Hong Kong citizens holiday at home

While fewer Hong Kong citizens took overseas holidays this year, those who did travel, did so with greater sophistication than before, according to a survey conducted on the two public days of ITE Hong Kong 2003 (September 27 - 28).

Findings showed that 28.7 per cent of the respondents did not take any holiday trip this year, a big increase from last year’s figure of 6.7 per cent. But fewer travelers (36.4 per cent) this year took package tours than the 58 per cent last year.
More Hong Kong travelers were attracted to new activities, such as spa, cruises and extending their stays after package tours. Each of these attracted around 10 per cent respondents.
China remains the most popular destination for Hong Kong travelers, as 41.5 per cent of the respondents cited it as their last travel destination.
Whilst there has been an increase in the number of trips to Guangdong, the survey did show a reduction to other provinces of China. At 41.4 per cent, Asia ranked second to China as destination, representing a gain of 4.4 per cent over the last year.
There was a corresponding drop in other non-Asian destinations. The findings indicated that Sars has affected the choice of destinations this year. However, compared to last year, nearly four per cent less respondents chose price or discount as the major criteria of destination selection, despite the recent economic problems in Hong Kong.
Over 50 per cent of the respondents spent more than HK$5,000 ($644) per trip, per person including shopping expenses, a finding that is in line with the growing sophistication of their travels.
Holiday remains popular as 64 per cent of the respondents already have plans for overseas travel in the coming six months, and another 10 per cent will consider it.
As for the choice of the next travel destination, Asia got 51.9 per cent, and China remained a distant second at 16.3 per cent, to be followed by Europe at 14.9 per cent and the US at 6.4 per cent.
The next edition of ITE Hong Kong will be held on June 10-13, 2004 at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center and organized by Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd.