on the Go with Bo!

ASAE in Hong Kong: Farewell

Horse racing has a long standing 160 year old tradition in Hong Kong and last night we were privy to the excitement of it all.

I’ve only been to one other horse-racing competition before - the Melbourne Cup.  However, that’s not a fair comparison for that’s the grand race at the end of the season, while the races at Happy Valley race course are weekly, year-round affairs.  July and August are the only two months with no races, for the horses are on vacation.  Actually, it’s simply too hot for them to race at that time.

Every Wednesday, the traffic around the Hong Kong Jockey Club comes to a stall, the barbers close their offices, the bankers are rushing in their cloned navy blue suits to the VIP boxes and we were being whisked by the great team from the Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong office to our 8th floor Visitors Box.

You should have heard the sigh of relief we all made when we saw the buffet inside the box.  After 15 days of over-eating, it seems like our over-stretched stomachs are hungry all the time, and there is nothing better than a buffet to hit the spot!

It was a terrific night.  The race course is in typical Hong Kong fashion sandwiched between the mega highrises and the hills, which creates a great backdrop.  I decided to bet on 5 races, and with no real surprise I didn’t win anything.  No big loss though, for all the proceeds from the bets go to charity in Hong Kong.  So as Rebecca our tour guide said, you always win at Happy Valley. 

However, there were ladies in our team that were on a winning streak.  Ms. Bonnie won two races, Greta the Great hit the jackpot once and Rita walked into some change.  Woohooooo!  Bonnie called her mother immediately and slightly exaggerated the scale of her winnings :-)

Ladies from MEHK and Francesco ... a big thank you for a great time in Hong Kong and for such a wonderful finale to what has been an awesome ASAE Study Mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

ASAE in Hong Kong: Thank you Rebecca

for showing us around your brilliant city over the last 3 days :-)

ASAE in Hong Kong: Discovering the city

I just learnt this factoid at the Sky 100 Observation Deck today.  Do you know what Hong Kong means?  Hong - Fragrant and Kong - Harbour.  I always love finding out where city names originate from and what is their meaning.

When one sees the familiar photo of the Bank of China building or the towering International Financial Centre along with other gleaming high-rises nestled against the mountain range at sunset, what you're seeing is Hong Kong Island and parts of peninsular Kowloon.  Hong Kong is actually much more than that.

There are a staggering 23 islands comprising Hong Kong, the largest one being Lantau which is where the airport and Disneyland are located.  Kowloon, which is right across the bay from Hong Kong Island actually means nine dragons, because there are nine hills comprising the area.  Supposedly the hills resemble dragons.  Hmm, that one takes some imagination.

Moreover, most people don't realize that 40% of the land in Hong Kong is designated as park land, making Hong Kong very green with lots of parks, nature walks and long stretches of beach.  Not all of it is urbanized.

The energy is unmistakeable and is what you will notice most about this city.  The seven million people live in a very confined space.  I'm not joking when I say that the vast majority of people live in shoe-boxes that cost millions.  Due to that, the home is used only for sleeping.  The rest of the time you spend outside.  And this is what creates the immense energy that is Hong Kong - millions of people roaming the streets and adding their vibe.

Of course, shopping is a mega attraction here.  Especially since you have a great selection of most everything you can desire and everything is duty free.  Just ask all the women that were with us.  Albeit they will be quick to admit that it wasn't as cheap as Shanghai.

They say that under every building there is a shopping mall.  They may well be correct.

 

TOURING AROUND:

> Aberdeen typhoon shelter:  we hopped onto an old junk boat and toured the marina.  The Jumbo seafood market, mega yachts and fishing boats all share this bay sheltered by hills on both sides.  The fishing boats you see comprise a floating village where families actually live.  You will see boats that sell water, gas, containers, drinks and food, all being staples required for the daily fishing trips they make into the South China Sea.

> Stanley market:  yet more shopping in Hong Kong, this time on the southern part of HK Island, where things are relatively more quiet and less expensive and the bargaining is gentler.  At least according to our resident shoppers.

