Hong Kong Tourism Essay Example

can encourage or discourage tourism, they are: Geographical proximity to markets, Accessibility to markets, Availability of attractions, Cultural links, Availability of services, Affordability, Peace and stability, Positive market image, Pro-tourism policies (Weaver & Lawton 2006).

Geographical proximity to markets means that the traffic flowing from origin region to a destination region. Most short distance between origin and destination provide most drawing power of tourist. This is known as a distance-decay effect. In Hong Kong, this pull factor is very important that especially for Mainland China tourist. Nowadays, Mainland China provided a huge amount of tourist to Hong Kong dues to one of the reason as Hong Kong geographically easy for tourist to access and travel. Accessibility to markets means that tourist can physically travel to a place.

This can also mean time and physical distance, but it may mean convenience, such as Visa. In Hong Kong, Hong Kong International Airport is one of the world's best and most modern airports offering a comprehensive range of facilities and services to travelers entering and leaving Hong Kong. Furthermore, nationals of most countries do not require visas and can stay for periods varying from 7 days to 180 days. Availability of services related to a destination which can provide quality transportation access, adequate accommodation, toilets and dining facilities.

Hong Kong has more than 50,000 rooms available, offers a huge choice of accommodation to suit every budget, from modest guesthouses and youth hostels through every range of hotel up to super luxury. Attractions are considered to be the most important factor of tourism system, because they are crucial in drawing tourists’ attention. Primary attractions have the greatest ability to

draw or attract tourists’. The ability of attractions to draw visitors depends on their quality, quantity, carrying capacity, market image and accessibility.

Hong Kong offers a host of fantastic attractions, many of which are easily accessed and accommodate visitors with mobility related impairments and difficulties. Such as, Ocean Park, Hong Kong Disneyland, The Peak, Victoria Harbour. Peace and stability, tourist market is sensitive to any suggestion of social or political instability within a destination. Persons need to feel secure to travel. Hong Kong under the unique principle of 'One Country, Two Systems', allows Hong Kong to enjoy a high degree of autonomy, retaining its capitalist system, independent judiciary and rule of law, free trade and freedom of speech.

Compare to some developing countries, such as North Korea, Hong Kong has a great advantage on stability. Ocean Park Hong Kong (OPHK), opened in 1977, is one of Hong Kong's favorite attractions, featuring rides, exhibits and conservation facilities. Ocean Park is located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, covering more than 870,000 square meters of land. There are three attraction areas, which are the Lowland, the Headland and Tai Shue Wan. The three areas are connected by a cable car, outdoor escalator which is the second longest in the world and Ocean Express.

Ownership of an attraction significantly impacts on the planning and management process. OPHK operated by the Ocean Park Corporation, a statutory board, it is a not-for-profit organization that aims to provide elements of entertainment, education and conservation at an affordable price. Orientation is an emphasis on profitability is affiliated to, but not identical with, private sector ownership. OPHK aspires to be a

world leader in providing excellent guest experiences in a theme park environment connecting people with nature. Spatial configuration means geographical shape and size of attraction.

OPHK located on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, covering more than 870,000 square meters of land. Authenticity is an enormous field to consider and the attributes of authenticity is highly ambiguous and contentious. Authenticity has a strong influence upon how tourists regard the attraction. OPHK is a man made site of theme park, however animal and the location of OPHK is came from nature. So that I would like to say OPHK is a half authenticity attraction. Scarcity means attractions are rare or not. OPHK has now grown to about 35 attractions and rides.

The park has won several awards, including The World's Seventh Most Popular Amusement Park and 33rd Most Visited Tourist Attractions in the World by Forbes. Status is the attraction or destination the primary or secondary attraction. In fiscal year 2007/2008, OPHK received 5. 03 million visitors awarding it the position of the world's number 15 theme parks by annual attendance, ahead of rival Hong Kong Disneyland's 4. 5 million visitors. Carrying capacity is specific to an attraction. It is very difficult to measure since it is not a fixed quality.

Unfortunately the exact carrying capacity is not always known until major damage has occurred. OPHK has a high carrying capacity of visitors, because even they received 5. 03 million visitors in 2007/2008 but we hadn’t found any big damage occurred in OPHK. Accessibility can be measured in terms of space, time and affordability. OPHK covered more that 870,000 square meters, it open from 10:00

to 19:00. Prices are affordable adult only HKD$250, child (3-11years old) HKD$125. Markets of attractions often vary depending on the season, time of day, cost and other factors.

OPHK open at all season and its target segment focus on family and people under 50 years old. Market segmentation is the dividing of markets into more defined niches. Research is usually conducted to segment these groups by demography and geography. There are four bases of segmentation in common; they are Geographic segmentation, Socio-demographic segmentation, Psychographic segmentation and Behavioral segmentation. Mainland China visitors with family base are one of the important market segment that Ocean Park Hong Kong (OPHK) focus on.

In geographic, Hong Kong is one of the closest destinations for Mainland China visitors. It made OPHK has a great advantage on attract them to visit. According to research from Hong Kong Tourism Board 2009 Visitors Arrivals, Mainland China provided 17. 9 million visitors to Hong Kong. It is a great number of visitors for an attraction to focus on. In Socio-demographic bases, there are some variables that are very important such as age, family life-cycle, income, class. OPHK mainly focus on family base of Mainland China, we can find that have a great values come from this market.

Although Mainland China is still on developing stages in the world, but compare to 80’s Mainland China visitors is well on income and class. They have more education that before, they would like to travel more destination and attractions. As an attraction OPHK provided good quality of attraction pull factors, and on an affordable price. In PLOG there are three types of visitors, Psychocentric, Mid-centric, Allocentric. I

would like to say Mainland China visitors with family bases should be in psychocentric type.

That’s mean they are not willing to take some adventures and concerned with the little problems of life. Since OPHK has a long history and experience as a theme park, it also gained a good image for visitors. That’s why they attracted a lot amount of visitors in this market segment. At last, behavioral segmentation related to the tourist market on the basis activities during their travel. Hong Kong is set an image that for shopping at visitors mind, however most of the visitors would like to stay Hong Kong one or two more days for other attractions.

So OPHK is standing on an important character on this stage. In future, Ocean Park Hong Kong will be still one of the important and main attractions of Hong Kong. Although Ocean Park Hong Kong is already at Stagnation stage (Butler sequence), but we can see that it is going to be Rejuvenation stage. At 2006, a seven years develop program was started. It will bring OPHK more drawing power and more markets segment to visit. I am looking forward to be a witness on Ocean Park Hong Kong successful.