Tourism Theory and Practice in Hong Kong City - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Abstract 03 1.0. Destination Analysis 04 1.1. An outline of the prevailing business environment and how it impacts the destination 04 1.2. SWOT Analysis of Hong Kong City 05 1.3. Key Components of the destination to be promoted 06 1.4. Justification 06 1.5. Evaluation of existing promotional material associated with the destination and its competitors 07 1.6. Evaluation of competitors 07 2.0. Target Market 07 2.1. Justification of the market to be targeted 07 2.2. Demographic and Psychographic Characteristics 08 3.0. Branding 08 3.1. Justification of the proposed branding theme based on the target market and key components of the destination 09 3.2. Creative key phrases, images and promotional theme to be used to reinforce this branding 09 4.0. Advertising/Promotional campaign 09 4.1. Where and how the destination will be promoted 09 4.2. How the promotion will target the desired audience 10 5.0. References 12 Abstract Tourism industry is a major boost for economy of any country and same is the case for Hong Kong. The Tourism Commission (TC) and the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) are both being constituted for promoting and developing the tourism sector in Hong Kong for both leisure and business for visitors. These establishments promote Hong Kong as the most preferred destination of the world. Every country is paying great attention towards the improvement of the tourist attractions and destinations along with the comfort level for attracting tourists. The Hong Kong tourism board has made some serious investments in this sector and the expenditure had increased by an average 17% since 2006. Till 2013, Hong Kong had a total of 250 hotels providing health facilities and the objective of the board is to increase number of hotels to improve its sustainable marketing. The board has implemented various advertising programs and campaigns to enrich its tourism. The board looks to increase the number of day’s stay of the visitors by making their stay more comfortable and attracting tourist beyond the boundaries of Asia. 1.0. Destination Analysis 1.1. An outline of the prevailing business environment and how it impacts the destination Tourism is growing day by day and also is the income generated from it. Tourism is also a significant contributor in Hong Kong’s economy. There has been a steep rise in the number of visitors to this country between 2006 and 2012. The number of tourist has increased from 25,300,000 to 48,600,000 representing a 92% increase in the total numbers. The biggest tourist that come to Hong Kong are Chinese and from other Asian countries like Taiwan and Macau (Fan and Yin, 2011). The major part of increase has seen tourist from Mainland China and very few from different parts of the world as policies and programs have favoured the Chinese than the others in the period of 7 years. The pie chart diagram above shows the purpose of visit in the above mentioned period showing a strong and big share for tourist as 61% and 18% for other tourist visiting friends. Only 18% of the total visitors come for business purpose and a mean 7% visit Hong Kong en route (Invest HK, 2013). The number of visits to the hotels in the country has also immensely increased with an increase in demand due to steady increase in tourism. With the increase in the number of hotels, a clear picture of the Hong Kong Government and local people to support tourism is seen. The governing bodies have also taken steps like waving of Hotel Accommodation Tax to attract tourist and also encourage them to stay longer. 1.2. SWOT Analysis for Hong Kong City The following detailed analysis contains the SWOT analysis of Hong Kong City (HONG KONG TOURISM REPORT Q1, 2013). 1.2.1. Strengths Hong Kong city has accommodation facility for the tourist with 217 hotels in the city comprising of 68,753 rooms on July, 2013. The waiver of the Hotel Accommodation Tax by the Hong Kong Government helped improve the competitiveness of the hotel industry and also assisted in attracting tourist for longer stays. The excellent infrastructure of the City is an added bonus. The licensing regime set by the Travel Agents Ordinance of Hong Kong has helped in establishing quality and sustainable management in the city. 1.2.2. Weaknesses The weaknesses of the city are: The City of Hong Kong does not has diversity in attractions to attract tourist from Germany, UK, Italy, France and Canada having a higher currency value to assist in developing the economy. The focus and policies are only in favour of visitors from China and rest of Asia. A major weakness is the less diversity in products and services for Western Countries. 1.2.3. Opportunities There is a wide scope of opportunity for Hong Kong to adapt. A few are: Adapt policies like free arrangement for visa like in Macau for Russian visitors. Development policies to attract tourists from all over the globe. The Government should look to allocate extra funds and incentive to develop the city as a tourism capital. 