> Madame Tussauds at the Peak:  take a photo opportunity with Obama and Clinton, Einstein, Madonna and Lady Gaga.  Some look real, some look so-so.  The place is not that big so it’s an easy 30 min distraction for your kids.

> Sky 100 Observation Deck at International Commerce Centre:  ICC is the tallest building in Hong Kong and the 4th tallest in the world.  The observation deck is on the 100th floor and you can walk around the whole perimeter of the building giving you a stunning 360 panorama of this beautiful city.

> Cable-car ride down from the Peak:  in just 7 minutes you will drop from the top of the Peak to central Hong Kong.  It’s quite unbelievable for the drive up takes quite a bit longer.  And the road is very windy.

 

RESTAURANTS:

> Dinner at Cafe Deco on the Peak:  want a restaurant with a view?  This definitely qualifies.  If you get a table right by the floor-to-ceiling windows you will get a stunning view of the Hong Kong skyline at your feet.  The food is solid, but the view is the main selling point.

> Mesa 15:  a cozy tapas bar right on 15 Hollywood Road with great sangria.

 

HOTELS:

 

> J.W. Marriott:  located right behind the Exhibition and Convention Centre, this is a perfect conference hotel.  Built in 89, this it the first Marriott hotel in the Asia Pacific region.  With its angular architectural design giving each room a corner window, you have a great view of Victoria Harbour or the Peak, depending what side you’re on.

 

> Conrad Hotel:  right adjacent to the Marriott and Shangri-La hotels, this hotel occupies only the top floors of the high-rise.  The suites are large and also have wonderful views of the Harbour or Peak. 

> Ritz Carlton Hotel:  this recently opened hotel’s claim to fame is that it's the highest hotel in the world.  Occupying the top 17 floors of the International Commerce Tower (ICC), this is obviously the crown jewel in the Ritz Carlton chain.  The Singaporean design company has created an interior that is opulent, with well utilized space, incorporating a design that very much cateres to a Chinese clientele.  Gorgeous crystal contemporary chandeliers, a lot of mirror features, dark and rich colours and plenty of large windows to take in the breath-taking views.  The top floor of the building - 118th floor - is where the health club is located and the Japanese designed Ozone bar.  They also have several great restaurants and 7 private dining rooms.  What was amazing to see is that the view has been utilized to the max in the design of the hotel - each room, restaurant, lounge, lobby area, bar or health club has an incredible panoramic view of Hong Kong.  I'm certain you won't find a better view in town.

ASAE in Hong Kong: CFA Institute

Joanna Kwok, Director, Society Relations

• Global, not-for-profit association for investment professionals
• Asia Pacific:  14,860 members (US 65,575), 83,000 CFA program registrations (US 73,900)
• Administer the CFA certification and CIPM curricula and examination
• Publish research, conduct professional development programs and set voluntary professional performance standards
• Provide educational and career resources for members
• Opened Asia Pacific office in 1997 - regional office
• There is a representative office in Beijing and Shanghai
• HK role is to expand global presence of CFA Institute (Asia Pac accounts for 15% of members but more than 40% of candidates) and provide stakeholder services (15 Asia Pac Societies, CFA China Representative Offices and volunteers)
• China and India are fastest growing markets
• Materials have to be translated for China, Korea and Japan markets
• Services:  education, standards and financial market integrity (advocacy), society relations, outreach
• 15 Societies in Asia Pac out of globally 135 Societies in 58 countries

ASAE in Hong Kong: Our last lunch

at the Watermark restaurant at the ferry terminal

ASAE in Hong Kong: West Kowloon Cultural District

Chan Man-Wai, Executive Director, Project Delivery

• 40 hectare reclaimed piece of land right next to International Commerce Centre on Kowloon
• HK has a financial and banking reputation, but not as a cultural centre/hub
• The city is a becoming a major art transaction hub

