Hong Kong is expecting a surge in the number of travellers from the Middle East, in particular Qatar, in coming years in view of a "growing awareness" about the location among the residents of the region, a senior official has said.
"The citizens of Qatar and other GCC states are given visa on arrival," pointed out Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) regional director (Europe and New Markets) Peter Hoslin.
He was speaking to a nine-member team of journalists from Qatar, who were in the Special Administrative State (SAS) of the mainland China on a joint invitation from HKTB and Cathay Pacific.
"Hong Kong has on offer many facilities for travellers in areas like leisure, entertainment, hospitality and above all world-class business activities," Hoslin explained.
Being a major MICE destination of the East, the federal SAS of China has always been a major attraction for visitors from across the world.
Hong Kong, a specially-administered territory of the mainland China, received more than 55mn travellers from across the world last year.
"Though a little more than two-third of the total visitors was from mainland China, tourists arrived also from several other countries, including Qatar and the UAE," said HKTB assistant manager (public relations) Beatrice Lee.
While recalling the surge in the travellers' numbers in recent years Lee said their country was prepared to meet even greater number of travellers.
Though the exact figures of the tourists from Qatar was not readily available with the HKTB authorities, Hoslin said there was almost a 50% growth or so in the travel from Qatar to Hong Kong in 2013 compared to the previous year.
Last year, more than a thousand Qatari nationals visited Hong Kong and at least two times more of the country's residents also visited the SAS.
"This is mainly on account of the increasing information and knowledge among Qatar residents about Hong Kong and the facilities that the place offers to travellers," said Hoslin while adding that the authorities were expecting a sharp rise in the traffic in coming years.
Inquiries made with the representatives of the tourism, hospitality and trade in Hong Kong found that there had been a phenomenal increase in the number of travellers to Hong Kong from the Middle East, of late.
Carlos Souza, general manager of Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong Kowloon East), said their group's properties in Hong Kong had received quite a remarkable number of tourists and business travellers from the Middle East, including Qatar in the last one year. Crowne Plaza has four upscale five-star hotels in Hong Kong.
Fred Cheung, a well-known tour facilitator of the HKTB, said he had opportunities to locally guide and assist a number of groups from the GCC states, mainly the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in the last few years.
Along with the Gulf nationals, many residents of the region are touring Hong Kong at intervals, mainly for business purposes. "Also of late, a large number of the Hong Kong-bound passengers from other parts of the world are transiting through Gulf states such as Qatar and the UAE," Cheung observed.
Cathay Pacific, which had been operating to Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain earlier, has now started a direct daily flight between Doha and Hong Kong.
The airline's assistant corporate communication manager (international) Tracy Kwong said her tours of Qatar in recent months were well received and she found an increasing fascination about Hong Kong among the country's residents.
Cathay Pacific catering manager (planning and concept design) Brendon Duffy said the onboard services of flights to the Gulf region are "designed to meet the tastes and requirements of the people of the region".
Hong Kong businessman and owner of Bhutani Jewellers Papu Bhutani, who has been travelling at regular intervals between Hong Kong and Qatar for about 40 years, said there was a sharp increase in the number of travellers between the two region in recent years.
Bhutani, who has businesses with many clients of the Gulf region, said that trade between Hong Kong and Qatar was expected to witness a surge in coming years.
© Gulf Times 2014
