My Hong Kong | Hong Kong’s lame attempts to attract tourists and talent smack of desperation – here are better ways to get people to come to our city
- From the ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign’s free air tickets to the need to ‘grab’ talent from elsewhere, Hong Kong seems desperate – and that’s unattractive
- We need to project a message that builds ourselves up, rather than knocks us down, focusing on why we are unique and not advertising our weaknesses
Soon after the “Hello Hong Kong” campaign to attract tourists was launched earlier this month, I started to receive scathing comments from my local and expatriate friends.
They were united in criticism of the mood and message of the promotional videos, calling them dated and predictable. Were they not so polite, I’m sure they would have added such adjectives as cheap, tacky, cheesy and unimaginative.
Yet again, the government has enlisted local celebrities to help promote Hong Kong, when the main star should be the city itself, along with its people in all their cultural diversity, culinary richness and robust quirkiness.
I doubt many potential tourists will be impressed by singers Aaron Kwok, Sammi Cheng and Kelly Chen prancing around various landmarks. For first-time visitors, these local celebrities mean little.
I don’t wish to diminish the achievements of these top local stars, but why does our government imagine foreign visitors would be enticed to visit the city by a video clip of this dancing, eating and jogging trio? We’re emerging from a three-year hiatus and our overarching message is: come to Hong Kong to shop, eat and jog. It’s all a bit lame.
