HKTB Promotes Greater Bay Area Tourism with Guangdong and Macao Government Tourism Offices in Jakarta, Launches Tourism Offers and Packages Jointly with Indonesian Trade Partners, and Rolls Out Dedicated Tourism Website in Bahasa Indonesia

Following the successful launch of large-scale promotions in Bangkok of Thailand last year, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) once again joined hands with the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and the Macao Government Tourism Office to organise a promotional event for the Greater Bay Area (GBA) tourism brand “Greater Bay Area – Connecting Great Experiences” in Jakarta, Indonesia yesterday (26 September). The event showcased the rich tourism resources in the GBA to the Indonesian market. The HKTB also reached a strategic agreement with industry leaders in the Southeast Asian tourism sector to launch tourism products and promotions exclusive for Indonesian travellers with a view to encouraging them to visit Hong Kong and explore the broader GBA through multi-destination journeys.

Ms Becky Ip, Deputy Executive Director of HKTB, said, “Southeast Asian markets, particularly Indonesia as one of ASEAN’s largest economies, present significant tourism potential. As such, the Hong Kong Tourism Board is partnering with tourism departments in Guangdong Province and Macao to promote the Greater Bay Area tourism brand in Indonesia. We’re collaborating with trade partners in the market to introduce new tourism products. At the same time, we continue to promote Hong Kong’s increasingly Muslim-friendly facilities and services with a view to attracting more inbound visitors from Indonesia, especially the Millennials and the Gen Z, and encouraging them to explore Hong Kong and embark on multi-destination journeys across the GBA.”

Mr Guijie Chen, Inspector at Level 2, Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, said, “Guangdong is excited to be part of the Greater Bay Area campaign as it opens new opportunities for us to further raise awareness of the rich melting pot of culture and energetic modern scenes of our cities to Indonesian travellers. With comprehensive connectivity between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, multi-destination travel has become easier and seamless for Indonesian travellers, especially families, in exploring our diverse cultural and family-friendly attractions.”

Deputy Director of Macao Government Tourism Office, Mr Cheng Wai Tong, remarked that the World Heritage “The Historic Centre of Macao” and the status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy are Macao’s most iconic calling cards in tourism. He hopes that this promotional event in Indonesia will further manifest Macao’s unique cultural symphony of the East and West and breadth of “tourism +”, as well as the destination’s appeal as a world centre of tourism and leisure. He welcomes Indonesian and Southeast Asian travellers to tap into the ease of multidestination travel, which can take them to experience the vitality, charm and unique attractions of different cities across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area within one journey.

Four key focuses to inspire Indonesian travellers to explore GBA

A delegation of about 30 tourism representatives from the HKTB and various cities in Guangdong Province, including Macao, visited the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for the “Greater Bay Area – Connecting Great Experiences” event. The delegation introduced the rich and diverse tourism resources and latest tourism development in the GBA to about 130 local trade and media representatives. The HKTB also reached a strategic agreement with the Southeast Asian travel trade to launch various offers and promotions of GBA tourism in the market to deepen Indonesian travellers’ understanding and interests towards the GBA, so as to inspire them to visit GBA in person.

1. Facilitating the expansion of GBA tourism products

The HKTB has secured a collaboration with Indonesia’s leading association of travel agents, ASTINDO. ASTINDO will take the lead in encouraging and facilitating travel agents in the market to roll out tailored GBA tourism products and packages, which are meticulously aligned with Indonesian travellers’ preferences and demands. It will also assist trade partners with requests for flight reservations, hotel accommodation, admission tickets to attractions in the GBA, or intercity transportation. ASTINDO has also launched on the homepage of its official website a quick access link to the HKTB’s one-stop GBA tourism website for the trade partners’ convenience.

2. GBA offers exclusive for Indonesian travellers with stronger exposure by KOL promotions

To motivate Indonesian travellers to visit the GBA through Hong Kong, the HKTB and Southeast Asia’s premier travel platform, Traveloka, jointly present a promotional activity, offering discounts to Indonesian travellers who book air tickets, hotel accommodation or tourism activities through the platform.

Traveloka will also assist in planning itineraries in the GBA for Indonesian influencers to allow them to better enjoy the excitement of GBA tourism. Itineraries include city-walk in Central and Sheung Wan, theme park experiences and nightlife culture. The influencers will upload clips of their travel experience to their own social media platform to encourage interests in visiting the GBA among their fans and create positive media exposure.

3. New-generation stars introducing GBA attractions in a new travel show

Targeting the young consumer segment, the HKTB previously invited Gen-Z Indonesian stars Bastian Steel and Sitha Marino to visit cultural heritage and trending attractions in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to produce a new travel show titled Celebrity on Vacation. From tomorrow (28 September), the show will be aired on Indonesian broadcasters, YouTube and online media platforms. The two stars also shared their experience in the GBA and a trailer of the show in the event yesterday.

Indonesian stars Bastian Steel (left of the right photo) and Sitha Marino (right of the right photo) share their experience in GBA and a trailer of the show in the event. Below are the highlight photos of the travel show.

4. Bahasa Indonesia version added to HKTB’s one-stop GBA tourism website

To maximise the promotional effect in Indonesia, the HKTB has added a new version in Bahasa Indonesia (https://www.discovergreaterbayarea.com/id) to its one-stop GBA tourism website. With the new addition, travellers and trade partners in Indonesia can keep themselves updated with the latest travel information in the GBA and explore the multifarious attractions and experiences that the GBA has to offer.

The Indonesian version of HKTB’s one-stop GBA tourism website.

The HKTB will continue to pool the tourism resources of the cities in the GBA through various promotions to attract travellers to embark on multi-destination journeys, thereby further strengthening the competitiveness of the GBA as a whole.