1.2.4. Threats The foremost threat is the planning out of an effective strategy to implement to help growth of tourism. A global double dip recession shall negatively impact the demand for tourism all across the world. 1.3. Key Components of the Destination The insider guide is needed to be incorporated for the tourist to assist them while visiting by selecting the best hotels and restaurants, bars and other tourist attractions to promote tourism in the city. Promotion of China’s cultural festival like Hong Kong Art and Shopping Festivals, Flower Show also is required to entertain visitors. 1.4. Justification Since the purpose of the visitors is basically for vacation so the hospitality industry should build more number of hotels. The government is also taking steps to promote hotel development to meet visitor needs. Initiatives have also been taken to convert old industrial buildings and heritage buildings into hotels. The comfort level of all types is to be also adhered to meet the customer demands. So Hong Kong is required to be developed as a tourist destination for large families and groups for an extended vacation and some serious contribution by the private investors are required in this direction (Lam, 2014). 1.5. Evaluation of existing promotional material associated with the destination and its competitors The Hong Kong Tourism Board is taking various initiatives in promoting tourism in the country. The organising of different events, like the Chinese New Year Parade has brought the country to a leading position in world tourism. The different shopping festivals and flower shows has developed it into worldwide attraction. 1.6. Evaluation of Competitors The main competitors of Hong Kong are Singapore, Macau and South Korea. These nations have very well recognised their significance of tourism within the economic development and made this as a competitive base. Singapore tourism has promoted medical tourism, reregulate casinos and these attractions are unavailable in Hong Kong. Seoul offers a mixture of both business and leisure tourism providing both cultural and commercial attractions. These countries have various leisure and entertainment attractions for the tourist in comparison to Hong Kong. 2.0. Target Market 2.1. Justification for the market to be targeted Basic development of tourism and promotional activities are done according to the needs of the visitors. The target market is the current Hong Kong city targeting developments towards longer stays, high-experiential and spending as most tourist come for vacations. With the huge expenditure by the Hong Kong government is helping in developing the country as a tourist destination to ensure more satisfied visitors and provide them with memorable experience. 2.2. Demographic and psychographic characteristics The market can be segmented into three major groups of consumers: Unwinders: They are those people who see the holidays as an opportunity for the relaxation and seek time for escaping from their duties. The number of such visitors is very high as a large number of visitors shall come as Hong Kong shall be a place to feel relaxed and focus on their lives. Connectors: The set of people who come for holidays to connect and meet with their friends as their particular reason for visit to Hong Kong. The accommodating environment shall provide the tourist to present their own preferences through their activities and ensure them with a good stay. Social Fun-seekers: This group of visitors are that person who consider holidays as only days for fun making and also includes the en route customers. They only look forward to enjoy and share their experiences with friends and other holiday makers. Tourism cannot be stagnant as it keeps changing due to the change in consumer tastes, steady source of income, government policies and convenience of transportation. These changes create more opportunities and thus monitoring the trends would provide opportunities for growth and satisfying of consumers needs (Travel and Tourism, 2012). 3.0. Branding 3.1. Justification of the proposed branding theme based on the target market and key components of the destination Hong Kong is one such global company that has adapted tourism is their strategic sector for growth and development. Hong Kong is required to promote its cultural attractions and infrastructure to position itself as a recognised position on the global tourism map. The city will develop as a positive place brand which is capable of encouraging inward investment. This shall help it maintaining a successful brand theme as “Asia’s World City”, as most of the tourist are from the Asian countries and also attract tourists from different parts of the world like Canada, Germany, UK and Australia. 