Essay on How Much Do Hongkongers Spend on International Travel and Holidays?

The trend of traveling and spending holidays outside the country is increasing amongst the people of Hong Kong, and the latest data have been evident to support the fact that people from Hong Kong are spending an extensive amount of money on traveling and holidays. The statistics from the past few years are indicating a gradual increase for Hong Kong, in terms of international tourism spending. According to a survey, it was revealed that Hong Kong was the 10th biggest country in the world with regards to International Tourism Spending in 2016. The people of Hong Kong spent more than $24 billion on international tourism. The country was again ranked at 10th place in the same ranking for the year 2017 with more than $25 billion spending. This figure was 5.8% more as compared to the previous year. It is showing that Hongkongers are spending big on traveling and tourism, and this trend likely to continue in the future.

               It is vital to understand why this trend is increasing amongst the people of Hong Kong. There are five major factors, which are playing their part in this increase of spending by Hongkongers: 1) In the list of most densely populated areas of the world, Hong Kong is well placed with a prominent place, and domestic tourism is also lacking a great attraction for people, so they like to spend their money for holidays to other foreign destinations; 2) The geographical location of Hong Kong is great, and they also have state of the art Transportation infrastructure, which allows people to easily travel from one place to the other; 3) The spending power of Hongkongers is high, as per Capita GDP in 2017 for Hong Kong was $46,194, one of the best in Asia; 4) The government of Hong Kong has not made any measures to control foreign exchange or people to go outside the territory; 5) The Hongkongers can speak English, as well as, they have Special Administrative Region (SAR) passport. This passport has allowed Hongkongers to have visa-free entry to 162 countries in all over the world.

               So, these five major factors are playing their part in spending of people of Hong Kong in international travel, especially to enjoy their holidays somewhere else, other than domestic destinations. It is vital to know which travel destinations are mostly liked by the people of Hong Kong, where they spent most of their time and money. Recent stats have revealed that few countries have observed more arrivals from Hong Kong. For instance, it was told that the most popular travel destination for Hongkongers in Japan with more than $2 million. Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, as well as, Australia are other favorite destinations for the people of Hong Kong. One more important fact to look at is the average annual leaves spend on holidays outside Hong Kong. It was revealed that the average annual leaves figure for Hongkongers is 20 days, and out of these 20 days, Hongkongers tend to spend around 14 days for international traveling to enjoy their holidays.       It means that around 70% of holidays’ time is spent abroad on different international tourists’ destination. In particular, Hongkongers are taking a keen interest in traveling to two main countries which are Macau and Japan, and helping them to boost their tourism industry.

               Despite a difficult economic situation, the overall economic performance has been good for Hong Kong, which is ultimately having a positive effect on the spending power of Hongkongers. It is observed that the spending power of Hongkongers is higher. Travelzoo is a travel company, and an online survey was conducted by the company, which revealed that the majority of survey respondents were ready to spend more on traveling as compared to previous years. It means that people are not thinking about any economic effects or any other factors, rather they are focusing on international travel as much as possible. It is a dominant trend, which is coming from all parts of Hong Kong that they are preferring to tour international destinations rather than visiting their own domestic tourists' destinations. It is a fact that tourism is a good part of their economy. As per statistics shared by the government of Hong Kong, it is told that Tourism is an important pillar of Hong Kong’s economy, and its contribution to GDP was more than 4% in the year 2017. Due to its tourism sector, 257100 people were employed, which is 7% of employment of their overall employment.

               The above facts & figures show that domestic tourism opportunities are many for Hongkongers, but still, they are showing a dominant trend of going abroad for spending holidays. For Travel websites, agencies as well as airline business, it is a great sign that people from Hong Kong are looking to increase their international travel, but at the same time, it is threatening for economy and tourism of Hong Kong. However, international travel and spending is looking firm as it was also reported by TKS Exhibition Services, which are responsible to hold Hong Kong’s biggest International Travel Expo. They revealed that during the month of July-September (2019) 1.7% increase was observed in departures to outbound travel markets, as compared to the statistics for the same period for last year. Quintessentially Travel is one of Hong Kong’s luxury travel companies, and they also told that the trend for going abroad has remained firm, despite the inside situation of political unrest. They also reinstated that Japan is the favorite place for Hongkongers to travel, which was also endorsed by another travel agency named Diethelm Travel.

Top 10 Tourists Destinations of Hong Kong People are mentioned as:

·         Macau – 23% of Hongkongers have chosen to spend their holidays in Macau which each of them could spend around HKD 8,638

·         Japan – 15% of Hongkongers have chosen to spend their holidays in Japan and each of them has spent around HKD 8,638

·         France – 12% of the Hong Kong people love to visit this lovely country during their holidays and each of them spends around HKD 5,367

·         The United States – 10% of the Hongkongers nowadays like to enjoy their holidays in the USA and spend for HKD 5,104 each of them

·         The United Kingdom – 10% of the people in Hong Kong love to spend the holidays in the United Kingdom and each of them could spend for about HKD 4,151

·         Australia – 8% of the Hongkongers spend their holidays in Australia and could spend for HKD 3,706

·         South Korea – 7% of the Hong Kong people love to visit this lovely country during their holidays and each of them spends around HKD 3,671

·         Thailand – 5% of Hongkongers have chosen to spend their holidays in Thailand which each of them could spend around HKD 3,308

·         Taiwan – 5% of the people in Hong Kong love to spend the holidays in Taiwan and each of them could spend for about HKD 3,305

·         Mainland China – the rest 5% of Hongkongers love to spend their holidays in Mainland China and also spend around HKD 3,090 for each of them

The Final Words: Looking at recent trends, facts & figures, it is evident that Hongkongers are spending big on international travel and holidays. They love to enjoy international tourists’ destinations like Japan, Australia, and Thailand, and the way things are going, it is more likely that the trend of international spending and travel will increase from Hongkongers.