HONG KONG: Chinese Tourists Made More Than 130 Million Outbound Trips In 2017 And Spent US$115 Billion

From T-shirts declaring disputed territories to brawls in luxury boutiques, the antics of Chinese tourists overseas have generated many a headline recently.

However, those who have made viral news are but a small percentage of the millions who now travel overseas, 130 million did so in 2017, a number that is expected to rise this year, according to a report by a think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Eager to cash in on the significant spending power of the newly intrepid population, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, China accounts for more than a fifth of the money spent by outbound tourists.

Destinations around the world are clamouring to attract travellers from the Middle Kingdom. But do places actually experience a net benefit from the boom?

Here in Hong Kong, one of the most popular destinations for mainland Chinese tourists, the advantages are often overshadowed.

Tourism is one of the major pillars of the SAR’s economy, with the total expenditure associated with inbound tourists amounting to HK$296.7 billion last year, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Nevertheless, a 2017 study published in the Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, which explored local residents’ perceptions towards visitors from across the border, found that although economic and educational gains are recognised, they are far outweighed by social and cultural concerns.

Those surveyed, pointed out that mainland Chinese are rude, and lack social etiquette and education.

However, a new generation of Chinese tourists who are opting out of tour packages in search of more authentic experiences is doing what it can to subvert the stereotype.

This demographic is of particular interest to developing destinations such as Laos, which welcomed 639,000 Chinese visitors in 2017, according to and where tourism officials and local residents alike are hopeful increasing numbers of visitors will have a positive effect.

Having declared 2018 the year to Visit Laos, authorities are working hard to improve infrastructure, much of it with the help of investment from China, which is not always welcomed with open arms.

Of course, there are many horror stories that illustrate the environmental and societal pressures brought to bear by the unfettered growth of tourism on a destination that is not completely prepared for it.

But, with strategic planning, a more sustainable approach and increased local involvement, there have been success stories.

Laos’ own Vang Vieng is a prime example, having overcome a tainted reputation to emerge as a destination popular with travellers from China and South Korea in search of a very different experience to that of the backpackers who came before them.

And while it may not be reaping quite the economic rewards it was at peak party time, Vang Vieng is now doing its thing with an eco-tourism tagline and without the heavy loss of life.


Tourism Observer

HONG KONG: Growing Tourism In Hong Kong

There has been a sharp increase of tourists from Mainland China, due to the introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) in 2003.

The tourism industry has been an important part of the economy of Hong Kong since it shifted to a service sector model in the late 1980s and early 90s.

The total tourism expenditure associated with inbound tourism reached HK$7,333 per capita in 2011. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) Overall visitor arrivals to Hong Kong in 2010 totalled just over 36 million, a 21.8% increase over the previous year.

The numbers included approximately 22.5 million mainland Chinese arrivals, 8.2 million short-haul (excluding Mainland) arrivals, and 4.8 million long-haul arrivals. In July 2011 more than 3.8 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong, equivalent to more than half of Hong Kong's population and setting an outright record for a single month.

Along with the strong growth in the number of Mainland visitors, most other long and short-haul markets are also performing healthily with double-digit growth over 2006. Among long-haul markets, Europe, Africa and the Middle East took the lead with arrivals of 1,916,861, an 11.1% increase that made this Hong Kong's best-performing market region in 2006.

While facing increasing competition from Mainland cities and Macau, the Hong Kong Tourism Board works closely with authorities and trade to make Hong Kong an essential component in all combo and multi-destination itineraries.

Tourism, along with international trade and financial services are the three main sources of income for Hong Kong.

In December 2006, there were 612 hotels and tourist guest houses in Hong Kong, with 52,512 rooms. The average occupancy rate across all categories of hotels and tourist guesthouses was 87% for the whole of 2006, a one-percentage-point growth compared with 2005 despite the 7.4% increase in Hong Kong's room supply between December 2005 and December 2006. During 2006, 62.7% of all visitors stayed one night or longer, which is a trend reflecting Hong Kong's increasing importance as a regional transport hub.

The Tourism Commission was established in May 1999 to promote Hong Kong as Asia's premier international city for all visitors. A Tourism Strategy Group, comprising representatives from the Government, the HKTB and various sectors of the tourism industry has been established to advise the Government on tourism development from a strategic perspective.

== Top 10 most visiting nationalities


Rank Country 2016
1 China 19,044,388
2 Taiwan 3,455,618
3 South Korea 2,011,877
4 United States 1,022,444
5 Japan 1,009,666
6 Philippines 942,544
7 Singapore 877,022
8 Australia 655,088
9 Malaysia 652,038
10 Thailand 652,000

Almost any of the districts of Hong Kong can be considered a tourist destination. The following locations are areas generally marked as main attractions.

