Its new slogan Hong Kong Live it. Love it! does not ring hollow. Corporate travel and meetings are heading to Hong Kong in what appears to be a renewed love affair with the city. Kevin Sinclair reports.

Like every other destination in Asia, Hong Kong saw a savage drop in the corporate travel and meetings market during the SARS outbreak. But the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and the industry in general say the market is on the rebound.

China has played a large part in the faster-than-expected recovery. Attendance at major exhibitions continues to rise steadily, fuelled especially by a growth in the numbers of mainland delegates. Growing international interest in doing business with China after its entry into the World Trade Organization last year attracts visitors from other markets.

So Hong Kong gets a three-pronged benefit: people going to China on business, people coming from China on business, and businessmen from the world and China meeting in Hong Kong.

HKTB spokesman, Mr Simon Clennell, said in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, HKTB expected a good deal of infrastructural, marketing and sponsorship business brokered through Hong Kong.

A return of corporate events as soon as SARS was over also helped. Louis Vuitton took 150 executives to Hong Kong for a regional conference in late June. Nuskin brought in some 2,000 agents for a gathering in September. There have been numerous other corporate events that have attracted more than 1,300 overseas attendees as well as the flow of individual corporate travellers, which is fast reaching pre-SARS figures.

The industry expects recent visa relaxation on individual travel from China to Hong Kong, continued interest in China, strong marketing programmes by the destination and new exciting products that are being built, as the catalysts to seal Hong Kong’s victory as Asia’s foremost destination for corporate travel.

“The new International Exhibition Centre opening at Chek Lap Kok airport in three years will also help us bring in major new events.

“Disneyland, opening about the same time, will add to Hong Kong’s appeal as a corporate events and incentives venue,” Mr Clennell said.

A planned extension to the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and 20 new hotels are scheduled to open between now and 2006. Mr Clennell said a specific segment of the HKTB’s new global advertising campaign was dedicated to promoting Hong Kong as the ideal venue for conventions, exhibitions and corporate meetings, and generating attendance at forthcoming events.

New advertisements based on the Hong Kong Live it. Love it! theme will soon be appearing in specialised corporate publications worldwide. Direct mailing will also be used to reach corporate decisionmakers and convention organisers.

“And we are enlisting the help of major foreign chambers of commerce in Hong Kong to encourage their members to bring in new corporate business through their overseas parent companies or business contacts,” Mr Clennell added.

HKTB is also stepping up visit programmes and co-hosting events in order to show off Hong Kong to decisionmakers. Two months ago, for instance, HKTB was co-organiser of the Asian Exhibition Forum which brought in 300 event organisers, industry leaders and trade media to Hong Kong.

Around the same time, 60 incentive travel agents from South & South-east Asia made a familiarisation visit. A similar programme for 75 incentive houses from long-haul markets will be organised in mid-November. Another, targeting 50 convention organisers, is set for March 2004.

Yet another front in this global effort is the strong presence HKTB maintains at major trade shows and industry events.

At ITME (Incentive Travel & Meetings Expo) in Chicago, 19 trade partners joined with HKTB in a united front appearance. In October, they linked with the Trade Development Council to promote Hong Kong at the International Union of Fairs annual congress in Cairo. In November, 30 trade partners will be part of the Hong Kong Inc at IT&CMA in Bangkok.

AT A GLANCE

Convention, exhibition and corporate event visitors in 2002 attracted 491,292 visitors, up 68 per cent on 1998.