Is Hong Kong A Preferable Travel Destination?
One of Hong Kongs important incomes is from tourism. In 2010, the annual number of inbound tourists has 30 million. Mainland Chinese visitors accounted for 22.7 million, followed by the visitors from Taiwan, accounting for 2.2 million people; Hong Kong is one of the most popular tourist places. Why the tourists like to travel Hong Kong? In this project we will analysis Mainland Chinese this group of tourist in Hong Kong. And we will analysis what reasons attract the tourist. We will analysis some products is it enough for tourists?
Introduction of Hong Kong
History
Hong Kong the full name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. It is located in the Pearl River estuary, the South China Sea on the Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, connected to the mainland China, and the New Territories.
Under the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997.
Climate
Hong Kong has a sub-tropical climate with distinct seasons. Hong Kong Spring is on March to May. The temperature and humidity are rising. Evenings can be cool and average temperature is
Summer is on June to August. It is very hot, humid and sunny, with occasional showers and thunderstorms. The temperature can exceed 31°C and high humidity levels can make it feel even hotter. In summer time, the average temperature can have 26a„?- 31a„?. The tourists can enjoy the sunshine and swimming in Repulse Bay Beach. Then it is autumn.
Autumn is on September to November. There are pleasant breezes, plenty of sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Many people regard these as the best months of the year to visit Hong Kong. The tourists can go hiking in Lamma Island. In autumn the average temperature is
Winter is from December to February. It is quite cool, dry and cloudy, with occasional cold fronts. The temperature can drop below 10°C in urban areas. The tourist can go to Temple Street to eat Pot Rice. The average temperature is 12a„? -20 a„?.
Attraction
In Hong Kong, the attraction has two types. It is a natural and man-made attraction. First we will introduce Tai O. Tai O is located in the west of Lantau Island, New Territories, the existence in Hong Kong’s most famous fishing village. Tai O is a natural attraction, Near Tai O there are lots of the growth of mangroves, visitors can enjoy the natural beauty of the local. Also the tourist can see the hut in Tai O. This is a Hong Kong early fishing village, and it is the homes of the fishermen.
Hong Kong Disneyland is a man-made attraction. It is located Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong Lantau Island. Hong Kong Disneyland was officially opened on September 12, 2005. Also there have hotels too. There have six themes. For example, Fantasyland, Tomorrow land, Toy Story land etc. This park can attract the family to travel. The tourists can go there by rail MTR Disneyland Resort Line from Sunny Bay Station and Disneyland Resort Station.
Analysis of Mainland Chinese
The increasing and growth number of Chinese mainland visitors to Hong Kong. Last year, it has 5,550,000 of mainland individual visitors. Mainland visitors go to Hong Kong from China, generally about 25-44 years old. The visitors will stay around 3-4 days; over half of the visitor’s will spend on shopping. And they have a higher average education and income.
Now, the Mainland visitors go to Hong Kong visit is very easy. Because the Hong Kong Government has provided the “Signed a multi-line “, they can visit Hong Kong still the holidays. First, mainland visitors visit Hong Kong main purpose is shopping, For example: they will buy an electronic products, preferred clothes, jewelry, beauty cosmetics and health products. It is because Hong Kong have most international brand, and have confidence guarantee.
Ad Hoc Quota Trial Scheme for Cross Boundary Private Cars is means a self-driving tour of China and Hong Kong, Guangdong and Hong Kong traveling by car, is the implementation of a pilot scheme by the Hong Kong Government and the Guangdong provincial government plans to allow cross-border traveling vehicles in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province. But this plan stops in March 2012.
Tourism products in Hong Kong
Transportation
Hong Kong provided a wide range of transportation to cater the transport demands so Hong Kong’s transportation network is highly developed. Over 90% of daily travels (11 million) are on public transport, the highest such percentage in the world. Our target consumers could go everywhere that they like.
Payment can be made using the Octopus card, a stored value system introduced by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR), which is widely accepted on railways, buses and ferries, and accepted like cash at other outlets go to the urban city.
Mass Transit Railway is the most convenient way to understand how to go the place that we want to visit. There are all together ten lines in the MTR system, with a total of 83 railway stations and 68 light rail stops. It is utmost comfortable to go to the Hong Kong International Airport into the city center or rural place like Tai Po and Yuen Long and other famous attraction like the Hong Kong Disneyland.
