HKTB launches 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) today launched the city’s largest shopping promotion, the 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival, with the highest number of participating organisations.

This year, the Festival has already set a number of new records. Over 6,800 retail and dining outlets have confirmed their participation, and the HKTB is confident the final number will reach beyond 7,000. Together with 29 major shopping malls and department stores, the Festival promises a citywide festive ambience. 

Officiating at the launch ceremonyt, HKTB Chairman The Hon Mrs Selina Chow, GBS, OBE, JP, said the record number reflected the strong support for the Festival among the retail and dining sectors. “Our surveys show that close to 80% of the merchants who participated in the Festival last year indicated that they would participate in the event again,” she remarked. “As shown by the encouraging figure this year, the Festival has attracted not only the veterans’ continued strong support, but also many newcomers, demonstrating that this Mega Event offers a truly successful platform for promoting our tourism business.”

Also performing the ceremony, Commissioner for Tourism, Ms Eva Cheng, JP, said that the Festival was a good example of the trade’s commitment and readiness to give visitors its best services and highest standards. “It is an excellent showcase of our unique strength as a ‘shoppers’ paradise’, renowned not just for our diverse range of products and excellent services, but also the guarantee of quality and value for money,” she said.

In addition to enthusiastic enrolment, various participating organisations, including merchant associations, are taking the initiative to organise special events and activities that tie in with the Festival theme “Showcase of the World”. These events, almost double the number last year, will highlight the best of four product categories, namely Fashion & Beauty, Jewellery & Watches, Consumer Electronics and Chinese Traditions. 

Among participating merchants, almost 3,000 outlets are accredited under the Quality Tourism Services (QTS) scheme. Close to one-third of the outlets have agreed to provide special offers and privileges to visitors, which are included in the 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival Passport to Special Offers. To create even more incentives to spend, the HKTB is once again organising a lucky draw featuring 25% more prizes than last year. Together the prizes are worth over HK$2.2 million. 

The support for the Festival extends well beyond Hong Kong. Aside from the continuously positive responses from short-haul markets, the Festival is enjoying increasing popularity in long-haul markets, following successful promotions in Australia last year. To date, the travel trade in various major markets, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom have all introduced special packages to Hong Kong. As well as strengthening publicity in secondary markets, such as the Netherlands, the HKTB is co-operating with agents in 24 Mainland cities to promote Hong Kong Shopping Festival packages.

Meanwhile, the massive global publicity drive by the HKTB has initiated enormous interest among overseas media organisations, with 18 key source markets – the largest-ever number – taking part in the “Shopper of the Year” contest. Also, in markets such as Germany, Italy and Israel, electronic media, which is not commonly used for similar promotions, has given publicity for the contest. In mid-July, the winners, along with the media from various markets, will come to Hong Kong for the final round of the contest. To create even greater media exposure and publicity, the HKTB is bringing in 130 media representatives worldwide during the Festival period.

As for consumers, the HKTB has staged promotions in different markets, placing specific focus on the young office ladies, family and business visitor segments. Targeting the female segment, the HKTB has invited celebrity Ms Karen Mok to take part in the promotional video and various overseas promotions in order to highlight Hong Kong’s stylish, contemporary and cosmopolitan image.

This year, the HKTB is stepping up promotions for the family segment. For example, the HKTB is collaborating with 700 Mainland primary schools to promote travelling with children. The HKTB is also leveraging on conventions and exhibitions in Hong Kong, such as the 88th Lions Clubs International Convention 2005, to promote the Festival to business travellers.

To allow visitors to experience the city’s exciting nightlife, the HKTB is encouraging participating merchants to extend their opening hours. Already over 50% or 3,600 outlets have agreed to extend opening hours until 10:00 pm, 500 more than last year. In addition, selected food districts will stage themed activities until the late evening or even midnight to encourage patronage.

To complement the 2005 Hong Kong Shopping Festival, the nightly extravaganza – “A Symphony of Lights” – has been enhanced with rooftop pyrotechnics every Saturday and on 1 July during the Festival period.

Mrs Chow strongly encouraged the community to take an active part in the Festival, by being good hosts to visitors, and by encouraging friends and relatives to come to Hong Kong. “With exceptional support from our business sector, the Government and the community, we are confident of attracting a record-breaking 4.63 million visitor arrivals and generating at least HK$14.2 billion of spending for our tourism-related sectors,” she said.

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