Bill Flora, Hong Kong Tourism Board's United States director stopped by Travel Agent's offices today, October 21, to discuss the exciting happenings in Hong Kong for the rest of 2010.
First and foremost, we wanted to find out how the country has fared, arrivals numbers wise, this year. "What a difference a year is," Flora tells Travel Agent. "Our arrivals numbers were up 20 percent last month and this has stayed the same for this month. We are looking at a 12 percent increase year-on-year by the end of 2010."
Hong Kong has been gearing up for quite some time for its annual Wine & Dine Festival, which will kick off next week. Flora told us that this year's event is slated to be even bigger and better, with expanded space (almost double the size of last year's event) and an expected 80,000 visitors.
Other festivals to look out for will be Chinese New Year, no doubt the largest and most colorful event in Hong Kong with the iconic parade. The Hong Kong Arts Festival will take off in February 2011, drawing scores of worldwide performers and lovers of the arts.
The city is revving up for the debut of the newest Ritz-Carlton property, dubbed the tallest hotel in the world. Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong will open in March 2011 and will occupy floors 103-118 of the International Commerce Centre building.
In an effort to open up the U.S. Midwest market to Hong Kong, Delta launched non-stop flights out of Detroit beginning in June. Flora's expectation is that numbers out of Chicago and Detroit will continue to grow.
Hong Kong is one of the most centrally-located hubs for intra-Asia travel. Find out more about exploring many of Asia's other hot destinations at Discover Asia Now.
Visit www.discoverhongkong.com.