Bus services have a long history in Hong Kong. They could take the bus to go everywhere. There are also a variety of non-franchised public buses services, including feeder bus services to railway stations operated by the railway companies, and residents’ services for residential estates (particularly those in the New Territories).
Taxi is the most relax transportation in Hong Kong as it is just carry yourself and your family. Taxi fares are charged according to the taximeter; however, additional charges on the fare table may apply, such as road tolls and luggage fees. Urban taxis are the most expensive, while Lantau taxis are the cheapest. The standard of service among different kinds of taxis is mostly the same.
Attractions
Hong Kong is frequently described as a place where “East meets west”, reflecting the culture’s mix of the territory’s Chinese roots with influences from its time as a British colony. Hong Kong had many attractions for our target consumers. We had classified into 2 parts: natural and man-made attraction.
Man-made attraction
For the sightseeing, we provide the visitor visit Avenue of Stars which with commemorative plaques, celebrity handprints, descriptive milestones, movie memorabilia, a life-size statue of kung fu action hero Bruce Lee and a bronze rendering of popular cartoon character McDull and also there is the perfect vantage point to catch the A Symphony of Lights multimedia show.
After visit Avenue of Stars, if they want to shopping, they could go to Times Square which is the One-stop shop and eat paradise and highly cater their required of services. Causeway Bay is one of Hong Kong’s most popular shopping areas and Times Square is its biggest mall. It has around 230 shops, including fashion, sportswear, furniture, electronics, toys, two department stores and around 17 restaurants offering food from all over the world.
They could visit Ocean Park which offers affordable marine animal education and entertainment and is a private organization for commercial purposes. The park divided into 2 parts: The waterfront and Summit. The waterfront had Amazing Asia Animals, Ocean Express Waterfront Station, Aqua City, Whiskers Harbor and Cable Car Plaza. For the Summit, there are Summit cable car station, ocean express summit station, marine world, polar adventure, adventure land, Thrill Mountain and rainforest. They could spend a whole day to have a look on Hong Kong and play with their friends, family or relatives.
Nature attraction
Hong Kong Global Geopark of China is the famous place for the travelers to get in touch with the history of nature. They could take a tour to view covering an area of 50 square kilometers; the Geopark includes the Sai Kung Volcanic Rock Region and the Northeast New Territories Sedimentary Rock Region, which, together, feature eight scenic areas containing Hong Kong’s major exotic landforms.
Finally, they could go to Cheung Chau to view The Cheung Chau Bun Festival as it is the best way to feel the traditional mood in Hong Kong. Every year, the people of Cheung Chau get busy making papier-mache effigies of deities, preparing costumes, baking buns and building a bamboo tower. They’re preparing for the thousands of people that will soon descend upon their tiny island for what Time.com deemed one of the world’s Top 10 Quirky Local Festivals.
It is an easy way to find that Hong Kong provided a wide range of transportation and attraction to cater the rich mainland Chinese people.
Accommodation
Since there are more than 50,000 rooms available in Hong Kong. Most accommodation places are linked by the public transport system to ensure all attractions are close together. We use hotel ratings in order to divider their quality, such ratings are very useful for tourists to choose their accommodation places.
In Hong Kong, there have five types of hotels. There are five-star hotels, four-star hotels, three-star hotels, boutique hotel and budget hotel. We think the Mainland visitors may consider on those two types hotels, because they need the quality of the hotels.
For a five-star hotel, it always offers most luxurious premises, as well as swimming pool and sport and exercise facilities. For example, The Peninsula, Kowloon, Hong Kong, offers the ultimate in luxury accommodations with the most spacious hotel rooms and suites in Hong Kong. Each one of the guest rooms equipped with advanced technology for the convenience of hotel guests and is comfortable and stylish. However, its room rate range from $5000 to $16000.
For a four-star hotel, it may lack of certain facility like 24-hour room service or individual phones or showers in bathroom, but overall it is a larger and comfortable hotel accompanied with many basic amenities. This hotel is located in Causeway Bay Hotel Hong Kong. The hotel provides the easiest walking distance between Causeway Bay MTR subway stations and The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is one of the tourist attractions and business areas that can be accessed within 10 minutes drive.
Catering services
Since Hong Kong is a city which Chinese and western culture combined, it is also famous for both type of food. Chinese Cuisine is the most famous type of food in Hong Kong. Since Western food is already adapted to local tastes, it is a good place for homesick travelers who have had enough of Chinese food. For some richer visitors, they can follow the Michelin guide to find some Western restaurants with excellent menu and service.
