An abundance of booking incentives and value adds, as well as world-class convention infrastructure make Hong Kong a must for Asia bound planners.
Home to the greatest concentration of corporate headquarters in Asia Pacific, Hong Kong has become one of the region's leading centres for international companies to meet and do business.
The free-market economy has encouraged huge urban growth, which has helped Hong Kong to grow from a small port to a booming metropolis, commanding a strategic position on the South China Sea.
Despite several events that have threatened to dampen the nation's success, such as the SARS outbreak of 2003, the economy is back on track and the number of meetings industry visitors continues to rise.
"Both the segments of corporate events and convention and exhibition have shown strong growth in the Europe, Africa and the Middle East (EAME) region in the past two years, with extra strong performance in the Middle East region," explains Mabel Hung, senior manager, Business Development Department, Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB).
"This is partly due to the increased air capacity introduced in recent years and the healthy economic growth in most countries of the Middle East."
Meetings and incentive visitors from the EAME sector increased 40.61% in 2007 compared to 2006 (148,611) while the number of convention and exhibition delegates for the region showed smaller year-on-year growth of 6% (179,561).
"We also see big groups from the Middle East, with size ranges from 100 to 250 passengers and coming from industries including insurance and medical suppliers," Hung adds.
Access is made easy by regular flights from Middle East airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines and Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific, which flies to several Middle Eastern destinations.
Hung says that the business development department of the HKTB aims to provide advice and guidance to convention, exhibition and corporate event organisers from the proposal stage to the execution of the event.
Most major events take place at the Asia World Expo centre or the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is currently undergoing extensive expansion that will see exhibition space increased by 42%, adding 19,400m2 to the total space available when work is completed in 2009.
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