Hong Kong upbeat ahead of Qantas rejig

Hong Kong upbeat ahead of Qantas rejig
By admin


Hong Kong's tourism board expects the restructure of Qantas's Asian network to deliver a boost to tourism, despite a reduction in stopover traffic as the carrier diverts its Kangaroo route via Dubai.

Hong Kong Tourism Board regional director, Andrew Clark, told Travel Today that the destination expects to benefit from Qantas' 40% increase in capacity to the destination, one in a series of regional network changes announced ahead of its proposed tie-up with Emirates.

"I'd like to think it's slightly positive," he said. "I'm thinking that they're going to have to be more focused on Asia as a destination rather than just being a stopover en route to Europe."

Clark expects to see a "more aggressive" promotion of Asian destinations by the airline in coming months and confirmed they are currently in talks regarding future cooperation.

"Hopefully we'll be rolling things out with them in the near future, but that's yet to be confirmed," he revealed.

The tourism body is already seeing success in its promotion of Hong Kong as a destination in its own right, Clark revealed.

Although Australian visitor numbers remained flat in 2012 year on year, the source market delivered a "significant" increase in length of stay and expenditure.

Aussies are now staying an average four nights in Hong Kong, and spending HK$9,500 putting them fourth after China, Russia and the UAE.

He also reported a rise in the number of people adding trips to neighbouring destinations to their stay, with more than 40% of travellers crossing the border into China and equal amounts heading for Macau.

"Beijing and Shanghai are also popular add-ons from Hong Kong with fantastic air connectivity into both of those cities," Clark said.

HKTB will launch its summer campaign at the end of April, featuring a mix of outdoor, digital and television advertising. It coincides with a "significant" campaign in partnership with Flight Centre which will be supported by additional promotional activity through similar media channels as well as through Flight Centre's retail stores and email marketing.

It will be followed by a winter campaign which will seek to promote November's Wine and Dine month, and Christmas shopping opportunities for those travelling through Hong Kong to Europe in the peak stopover month of December.

Latest News

  • Cruise

P&O rescues Rotary volunteers after collapse of Air Vanuatu

P&O Cruises Australia has answered a plea for help from a group of young Australian Rotary volunteers, stranded in Vanuatu following the collapse of Air Vanuatu. The students, many of them teenagers from Albury, NSW, were volunteering for a youth project run by the Hive Rotary Club Australia when the airline abruptly cancelled all flights, […]

  • Destinations

Intrepid continues expansions with launch of first DMC in Jordan

Intrepid has increased its presence in the Middle East with the opening of its first destination management company in Jordan. Based in Amman, the local team will operate Intrepid’s range of nine experiential small group tours in Jordan from this summer, with a view to expanding the range for 2025 and beyond. Zina Bencheikh, managing […]

  • Appointments

Minor hotels appoints Puneet Dhawan to key Asia role

Global hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels has appointed Puneet Dhawan as head of Asia as the group plots its growth in Asia and India. From July, Dhawan will be responsible for the performance of all Minor Hotels properties in Asia, working in close collaboration with the Minor Hotels senior leadership team and will report […]

  • Appointments

Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal appoint Evon Ler to director of sales, Asia

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group have announced that Evon Ler will join them in the new role of director of sales, Asia. She will work closely with Tony Archbold (VP, Sales, APAC, Crystal) and Susan Haberle (VP, Sales & Partnerships, APAC, A&K) with trade support across the region. Ler comes to the A&K family with more […]