3.2. Creative key phrases, images and promotional theme to be used to reinforce this branding Some of the phrases and promotional themes that shall to reinforce the branding of Hong Kong city are “Ensure you visit Hong Kong- the sweetest place on Earth for one to be” , “Hong Kong City the Natural Place to Visit”, etc. It would just not be confined to Hong Kong being termed as Asia’s World City (Tourist Vs Traveller, 2012). This creation of phrases and themes shall help promote as a recognised brand in world tourism. 4.0. Advertisement/Promotional campaigns 4.1. Where and how the destination will be promoted (action plan/timeline) The advertising promotional campaigns shall be in the form of AdWords, where advertisements of Hong Kong city shall appear within the advertising links such as Google to target visitors from different parts of the world and not only just the Asian tourists (Morrison, Taylor and Douglas, 2004). AdWors serve as a perfect mode of advertising as it allows targeting of multiple locations (Briggs, S. 2001). Alliance with other tourism agencies of the world shall also help in opening gates for visitors from other countries of the world. These ventures shall present Hong Kong City as a more fashionable tourist destination which offers attractions for visitors (IIFL, 2012). A few of the modes and their results are depicted in the table below. Action Plan Expected Results Thorough the use of AdWords targeting customers from all across the world. This ad system shall enable promotions on advertisement links like Google regarding different hotels and services of Hong Kong, globally. Alliance with international travel agencies. These partnerships shall open the doors for encouraging visitors from all over the world and not just the basis format of Asian tourists. Through Government Agencies with the use of billboards, media, radio, newspapers and other advertising materials. This action plan is a bit restricted as it basically caters the Asian travellers to increase the stay at the hotels in Hong Kong. 4.2. How the promotion will target the desired audience The promotion of the attraction and city accommodations shall target the desired audience of the country. An integrated approach comprising of a combination of the internet, consumer protection and the public relation programs shall be employed. These efforts shall enhance a sustainable marketing of Hong Kong City from just being conveyed as ‘Asia’s World City’ brand. Also the Hong Kong media guide and the promotion through social media shall help in assisting the tourist from different parts of the world (Kotler and Gertner, 2002). It can be easily concluded that Hong Kong is considered as the most fascinating destination in Asia. Only a desired directional promotion of the City as a world tourism centre shall allow visitors from different parts of the world and provide the country with an opportunity to strengthen its economy through the right mode of using tourism as a source of revenue for many people of the country. References Briggs, S. 2001. Successful web marketing for the tourism & leisure sectors. London: Kogan Page. Fan, I & Yin, J., 2011, “Hong Kong Tourism Industry, Economic Focus, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.hangseng.com/cms/tpr/eng/analyses/PDF/ecof_e_2011apr.pdf HONG KONG TOURISM REPORT Q1, 2013, INCLUDES 5-YEAR FORECASTS TO 2017, retrieved on 24-04-2014 www.businessmonitor.com Invest HK, 2013, “Travel Service Companies”, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.investhk.gov.hk/wp- IIFL, 2012. Hong Kong Tourism Board announces new marketing campaign, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Hong-Kong-Tourism-Board-announces-new-marketing-campaign/5440765869 Kotler, P. & Gertner, D., 2002. Brand Management, 9(4-5): 249-261. Legislative Council Panel on Economic Development Hong Kong Tourism Board Work Plan for 2013-2014, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.tourism.gov.hk/resources/sc_chi/paperreport_doc/legco/2013-02-28/edev0225cb1_565_3_sc.pdf Lam, J. 2014. Insight and Opinion: Expand Hong Kong's tourism appeal beyond the mainland market, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1180283/expand-hong-kongs-tourism-appeal-beyond-mainland-market Morrison, A. M., Taylor, J. S. and Douglas, A, 2004. ‘Website evaluation in tourism and hospitality: the art is not yet stated’, In Mills, J. E. & Law, R. (Eds.), Handbook of consumer behavior, tourism, and the Internet, NY : Haworth Hospitality Press, 2004. Tourist Vs Traveller, 2012. 105 tourism slogans from around the world #WTM12, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://touristvstraveller.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/105-tourism-slogans-from-around-the-world-wtm12/ Travel and Tourism, 2012. Chapter 15, retrieved on 24-04-2014 http://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2012/en/pdf/E15.pdf Read More