2011), the visitor arrivals in 2010 reached 36,030,331. The total income associated with inbound tourism was more than HKD $212.6 billions. The revenue from tourism industry is about 20 to 30% of the total revenue of Hong Kong. In order to maintain the revenue of tourism, Hong Kong put much effort to retain Hong Kong as a premier tourism destination in Asia. This study is going to discuss the promotion methods of Hong Kong as a tourism destination. The aim of this study is to investigate the promotion methods and marketing strategies of Hong Kong tourism. The objectives of this study are to review destination branding and marketing concepts, assess the roles of private and public sectors on promotion, and gives suggestions to Hong Kong. The literature review is based on the theories and concepts related to destination branding and marketing. The roles of public sector actors and private sector actors involve in destination marketing are examined in this 1 study. The actual applications of Hong Kong are also reviewed in the literature review. Hong Kong has a slogan “Asia’s world city” and a powerful logo to enhance destination branding of Hong Kong (Brand Hong Kong, 2010). Hong Kong’s induced images are cosmopolitan, connected, dynamic, secure and diverse (Brand Hong Kong, 2010). The major public sector actors of Hong Kong are including Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), infrastructure and Hong Kong Tourism Commission. The main private sector actors are including hotels, theme parks, retailers and tour operators. Hong Kong utilizes advertising, online marketing, trade fairs, travel brochures, special events and festivals as major promotion methods. This will be a qualitative study using the case study method. The information will be collected from secondary data including books, journals, websites and other sources related to Hong Kong tourism industry and destination marketing. By regarding to the findings and analysis, Hong Kong overall is a successful tourism destination. The author indicates that there are seven successful elements contribute to the success. These elements are categorized as (1) 2 outstanding current brand and images; (2) high standard infrastructure; (3) diverse and effective promotion channels; (4) event capital; (5) diverse attractions and activities; (6) great DMO - HKTB; and (7) high service quality. At the end of this study, recommendations are suggested to enhance the promotion strategies of Hong Kong. First, Hong Kong might encourage tourists to be more aware of traditional culture, since not much tourists interested in Hong Kong’s characteristic culture. Second, Hong Kong might enhance promotion of special