Cathay Pacific’s iron bird spreads its wings high in the sky again. Inside the cabin, the clear and crisp voice is heard over the intercom:“Hello, everyone. Welcome aboard your CX flight bound for Hong Kong.
What a nice hello everyone. He made passengers feel welcome and comfortable and closer to the flight attendants.
But I feel like this is part of a larger marketing strategy to entice passengers to travel or visit more often. After all the lockdowns and travel bans, changes and improvements have been made by governments that are heavily dependent on tourist dollars to better meet the demands of today’s savvy traveler.
This means that the ladies and gentlemen greeting typically given by flight attendants on flights is now considered old-fashioned, cold, and less intimate.
In fact, Hong Kong is one of the few places that has been pushing to sell its “soft power” to the world after the lockdown. One of the first initiatives it launched to attract more foreign tourists was the gift of airline tickets: in March, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) bought half a million airline tickets from the three airlines in the territory and then gave them away to tourists for free all over the world.
Earlier this month, Cathay Pacific launched a “Buy 1, 1 Free” promotion to attract hundreds of thousands of independent travelers to the territory for a holiday. My Hong Kong media friend named Doreen told me: “We experienced a period of loss, panic, restlessness and helplessness, but thankfully we can now emerge again. Hong Kong is back in full swing again!”
The thing is though, even with free or heavily discounted tickets, many aren’t too excited to travel to Hong Kong just yet. In the past, many tourists have complained about the poor attitude of the Hong Kong service staff. Will we really see any improvements now?
For example, if we were in a store and asked about an item, would the impatient or grumpy salesperson yell at us and rudely ask us if we were serious about the purchase? Otherwise get lost and don’t ruin my business” was what we would have had to deal with in the past. Is this still happening now?
Indeed, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is well aware of tourists’ concerns and is doing its best to make sure everyone feels welcome there. The authorities are proactively bringing together industry players to brainstorm solutions to address these issues, improve the quality of Hong Kong’s tourism service, and help sell the territory to international tourists.
One of the efforts involves the authorities partnering with more than 16,000 local businesses and offering one million “Hong Kong Candy” or cash vouchers that can be redeemed in pubs, restaurants, hotel lounges, public transport, retail outlets food and beverage outlets, retail stores, and tourist locations around the world. Hong Kong. This gesture will not only help tourists save on their expenses, but it will also increase their chances of returning for a second or third vacation.
Yen, who just returned from Hong Kong a week ago, told me, “That’s weird. Hong Kong people are so much nicer now…even the waiter at the local cafe asked us things like, “Can I help you?” and “Please come with me to show you the way. It was really amazing and I just couldn’t get used to such a change.
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