Despite terrorist attacks and a gloomy economic outlook, Hongkongers’ wanderlust has remained alive and healthy thanks to a strong local currency and more budget airfares on offer.
Data from travel service platform Expedia showed outbound flight bookings around the Lunar New Year holiday jumped 20 per cent and hotel bookings doubled, compared to last year.
Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei remained the top three destinations over the Lunar New Year holiday, according to Expedia.
Professor Brian King, associate dean at Polytechnic University’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management, said the Hong Kong dollar’s appreciation was a key reason for the travel boom.
“Hong Kong people are quite price-driven,” he said.
Hongkongers’ desire for travel also resulted in a bumper year for agencies.
Travel Industry Council’s executive director, Joseph Tung Yao-chung said the levies the council charged outbound tour operators increased 3 to 4 per cent this year, compared to last year, indicating travel agency revenue had also risen by a similar scale.
Tung admitted the council was concerned that outbound tourism would fluctuate due to frequent terrorist attacks around the world. But new budget airline routes had encouraged residents to explore less popular destinations, he added.
Catherine So, Expedia’s northeast Asian general manager, said visitation to most European countries had largely not faltered.
“The terrorist attacks definitely could not dampen Hong Kong people’s enthusiasm for travel,” she said, adding that Lunar New Year and Christmas periods allowed many residents to take longer trips with fewer annual leave days.
The result comes after what has largely been a year of sombre forecasts for the city. Hong Kong’s economy is expected to grow by 1.5 per cent in 2016, down from 2.4 per cent last year, bringing with it lower wage increases and tighter consumer spending.
Read the original article on the South China Morning Post.
