With air connectivity getting better with Indian cities, Hong Kong hopes to register a growth of around 10-15 per cent in arrivals from India in 2019.

Low-cost carriers

“Earlier, air connectivity between Hong Kong and India was a limiting factor but with the recent introduction of two low-cost carriers — one from Delhi and other from Bengaluru — we would be able to achieve the target set for the India market for 2019,” said Puneet Kumar, Head (Market Development), Hong Kong Tourism Board.

These low-cost carriers are not only providing additional seats but also offer sweet pricing, thus making Hong Kong an attractive destination from the price point as well, he added.

Going by available data, in 2018, Hong Kong saw a total of 3,86,681 arrivals from India with Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru emerging as the top three source markets, accounting for 70 per cent of the traffic.

The tourism board is also planning to promote Hong Kong as a soft adventure destination.

‘Green destination’

“More Indians are becoming active in their lifestyle. Considering this, we want to position Hong Kong as an outdoor green destination to the young Indian audience,” said Kumar, adding that half of Hong Kong’s land size is green spaces where travellers can go for hiking, trail running and cycling.

Among the overall arrivals into Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Japan are the top source markets under the short haul markets — where the flying distance is less than five hours.

The US is the leading market in the long haul category.

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