Hong Kong Tourism Board rounds up 4A agencies for creative pitch

DDB was also invited but declined to participate. The agencies involved attended a briefing session last week. 

The HKTB hopes to find a global agency with an extensive overseas network as its one-stop creative agency partner. Grey Hong Kong will complete its three-year contract in Q1 2011. DraftFCB previously worked on the HKTB account for over eight years.

According to HKTB, in the first six months of 2010, Hong Kong received 16.9 million visitors from all over the world, representing a remarkable increase of 23.1 per cent over the same period last year. This arrival figure also sets the highest half-yearly record.

Mainland China continued to be the largest visitor source with 10.5 million arrivals (+26.9 per cent), accounting for 62.2 per cent of total arrivals. It is also the first time this half-yearly figure exceeded the 10 million mark.

With regards to long-haul markets, the improved global economic situation rejuvenated business travels and contributed to a 10.9 per cent growth, compared to the same period last year, to 2.2 million. In particular, the US remained the largest long-haul market with 570,000 arrivals in the first half of 2010, representing a 10.6 per cent increase.

The European market also performed well with 850,000 arrivals, a 9.6 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Emerging markets, including India (+58.4 per cent), the Middle East (+24.1 per cent) and Russia (+134.1 per cent), registered significant increases in arrival numbers as a result of more frequent flights between Hong Kong and the three markets.