• The space under the plot of land zoned for the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) contains the Western Harbour Crossing which goes under the Victoria Harbour, the MTR Kowloon Station that connects you to the airport, the West Kowloon Terminus station which links to the Chinese high-speed train network and the adjacent China - HK ferry terminal
• The government has dedicated this piece of land for art and culture
• 15 performing arts venues (mega performance venue, Xique Centre, concert hall, theaters, etc)
• M+ museum for contemporary art and design
• Exhibition and convention centre
• Amble open space
• Integrated land use mix: RDE (retail, dining, entertainment), residential, hotels and offices
• RDE income will sustain the arts and culture costs
  
• First phase will be completed by 2016/17
• This is a 20 year project
• Foster + Partners have been selected as architects

ASAE in Hong Kong: Hotels Association

James Lu, Executive Director & Felix Bieger, Chairman, Hong Kong Hotels Association

• Celebrating its 50th anniversary
• Started with 10 members
• Currently 111 members with nearly 60,000 rooms
• Members come from 3 types of hotels: high tariff A, B and mid-tariff
• Guest houses and unclassified hotels (small hotels with under 100 rooms and service apartments) cannot be members
• Industry members work closely together

 

Association has 8 subcommittees: 

1)  Education, training and scholarships: has three focuses - to bring talented educators and consultants in-house to train industry personnel, to identify what are the deficiency areas in the industry, to attract young people to come into the industry, as well as to retain them

• There are 80,000 - 90,000 students in tourism school in HK
• Large scholarships, apprenticeships and training programs are available
• Top end hotels have around 25% staff turnover
• Staff turnover is low compared to other industries
• Low turnover due to staff being well treated, bonuses, medical coverage, great staff quarters (Peninsula Hotel motto: back of the house has to be as good as the front of the house)
• Retention rate is much higher than in China
• Poaching can be an issue where staff is lost to competitors
• Young generation wants to experience change so they change jobs frequently and show little loyalty - this is not necessarily a reflection on the hotel
• Young kids want to be managers immediately

2)  Sales & marketing (destination marketing - promote HK overseas - working closely with HK Tourism Board)

3)  Green initiatives

4)  Food hygiene

5)  Advocacy through PR and lobbying

6)  Human resource management - finding the right people, find out what motivates the staff, how to get Gen Y involved and motivated

7)  Charity

8)  50th anniversary - to celebrate the successes

• High-occupancy rates across all levels in HK - 86% average room occupancy
• HK has a long-standing tradition of service
• Unlike in the US, weekend business is not a problem in HK so you are unlikely to get special weekend rates

• Hong Kong and Singapore follow a no-star hotel rating system and collaborate very closely
• Branding is more important than ratings - branded hotels represent the majority
• A city destination is less likely to need a rating system than a national market
• No great disparity between low- and high-end hotels, thus rating systems become irrelevant
• The hotel rating system in China is primarily based on hardware, but not software, so customer service is not really looked upon

 

Daniel Cheung, Chairman, Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association

• Founded in 1990
• 103 members: exhibition organizers, event managers, PCO venues, travel agents and other service providers
• Provides training and education to the practitioners
• Communicates with the government and media in one voice
• Trade fair market: HK is 3rd after China and Japan with 88 exhibitions, $332,000 total revenue 
• Yet HK is first when you look at US$/sq m at 421$/sq m while China is at $139/sq m (ranked 15)
• In 2009 there were 110 exhibitions (85 trade - import and export oriented, and 25 public)
• 572,000 trade visitors from outside HK (international 32%, regional 32%, the rest is from the mainland)
• The industry employs 61,000 FTE in HK
• Pearl river delta: world's manufacturing factory, 10% of China's GDP, 30% of China's exports

 

SWOT analysis on HK:

• Strengths: strategic location, free and open economy, great service, IT infrastructure
• Weaknesses: clustering of fairs around spring and autumn, costs are rising, no all-in-one resorts like in Singapore, no purpose built convention facilities
• Opportunities: economic boom in Asia, support from central government, growing import demand from mainland enterprises for overseas products
• Threats: mainland and Macao are developing their own exhibition and convention industry, other MICE cities such as Singapore are aggressively campaigning for events