We think the Mainland visitors may try some Hong Kong local food, so we have some ideas for the visitors.
Dim Sum is one of the famous menus of Cantonese food; it dominates in food style of breakfast since Cantonese people tend to avoid fried foods early in the day. Dim Sum comes in countless variations with a huge price range from $8 to more than $100 per order. Common items include steamed shrimp dumplings, pork dumplings, barbecued pork buns, and Hong Kong egg tarts.
The other famous Cantonese food is Chinese Barbecue, it is known as “Siu Mei”, restaurants usually use steamed chicken as these barbecued meats. Those meats are roasted on spits over an open fire or in a rotisserie oven. Chinese barbecue restaurants usually have highly flexible menus that allow you to pair your roast meats with rice, noodles or rice noodles. Combo plates enable solo diners to sample several meats in one meal. Rice with roasted pork “Char Siu”, roasted duck, all are common dishes of that.
For the western style of food, there are numerous selections in Hong Kong. Italian, French, German, Mediterranean, Mexican and American all feature strongly. Given Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan population and passion for dining trends, foreign travelers would not be hard to find out their home type of food.
For the famous places of Western food in Hong Kong, Cepage is sure one of them, it serve French cuisine, influenced by Eastern type of cooking style and are served in the chic. The restaurant’s name is French for ‘wine blend’, an allusion to its impressive wine list of over 2,000 bottles, its recommended dish are Steamed Tasmanian Salmon, Aromatized with Diced Vegetables and Oriental Sauce.
Ming Court is the other place; it has raked in rave reviews from the city’s most respected food connoisseurs. Its executive chef applies his 30 years of experience to ensure that every dish bears his signature style of delicate presentation and exquisite taste. Braised E-Fu Noodles with Fresh Abalone Slices and Prawn are its recommended dishes.
Suggestions for the Hong Kong Tourism Industry
In order to develop the tourism industry, there are some suggestions provided for different sectors.
For Hospitality industry, when the peak tourist season was coming, the hotel room and staff always not enough to supply. Therefore, they should build more hotel or other types of accommodation in Hong Kong. Also, hotel can organize a large-scale job fairs to recruit the talents and allocate the manpower efficiently, such as Disneyland and Ocean Park. Disneyland and Ocean Park is one of the popular attractions in Hong Kong, most of the tourists visiting there, so it should build more hotels in there.
Mystery Customer Service Association published the “2010 Global smile report, shows that Hong Kong smile index is only 53 and ranking in third last. The company should provide training course and teaching the staff how to serve the customers, it can help to build up the good image of tourism.
For Hong Kong Tourism Board, because travelers become more and more, the tourist facilities are insufficient to cope with the large number of travelers, they should develop more attractions, such as Disneyland, can build more mechanical rides.
It also can strengthen efforts to publicize; they should do more advertising in other foreign countries and attract foreigner interest. Moreover, Hong Kong Tourism Board needs to organize more large-scale events for tourists, such as Tourism Festival, Winter Festival. This type of events is one of characteristically in Hong Kong.
Recommendations to Government
There are many recommendations for the Government of Hong Kong that are in favor of the Tourism Development.
First of all, it is strongly recommended to the HK government that the 2nd Cruise Terminal at Kai Tak, which is now under building progress, should be completed as soon as possible as it can be very helpful to the tourism industry in a way that it can create efficiency for the cruise customers as there will be more space to park and more ports for the cruise ships.
Secondly, the HK government should have more and more promotions and advertisements overseas to increase the number of the inbound tourists and the advertisements should be promoting the cultural and the leisure activities that can be done in HK such as a mix culture of HK and not only focus on Mainland Chinese market.
And the HK government is also recommended that it should put more efforts on the HK Airport to make more spacious and to reclaim more land for development of the runways which in return will be one of the contributing factors for the development of the tourism industry of HK. It is because this will be a reason for the efficiency of the customers that are both in bounding and out bounding as the airport will be able to cater more and more flights and will provide more space to airlines.
Conclusions
All in all, Hong Kong has a wide range of facilities and products to cater to this object – China rich. Provide multiple choices and quality in basic necessities, the economy status of China began to raise, the message of the people the crescendo ability, in line with the visa policy with China, Hong Kong an advantage compared to other cities. So for the Chinese rich people, Hong Kong is a choice.