- Hong Kong Island
- Victoria Peak
- Victoria Harbour
- Star Ferry Pier, Central
- Lan Kwai Fong
- Soho
- Stanley
- Repulse Bay
- Dr. Sun Yat-sen Museum
- Ocean Park Hong Kong

Including New Kowloon

- Hong Kong Art Museum
- Avenue of Stars
- Clock Tower
- Chungking Mansions
- Hong Kong Cultural Centre
- Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre
- Hong Kong History Museum
- Hong Kong Science Museum
- Hong Kong International Hobby and Toy Museum
- Sky100
- Hong Kong Observatory
- Kowloon Park
- Nathan Road
- Ocean Terminal
- The Peninsula Hotel
- Temple Street
- Ladies' Market
- Hong Kong Space Museum
- Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui
- Kowloon Walled City
- Wong Tai Sin Temple
- Chi Lin Nunnery
- Lee Yue Mun

New Territories
Including the Outlying Islands

- Che Kung Temple
- Cheung Chau
- Lamma Island
- Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
- Hong Kong Heritage Museum
- Hong Kong Railway Museum
- Hong Kong Wetland Park
- Ngong Ping 360
- Ping Shan
- Tai O
- Tian Tan Buddha
- Ting Kau Bridge
- Tsing Ma Bridge
- Tung Chung Fort

To facilitate entry of visitors, various measures were introduced in 2002. The quota of the Hong Kong Tour Group Scheme of Mainland visitors has been abolished since January 2002. The number of Mainland travel agents authorised to organise such tours has also increased significantly.

Nationals from some 170 countries can visit Hong Kong visa free for period from seven days to 180 days. The Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) was introduced on 28 July 2003. The Scheme has been gradually extended and now covers Guangdong province, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin and nine cities in Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In 2006, over 6.6 million Mainland citizens travelled to Hong Kong under the IVS, which is 20.2% more than 2005.

The HKTB continues to promote the destination to business and leisure travellers through its worldwide "Hong Kong – Live it, Love it!" campaign. Leveraging on the opening of several new attractions from 2005 onwards, the HKTB has designated 2006 as "Discover Hong Kong Year".

The global marketing campaign makes use of a series of strategic promotions to showcase the new image of Hong Kong and promote it as a "must-visit" destination in 2006. The HKTB began its travel trade promotion in May 2005 and rolled out the consumer promotions worldwide in late 2005. Aloagreement, a series of joint overseas marketing initiatives is being conducted with Macau and the nine provincial tourism bureaus concerned.

In the years up to till 2012, the number of anchor babies in Hong Kong had been increasing.Pregnant mainland women seeking to give birth in Hong Kong, specifically to benefit from the right of abode.Their parents came from mainland to give birth in Hong Kong, which resulted in their children gaining the right to abode and enjoy social welfare in the city.

Hong Kong citizens expressed concerns that the pregnant women and anchor babies put heavier burden on Hong Kong's medical system. Some of them even called mainlanders "locusts" which take away Hong Kong's resources from locals. Over 170,000 new births where both parents were mainlanders between 2001 and 2011,of which 32,653 were born in 2010.

CY Leung's first public announcement on policy as Chief Executive-elect was to impose a 'zero' quota on mainland mothers giving birth in Hong Kong. Leung further underlined that those who did may not be able to secure the right of abode for their offspring in Hong Kong.

Since 2012, there have been more mainland parallel traders coming to the northern parts of Hong Kong to import goods and export them back to mainland, which earns them some money for each transfer. Some products that are popular among these traders, such as infant formula, faced shortage in Hong Kong for an extended time as a result.

This made the government impose restrictions on the amount of milk powder exports from Hong Kong.Besides, since northern places like Sheung Shui became the transaction centres of the traders, this resulted in discontent from nearby residents.

HONG KONG: Wong Chuk Hang District Is Home To Street Art, Attracts Plenty Of Tourists

Since the opening of the MTR’s South Island Line, an increasing number of people are heading towards the Southern District to discover its hidden gems.

Here are five places that could soon put Hong Kong’s Southern District neighbourhoods on the tourist map.

The former industrial zone in Wong Chuk Hang district is home to street art and becomes an instant hit during the HK-Walls event earlier this year drawing local and foreign tourists.

This once-sleepy warehouse-and-factory neighbourhood is adorned with live mural paintings by Hong Kong and international artists, including Thai street artists, Mauy and Jecks who have large murals expressing their innermost feelings through colour, lines and shapes.

The Sensory Zero is gaining a following for the special drinks created by its owner Alvin, a coffee Q Grader and a tea taster, and his partner Dixon.

Try the popular Tea Champagne (Rose Oolong) with tasty dishes such as Beef Stew Super Bowl and Grilled Eel over Rice.

Mirth is a fascinating store that will amaze visitors with its wide array of homeware, stationery and toys.