 

ASAE in Hong Kong:  AsiaWorld-Expo 

• Private Public Partnership
• 28 min ride to Central by MTR network
• Can arrange special fares for MTR
• Connectivity and in-venue stations
• Besides trains you also have access to cross-boundary busses
• With new bridge to Macao and Zhuhai that will be completed by 2016, the catchment area will be over 100 million people

Venue facilities:

• 70,000 sq m of ground-level space
• Purpose built arena, largest indoor seated venue, 13,500 seating capacity
• Largest convention and hospitality venue - seats 700 to 5,000 pax, ideal for conferences of various scales
• Level 2 has 7 breakout rooms from 100 - 690 sq m
• 8 pillar-less exhibition ground level halls
• AsiaWorld Expo-accounts for 30% of exhibition market in HK

ASAE in Hong Kong: Meeting Philip Kotler

I did my MBA nearly 10 years ago yet the name Philip Kotler will always be engrained in my head, since I spent countless nights working on projects and studying his marketing theories.  After all, he is one of the pre-eminent marketing gurus and has written several marketing bibles that are used in gradual schools the world over.

Wouldn't you know that he is the brother-in-law of Greta from ASAE who I just happened to know well.

So finally after all these years, I get to meet him tonight at the American Club in Hong Kong.  You see, there truly are only 6 degrees of separation (if not less).

During the reception he made a short speech covering Hong Kong and China.  He had some interesting points to make.  He hoped that Chinese cities in due course will become more like Hong Kong and not vice versa.  The open and liberal economy of HK has much to be desired the world over.

He also touched upon the fact that China and large Chinese companies need to work on their branding.  For one, China has the reputation of manufacturing copycat products, as well as cheap ones.  China needs to move beyond that by improving its brand image and associating its name with quality products.

Likewise, Chinese companies also need to start concerning themselves regarding branding.  Can you name a large Chinese multinational?  Not that there are no domestic companies with global reach potential, they just haven't been branded so they are unrecognizable in most of the world.

Innovation is another area of improvement.  China has a history of innovation.  It has invented gun powder, fireworks, the compass and yes, even pasta, to the Italians chagrin.  Yet in recent history China has lost the innovation edge, which it needs to find back.

It was inspirational to meet Professor Philip Kotler tonight.  Listening to him and talking to him over dinner, it is evident that he has a brilliant mind.  Perhaps Greta put it best, he is a life-long learner.  Humble, curious, well-spoken and when he proceeds to share his ideas, everyone turns quiet, so as to listen to the wisdom that comes from years of experience and an inquisitive and structured mind.

Best of all, we were there to celebrate his big birthday today.

Happy Birthday Philip!

ASAE in Hong Kong: Lunch time

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre hosted us for lunch in their beautiful waterfront property.  They're smart for they new that after 10 days in China it was wise to pick a Western menu :-)

ASAE in Hong Kong: Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre

The cloudy weather in Hong Kong  didn't hamper our energy or the cities ... it was full steam ahead on this Monday morning ...

 

 

 

Anthony Lau, Executive Director, Hong Kong Tourism Board

• HK is the premium gateway to China
• Decades of experience and know-how of doing business in China
• Ideal platform for meetings and exchanges
• In 2010, over 300 meetings and conventions in HK

 

Andrew Au, Principal Economist, Financial Secretary's office, HK Special Administrative Region

• One of the four Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea
• Centre of economic gravity shifing towards east
• Asia contributes 34% of share in world GDP
• China contributes 13% of that
• One country, two systems - relationship between HK and China
• HK:  big market, small government
• HK key advantages: most international Chinese city, rule of law, flexible markets, low and simple taxes, free flow of information, world's freest economy
• Consistently ranks on top of economic, competitiveness and ease of doing business rankings
• Is the most important finance raising centre for Chinese economy
• Major offshore RMB centre
• Is a big asset management centre in Asia
• 2011 Q1GDP growth is 7.2%
• Merchandise exports growth is 16.8%, export of services grew by 9.1% in Q1 2011
• China's growth benefits HK - half of HK exports go to China
• Financial services is a key component of HK export services
• Main driving forces behind rising inflation are rising food prices and housing rentals
• Unemployment rate is 3.4% in Q1 2011
• GDP forecast for 2011 is 5-6% growth

