The two-month 2004 Hong Kong Shopping Festival has generated $1.5 billion in spending, luring 40% more visitors than a similar event two years ago.

The Tourism Board said provisional figures recorded 4.34 million arrivals during the festival, from June 26 to the end of August, markedly more than its original target of 3.7 million, despite July and August falling outside the main peak seasons with fewer business activities and no long public holidays.

Arrivals to exceed 20.5m

With such encouraging results, the board is confident of exceeding its target of 20.5 million arrivals for the year. Board Chairman Selina Chow said the festival has become an annual signature event for the travel, retail and catering industries, and for local residents as well as global travellers.

"Besides luring visitors and stimulating their spending, the festival showcased the core strengths of Hong Kong, including its diverse and sophisticated range of shopping, dining and entertainment, further enhancing the city's image as an international destination," she said.

City-wide spending

The festival has helped create a city-wide spending atmosphere and aroused enthusiastic participation among visitors and local residents, she said, adding that local merchants have been very active in leveraging on the business platform offered by the festival, demonstrating its effectiveness in promoting the tourism industry.

More than 6,500 merchants participated in the festival, almost three times the number two years ago. Many introduced special offers to generate more business. Some have reported business increases of 10% to 30%.

Global travel partners have also developed special themed packages related to the festival, so far attracting 540,000 travellers.

5m in lucky draw

With even greater support from shopping malls and merchants, the festival's lucky draw, which stipulated minimum spending of $300 per entry, attracted an enthusiastic response from both visitors and locals.

Five million tickets were collected, the largest-ever number for a lucky draw in Hong Kong, showing the festival helped promote at least $1.5 billion in spending.

The entries showed that among the four shopping themes, jewellery and watches took up about 40% of visitor spending, followed by consumer electronics at 20%. Of all visitors, 28% spent money on fashion and beauty, the most popular category, while 25% spent on jewellery and watches.

10,000 spectators a night

The board's surveys show Tsim Sha Tsui's three recent attractions - the Avenue of Stars, A Symphony of Lights and the Aqua Fantasia multi-media water show - were all very popular among visitors. Some 600,000, or an average of nearly 10,000, spectators per night enjoyed the latter spectacular.

The board has received over 820,000 requests for assistance and information on the festival through its Visitor Information & Services Centres, visitor hotline and the lucky draw kiosk.

To generate extensive publicity and a wave of shopping expeditions to Hong Kong, the board staged the Shopper of the Year contest in 15 key source markets. Together with advertising and media coverage, the festival achieved tremendous global publicity value, already exceeding $145 million.

More than 60 media representatives from Europe, Canada, Southeast Asia, Japan, Taiwan and the Mainland visited Hong Kong to cover the festival.