Tourism Western Australia (WA) is stepping up destination marketing in Hong Kong, with the launch of Walking On A Dream brand campaign last week to bring attention to four key destinations, namely the Kimberley, the Margaret River Region, Ningaloo Reef and Perth.
The launch event brought 19 Hong Kong travel agents together for an afternoon of artistic rug tufting.
Tourism WA marketing representative, Vivian Chow, said Hong Kong agent partners can also look forward to a seven-day trade fam trip in mid-March 2023 to rediscover Perth, Mandurah, the Swan Valley and Australia’s Coral Coast. Supported by with Cathay Pacific, the trip will be for a select group of five to six top players.
She added that trade engagement in Hong Kong has persisted through the Aussie Specialist agent-only training programme as well as partnerships with key airline partners Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, and consortium agents.
A partnership with Singapore Airlines, for instance, has birthed a collaboration with new outbound travel specialist, Ulu Travel, and Hong Kong Canto-pop musician Serrini Leung. The Serrini’s Digital Broadcast from February 27 to March 7 is used to upsell the Follow Serrini’s Footprint Western Australia package for FITs.
Chow told TTG Asia that the Hong Kong travel market has rebounded “rather quickly in the last few months since borders reopened”.
Shorthaul trips have done especially well for a start, and Chow expects Hong Kong leisure travellers – especially the DINK, family and FIT segments – will turn to longhual vacations come 2H2023, after their immediate “travel revenge” has been served.
Hong Kong remains an important market source for Tourism WA. It was WA’s seventh largest market for visitor spend in 2019, with 32,000 travellers from Hong Kong spending A$92 million (US$61.9 million) in the state pre-pandemic.
For now, success in rebuilding the Hong Kong market hinges on airlift recovery. Cathay Pacific is the only airline flying direct to Perth, with a thrice weekly service. Singapore Airlines flies to Perth via Singapore.
Chow said Tourism WA’s aviation team is working closely with both airlines to build strong access to Perth by leveraging the Aviation Recovery Fund, which provides “major incentives” to increase flight frequency and support marketing tacticals.