 

Simon Galpin, Director-General, InvestHK, HK SAR

• Asia's business capital for China and beyond
• Hong Kong is different from China - one country two governments
• Has recognition factor as global cosmopolitan city
• Legal systems totally different to Chinese system
• High degree of autonomy from China
• Half of the world's population within 5 hours flying time
• One of the busiest airports and ports in the world
• Mainland China is a high tax economy, ranking number two in Forbes tax misery index - HK is at the bottom of this ranking
• Low and simple tax system
• No GST, no capital gains tax, no withholding tax, no estate duty, no global taxation and no wine duty
• World class IT infrastructure
• Global financial centre - ranked number 3
• Quality education and workforce - 50 international schools serving students of more than 30 nationalities
• Dependents have automatic right to work
• Permanent residency after 7 years
• Very cosmopolitan city ensuring a high quality of life - actually 60% of HK is green
• Not a cheap city! 

 

New opportunities:

• Greater Pearl River area has 55.26 million people
• The Pearl River region would rank 7th globally for exports and 18th in GDP, yet area is the size of Ireland or Panama
• CEPA - free trade agreement with china
• HH has signed double-taxation agreements with 20 trading partners
• In 2010 HK had 36 million tourist arrivals, a lot that come here for shopping, out of which 23 million were from the mainland
• Mainland companies are also coming to HK, using it as a springboard to go global
• Bulding bridge spanning across the mouth of the Pearl river delta, going to Macau and Zhuhai
• HK is the world's 4th largest FDI recipient

 

Vincent Fung, Asst Commissioner for Tourism, HK SAR

• 36 million visitor arrivals in 2010 - 5 times the population
• Top 10 travel destination worldwide
• Visitors come from mainland China (63%), Taiwan, Japan, USA and South Korea
• Russia, India and Middle East have shown large potential growth for inbound travel
• Forecast for 2011 is 39 million visitors
• Mature destination for urban tourism
• Unique blend of Chinese and western cultures
• Developing a leading regional cruise hub
• MICE: $150 million additional funding for MICE promotion in the next 5 years
• 1.3 million overnight MICE visitors in 2010
• 23% increase since 2009
• MICE infrastructure: HK Convention & Exhibition Centre, Asia World Expo
• About 40% of land designated as park land

www.tourism.gov.hk

 

Gilly Wong, General Manager, Meetings & Exhibitions Hong Kong

   

• Increasing needs for meetings due to growing Asian economies
• Asian infrastructure growing rapidly
• HK Meetings and Exhibitions office was formed in 2008
• HK is strategic hub with global connections
• 60 airlines serving HK
• 162 countries enjoy visa-free access from 7 to 180 days
• For Chinese visitors coming to HK: individual visit scheme and Shenzhen multiple-entry visa
• HK Convention & Exhibition Centre: 91,500 sq m rentable space
• Asia World Expo: founded in 2006, 70,000 sq m rentable space
• Currently 193 hotels with 63,000 rooms
• By 2014 there will be 231 hotels with 71,000 rooms
• No star-rated hotel system
• Total overnight MICE arrivals in 2010 was 1.43 million visitors, represented 41.8% of business visitors, USD 1,087 per capita spending, staying 2.9 nights on average
• Source markets: mainland China (35%), South and SE Asia (25%), the Americas (18%)
• 6 emerging industries: cultural, medical serves, education, innovation and technology, testing/certification and environmental services
• Closse to 3,650 overseas/mainland companies setup regional HQ in HK
• Over 1,000 registered associations
• Over 90 regional and international trade fairs every year
• 18 UFI accredited shows from HK
• Growing number of industry specific trade fairs