'We Love Hong Kong' campaign enters second phase

The "We Love HK" campaign today entered its second phase with many more offers from a list of Award Merchants.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair are offering a further 3,000 tickets, Yung Kee Restaurant giving away 500 world-famous roast geese and the Island Shangri-La is offering almost two-thirds off the rate for an Executive Suite.

More than 24 hotels have signed up to become campaign Award Merchants, meaning that they offer special deals to anyone with receipts showing that they have spent at least HK$1,000 locally.

Island Shangri-La is offering Executive Suites at HK$1,998 nett, down from the original rate of HK$5,800. Similarly, The Excelsior has a 60 percent discount on Suite rooms.

The first 500 people with local receipts worth HK$1,000 can claim a Yung Kee roast goose priced at HK$100. Similarly Maxim's Caterers has 1,000 portions of Peking Duck at Peking Garden restaurants and 2,000 "Get a second beverage" coupons at Starbucks.

Cathay Pacific, which has already rolled out 4,500 deeply discounted tickets to regional destinations, has provided 2,000 more to Australia, UK and Canada. Among them are 1,200 tickets to Sydney and Melbourne at HK$2,500, 400 tickets to London at HK$2,500 and 400 to Vancouver for HK$3,000.

Dragonair is offering 1,000 air tickets to any of its China mainland destinations for just $800, a move which follows the success of the airline's previous offer of 1,000 air tickets to Phuket for $1,000.

"The response to the Phuket offer has been very good," said Stanley Hui, Dragonair's Chief Executive Officer. "The new offer provides more choice to the public and will we hope give another boost to the local travel industry, as well as support Hong Kong's economy, given the effect that SARS has had on the community."

On the tour side, Cathay Pacific Holidays is offering a six-day/four-night package for two to Cairns for HK$3,300 per person.

Retailer DFS Galleria will give 10 coupons worth at HK$100 each that can be used to get money off on any store purchase over HK$500. Likewise Marathon Sports will give HK$50 coupons that are good store-wide for customers who spend $300 or more.

Within just 15 days, the number of merchants who are taking part in the campaign has jumped from 1,500 to over 3,000, including 25 airlines, 80 hotels, 60 cinemas, more  than 200 restaurants, 1,500 retailers, 1,300 travel agents and 10,000 taxis. This number does not include the many more merchants who have not yet registered with the campaign website.

Besides, over 50,000 people have booked local tours because of the campaign - six times the normal. Some 20,000 people have called the PCCW hotline and 240,000 visited the campaign Website.

"On behalf of the Tourism Coalition, I would like to thank everyone who has taken part so far," Cathay Pacific Director and Chief Operating Officer Philip Chen, who is also the campaign's Convenor said: "The enthusiasm for this campaign shown by local business and the Hong Kong people has been overwhelming. Support from companies outside of the tourism travel sectors has shown just how effective the campaign has been in uniting Hong Kong people in their determination to lift Hong Kong's economy.

He added: "We are only half-way through this campaign. I want to encourage any business that has not yet joined to do so now and urge every citizen to get out, spend a little money and help life in Hong Kong return to normal."

The "We Love HK" campaign was created by the Tourism Coalition of Hong Kong, which comprises members of the tourism industry, including the Board of Airline Representatives, Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners, Hong Kong Hotels Association and Travel Industry Council.