Hong Kong Tourism Board to enhance the "big city, small neighborhood" experience, promoting deeper revisits and local consumption in the district.

On May 13th, acting Director of the Hong Kong Tourism Commission, Liu Zhen, replied to questions from legislators, stating that the Hong Kong Tourism Board will gradually enhance the "Hong Kong: A City of Small Neighborhoods" experience this year. In addition to reshaping the "Old Town Central", "Sham Shui Po", and "West Kowloon" projects by adding more new content to the existing projects, the Hong Kong Tourism Board plans to further expand the promotion of projects to include other areas in order to provide tourists with a richer experience and attract them to explore authentic culture, as well as drive consumption in the area. Furthermore, in encouraging tourists to deeply experience the authentic characteristics of Hong Kong, following the launch of the "Hong Kong Tastes" celebrity chef food guide in January, which attracted tourists to explore various districts of Hong Kong for food tasting, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will introduce more experience guides covering different themed experiences across multiple districts of Hong Kong, including films, culture, and more, to attract tourists to explore all areas of Hong Kong, broaden their horizons, and drive consumption in various districts. Liu Zhen stated that the optimized "M" brand plan requires the organizer to commission an independent professional organization to conduct surveys on event participants (including tourists) to evaluate the effectiveness of the event (including attendance numbers and economic benefits). The Cultural Arts Event Fund has also been optimized, requiring applicants to commission a third-party organization to conduct surveys and submit documents (such as survey results, online responses, and ticket sales data) to prove achievements/results and the economic impact of the event. In addition, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will establish different indicators for its flagship events, such as website visits, social media reach, global media exposure, participant satisfaction, recommendations to friends and family, and repeat participation, in order to measure effectiveness. The Hong Kong Tourism Board will review the indicator results after the event to serve as a reference for planning similar events in the future. In addition, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will establish indicators for individual funded events and activities based on the nature, scale, and specific details, such as total participants, visiting tourist participant numbers, promotional value, participant satisfaction, and other effectiveness indicators, to monitor progress and effectiveness. The Hong Kong government has always encouraged different event organizers and attractions to collect data to evaluate the economic benefits of the events. Event organizers and attractions can analyze the data to understand the accommodation patterns, dining, and shopping habits of tourists during the events, in order to optimize the design of related tourism products during the event period (such as themed tour routes, package deals, joint promotions, and extended activities), to enhance overall consumption, benefit various local businesses, and expand the economic benefits of the event. In addition to the Hong Kong government's promotion and funding of large-scale events, the government also welcomes and encourages the industry to fully utilize the flow of people and opportunities brought by the events. They have found that existing chambers of commerce, industries, and businesses offer ticket tail discounts during large events to activate more commercial activities. For example, some restaurants in the Kowloon City area offered dining discounts, free parking, and other benefits during the Hong Kong International Sevens rugby game; some business associations collaborated with Wan Chai bar merchants to offer discounts during the May Day holiday period, allowing customers to enjoy dining discounts with event tickets. In addition to various measures taken by the industry to attract tourists and locals, the Hong Kong Tourism Board is committed to expanding the coverage of event benefits and promoting themed offers and joint promotions during peak tourist seasons to stimulate tourist consumption. During last year's Hong Kong Winterfest, the Hong Kong Tourism Board, in collaboration with the Quality Tourism Services Association and the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, launched the "Winterfest Joy" promotion, which included discounts on dining, shopping, attractions, etc., and the response was positive. Building on the success of last year, the Hong Kong Tourism Board will introduce themed offers and joint promotions in summer and winter this year, linking up with major events across the city to boost tourist spending.