Among the main attractions are children’s clothing designed by the shop owner, and accessories designed by her daughter.

It is located on M floor, B T Centre, 23 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Wong Chuk Hang.

Drop by the Happy Dinings Place eatery and you will enjoy tantalising delicacies such as pineapple bun with pork chop, chocolate spread and condensed milk toast, and iced milk tea with red beans.

A good destination for satisfying meals, minimeals and light snacks in nondescript surroundings.

It’s on the ground floor of Siu Kwan Mansion, 120 Old Main Street Aberdeen.

Travellers can get free 20th Anniversary Coupon Booklets upon arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Tourism Board Visitor Centre and various hotels citywide for smart traveller deals.

SINGAPORE: Singapore Tourism Borad Invests S$34m To Promote Singapore Tourism

The three parties will focus on promoting Singapore as an attractive stopover and twinning destination for travellers.

Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport Group and the Singapore Tourism Board on Monday Apr 17 renewed an ongoing partnership deal to promote Singapore as an attractive destination for travellers.

In a press release, the three parties said they will jointly invest S$33.75 million under the renewed three-year partnership, and their marketing efforts will focus on promoting the country as a choice stopover as well as a twinning destination - travelling to two destinations on a single itinerary.

This augments the previous approach of only targeting travellers from specific long-haul markets such as the US and Europe, they added.

The renewed partnership will also see the Free Singapore Tour refreshed.

The tour, which provides transfer passengers with a free taste of Singapore's offerings, will be expanded to include more experiences curated based on travellers' interests such as food tours to sample local fare, the press release said.

The Free Singapore Tour pulled in 59,000 passengers last year, up 8 per cent from the previous year, it added.

The partnership also hopes to broaden the marketing programme to woo business and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) visitors, the press release said.

Meanwhile, Singapore was the top tourist destination by expenditure in the Asia Pacific in 2016, according to an index from MasterCard released this week. The Lion City easily topped long-time competitor Hong Kong, which ranked 10th by that metric.

Singapore tourism arrivals hit a record high in 2016, bringing in 24.8 billion Singapore dollars ($17.7 billion) to the city state. A majority of the tourists came from nearby countries like China, Indonesia and India.

The center of the universe is moving to Asia, David Scowsill, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council, said. He cited high growth figures in the region and said, A lot of this growth is driven by China. The Chinese market has gone from 58 million outbound trips in 2010 to 135 million now.

Those Chinese tourists, however, are not visiting Hong Kong as much as they used to although they still made up 77 percent of all visitors to the city last year.

In February 2017, the number of mainland Chinese tourists coming in to Hong Kong was down by 7 percent according to data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Hong Kong has been an important shopping destination for Chinese tourists, and its tourist industry was hit as shoppers became more careful with their cash during tighter economic conditions.

Allan Zeman, chairman of the Lan Kwai Fong Group, which helps oversee an iconic party district in Hong Kong, said he's confident the city's tourism numbers will only increase from here.

"I think that tourism seems to have bottomed out in Hong Kong at the moment…but it is rising a bit," Zeman said, adding that a bridge under construction between Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai, would make connect those tourist hot spots and attract more visitors.

"I think the secret for both locations is they have to continue to reinvent themselves with new product so that visitors, particularly on the leisure side, come not once, not twice, but continually visit the location every three or four years," Scowsill said.

Singapore and Hong Kong are often compared as travel destinations because tourist attractions in both countries are man-made, and they rely heavily on experiences such as shopping, amusement parks and restaurants.

One of the main challenges for both cities has therefore been getting the same tourists make repeated visits.

The Singapore Tourism Board is trying to ensure the city state remains relevant by organizing a robust line of events throughout the year and forming strategic partnerships.

"Partnerships with Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines allow us to go into the international marketing space in a much more concerted way and effective way. We also have very good partnerships with JTB in Japan and Flight Centre in Australia, and that's helping us to drive tourists from those destinations as well," Lionel Yeo, CEO of the Singapore Tourism Board, said.

About 58.7 million passengers pass through Singapore's Changi every year, and that airport has been ranked the world's best for five consecutive years.

Events are a major attraction for tourists to Singapore, and its Formula 1 race has been a major crowd-puller over the past eight years. To add to that success, the Singapore tourism board is working to bring in other sporting events. Soccer's International Champions Cup, which will be held for the first time in Singapore this year, and mixed-martial arts showdown UFC Fight Night will be held there in June.

In Hong Kong, the annual Rugby Sevens attracts a large amount of tourists to the city, the city needs more such events.

"I think we need to look at having an event a month, and if we can, become the event capital of Asia," he said.

Both Singapore and Hong Kong are so-called MICE hubs — which is short for destinations for meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions. As important financial centers, attracting tourism dollars from business travelers provides a large source of income.