2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival to take place between 25 June and 31 August

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is to stage the 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival between 25 June and 31 August this year, which aims to once again provide visitors with a total travel experience. The two-month-long Festival is expected to further increase visitor arrivals from 4.40 million last year to 4.63 million this year.

HKTB Executive Director Clara Chong said that for the fourth consecutive year, the HKTB is staging a Mega Event themed around shopping. “Over the past years, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival has turned the traditionally quiet summer period into another peak travel season,” she said. “This year, we’ve strengthened our global promotions to drive home the message that this is the best time to visit and shop in Hong Kong.

“We’re confident that building on the success of previous years and Hong Kong’s diverse attractions, the Festival will attract a record-breaking 4.63 million visitor arrivals this year, generating at least HK$14.2 billion of spending for our tourism-related sectors.” 

Surveys conducted by the HKTB on last year’s Festival show that visitors, local residents and the tourism industry were all very supportive of the event. Over 80% of the visitors who participated in the Festival last year would recommend it to their friends and relatives and that they would revisit Hong Kong. As for local residents, 85% agreed that the Festival was effective in promoting the city’s tourism, with over 70% indicating that they would participate in similar activities again.

The effectiveness of the Festival was echoed by over 70% of the participating merchants. Almost half indicated that they enjoyed better business and over 40% said there was increased visitor flow during the Festival period.

Global Promotions

Given the strong appeal of the Festival to global visitors, the HKTB began extensive promotions in major source markets as early as April 2005. Earlier this week, the HKTB led a travel trade mission to South Korea. The promotions for the Festival received encouraging feedback from the Korean travel trade partners, who immediately undertook to develop special packages for attracting at least 8,000 visitors to Hong Kong. As for Mainland China and Taiwan, the HKTB has invited celebrity Karen Mok to help promote the Festival in these two markets.

The long-haul markets are also becoming more receptive to the Festival. Following the huge success of the promotions in Australia last year, the HKTB has strengthened publicity and promotions not only in major source markets, such as the US and Canada, but also in secondary markets, including Italy and the Netherlands.

While launching integrated publicity and promotions among consumers, the media and the travel trade, specific focus has been placed on young office ladies, family and business visitor segments. For female visitors, the HKTB has been making use of celebrity endorsement to highlight Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan and trendy image.  The Board has also co-operated with the media to tailor-make a Pamper Yourself in Hong Kong guidebook for the trendy female readers. Introducing the latest fashion and beauty products, shopping and dining tips and practical travel information, this guidebook will be distributed in Mainland China, Taiwan and six Southeast Asian markets.

For the family segment, publicity activities targeting students have been staged in different markets. For example, road shows, photo competitions and tactical offers are promoted through the Mainland primary schools. As for business travellers, the HKTB has been making use of major trade fairs and conventions, such as the 88th Lions Club International Convention in Hong Kong, to introduce the Festival’s enticing offers and activities.

Last year, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival created HK$170 million worth of global publicity for Hong Kong. This year, the HKTB will once again bring about 130 overseas media representatives to Hong Kong. Collaborating with various media organisations, the Board will publicise the Festival to create further international publicity for the city.

The HKTB is also staging the “Shopper of the Year” contest, which created more than HK$14 million worth of publicity for Hong Kong last year. This year, 18 key source markets, the largest-ever number, will take part in the contest. Promotions through the electronic media have been specially arranged for markets, such as Germany, Italy and Israel. In mid-July, the winners, along with the media in their respective markets, will come to Hong Kong for the final round of the contest. Meanwhile, the international travel trade partners have responded enthusiastically and developed different thematic shopping packages for their consumers. 

Diverse and Trendy Merchandise

The 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival will showcase three core strengths of Hong Kong’s tourism. Firstly, the Festival theme, “Showcase of the World”, epitomises the assembly of the world’s diverse and trendy merchandise in Hong Kong. At any time of the year and especially during the Festival period, visitors can purchase the most diverse and trendy products from different parts of the world, including Hong Kong’s homemade products. At the same time, participating merchants can present the newest and best quality merchandise, fully showcasing the very best of Hong Kong to global visitors.

A number of major shopping malls and department stores as well as trade associations have already confirmed their participation, including the ifc Mall, where outlets will use the theme “Hong Kong’s First” for their promotions. Other activities that tie in with the Festival’s four shopping themes, namely Fashion & Beauty, Jewellery & Watches, Consumer Electronics and Chinese Traditions, will also take place in various participating shopping malls. These include exhibition on luxury timepieces, Jewellery Design Competition Showcase Display and Chinese Medicine Expo featuring millions of dollars of national treasures. Owing to the positive response of retail trade associations, the number of product expos is almost double that of last year. 

Total Travel Experience

Secondly, the Festival will showcase Hong Kong’s total travel experience. During the Festival, visitors will be able to enjoy an enhanced version of A Symphony of Lights, a world-class multi-media light and sound show using the renowned Victoria Harbour as its backdrop. To complement the Festival’s theme of “Showcase of the World”, the show will be enhanced with rooftop pyrotechnics every Saturday night during the Festival and also on 1 July (11 nights in total). The best viewing location is along the Avenue of Stars on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront. 

Last year, the Festival adopted the theme of ‘late-night shopping and dining’. Surveys by the HKTB show that about 70% of visitors indicated that the extended operating hours of the outlets would encourage their spending. In view of this, HKTB will once again promote late-night shopping during this year’s Festival. To date, over 55% of participating merchants have agreed to extend their hours until at least 10:00 pm. Together with night entertainment programmes such as A Symphony of Lights, the HKTB aims to encourage business and family travellers to join more leisure activities.

To create even more incentives to spend, the Festival will feature a computerised Lucky Draw. Increasingly used worldwide for its convenience, this electronic draw will not only encourage greater participation and hence stimulate spending, but also offer more efficient handling and processing procedures. This year, the lucky draw will feature 70 fabulous prizes worth more than HK$2.2 million in total. Also, the number of lucky draw counters will be increased to 25. For every spending of HK$300 or more on a single receipt at the participating merchants or restaurants, the purchaser can register for an entry into the draw. With more enticing prizes and lucky draw counters, visitors and local residents can enjoy greater convenience of entry and better chances of winning. 

HKTB is also actively promoting various activities and entertainment programmes staged by other parties during the Festival period. These include food festivals and activities staged by five food districts, namely Lan Kwai Fong in Central and Canton Road, Ashley Road, Knutsford Terrace and Hillwood Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. To complement the culinary experience, winning chefs of the Best of the Best Culinary Awards will give cooking demonstrations. Together with other regular and special activities, visitors of all ages and interests are promised a total travel experience in Hong Kong this summer.

Citywide Support

Over the past years, the Hong Kong Shopping Festival has proven a highly successful business platform for the local retail and catering sectors. To date, around 6,500 outlets have already confirmed their participation. The HKTB is confident that the final number will break last year’s record of 6,500 outlets. In addition, 29 major shopping malls and department stores, the largest-ever number, have pledged their support for the Festival. Many of these are famous shopping centres in the commercial districts of Central and Admiralty, which will facilitate greater participation by business travellers. 

To offer visitors even greater value, the HKTB is bundling special offers and privileges from 80 merchants accredited under the Quality Tourism Services (QTS) scheme in a 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival a Passport to Special Offers.

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