Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
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Peter Hoslin
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Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is looking at boosting cruise business in Honk Kong by targeting cruise travellers from India and abroad as part of their marketing campaign for 2014. Its recently opened Kai Tak cruise terminal and Star Cruises’ announcement of its cruise ship – SuperStar Virgo having its home port in Hong Kong will help in bringing more cruise travellers in to the city. Peter Hoslin, regional director -Europe and new markets, HKTB stated, “The Indian travellers are familiar with Hong Kong and so we constantly need to advise them on all our new products. Therefore, Hong Kong is rejuvenating its products and cruise in one of them. This year we opened a new cruise terminal in Hong Kong. It is at the end of a runway at the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Star Cruises has just announced that their cruise ship SuperStar Virgo will have its home port in Hong Kong next year and will run some 90 stops in Hong Kong from April to October next year. Cruise is very important for the Indian market. It has a great cruise consumer base so we will be running some promotions on our own and also with Star Cruises.”
Apart from the 2014 marketing campaign, HKTB recently concluded the second and last phase of their 2013 marketing campaign ‘Hold My Hand’ wherein it collaborated with film school Whistling Woods International to convert the romantic fiction novel ‘Hold My Hand’ into short films. The campaign targets young travellers.
Though India is a small market for Hong Kong, the city has witnessed a growth in Indian tourist arrivals this year. “We are doing very well now in our growth. There has been four per cent growth in Indian visitors to Hong Kong in the first half of the year. India is a small but an emerging market for us. This year, till now, we had around 460, 000 Indian visitors and we are expecting to reach 500,000 by year end,” Hoslin revealed.
