THE ITE (INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL EXPO) AND MICE 2016

THE 30TH INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL EXPO/ 11TH MICE

A VLOG Tour Guiding Documentation Presented to the

Faculty of College of International Tourism

and Hospitality Management

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements for

Bachelor of Science in International

Travel and Tourism Management

By:
Espora, Lara Mae A.

Fallarme, Carol R.

Frane, Cyril

Harper, Honey Mae Q.

Quizon, Trisha Mae

December 2019
 THE ITE (INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL EXPO) AND MICE 2016

THE 30TH INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL EXPO/ 11TH MICE

I. Overview

The International Travel Expo in Hong Kong caters a wide range of audience
not only Chinese but also a number of international exhibitors from the travel
industry. The said exhibition is used as a medium for communication and
information of the industry and offers an opportunity for exhibiting companies to
showcase or present to an audience of experts in the travel expo. It provides
visitors a comprehensive information about the latest developments, trends,
products, and service in various fields.

As a pioneer in Asian and International travel fairs, ITE Hong Kong has been
highlighting theme travels which are particularly attractive to affluent including FIT,
thus to trade visitors and exhibitors. It continued co-locating leisure and MICE
travels, maintaining separate days for trade and public visitors, and highlighting
travels for affluent FIT and themes such as Cruise, Driving Tour, Eco-tourism,
Honeymoon, and Overseas Wedding, Sport, Travel Photography and Wellness.

According to KS Tong (2016). ITE and MICE Hongkong 2016. Retrieved from
https://kongres-magazine.eu. “Travelling in FIT is fast becoming popular in Asia
especially among the affluent travellers, and it dominates source markets like
Hong Kong! But our previous public visitor surveys found over 40% buy from travel
agent FIT products particularly those on theme travels, and over 50% interested
in joining tours and destination. ITE and MICE will continue serving both trade and
public.”

With that being said, we could imply that the said event was successful,
however, there are certain points that we should look into to improve and consider.
Affluent FIT travellers are a term given to those persons who travel
independently having an abundance of wealth and property. In relation to that, we
should also take in to consider and targeting market who are in the middle class.
As they said, travelling has become a need rather than a luxury, looking into that,
as the needs of persons change overtime this should be taken into consider as
the word affluent in ITE and MICE 2016 has been highlighted a lot.

According to an admin of Revive Tours (2017). Travel is a Necessity or Luxury.

Retrieved from https://revivetour.com. “Honestly, to me travel is life. It’s quality of
time that you live and to spend some time and money from your life to see the
world or grasped the intense of moment not a luxury of course.” As the world and
people has become busier, travelling is one of the top options that people choose
to reflect and remove all the stresses for a while. According to Nazish, Noma
(2018). Reasons Why Travel Is Good. Retrieved from https://forbes.com. “ It’s no
news that travel is good for your physical well-being, but a significant amount of
scientific research suggests that exploring new place can do wonders for your
mental and emotional health as well.”

In this case, we could imply that for the next ITE and MICE they can target the
middle-class with their products to open and widened their knowledge of what
travelling could bring to themselves. I know how important money is related to this
but in order to be more successful garnering an amount from the middle-class is
not really bad at all.

In addition, the 34th ITE and the 15th MICE is set to happen in 2020 given that
Hong Kong is facing a crisis later this year 2019 wherein the tourism industry in
Hong Kong has been battered by nearly six months of pro-democracy protests
that have become increasingly violent, with arrivals falling by half, according to
CNA News report. The crisis comes as the economy was already feeling pressure
plunging into recession during the third quarter. Leading Airlines such as Hong
Kong Airlines and Cathay Pacific has also torrid this year, hit by the collapse in
arrivals and Singapore Airlines, China Eastern, and Virgin Australia have all cut
flights to Hong Kong this year. Retrieved from https://cna.asia/telegram.
 As Hong Kong faces this tremendous fall in economic activity, it is unsure as
to how it will affect the ITE and MICE 2020. From the past successful years of the
said ITE and MICE in Hong Kong with the year 2016 being the remarkable one.

II. Identifying the Problems

As the International Travel Expo in Hong Kong succeed in having an event

that caters the international exhibitors from the travel industry hence there are still
lapses that need further development.

Does Hongkong Mice Industry have been biased when it comes to its attendees?

Affluent Travelers Vs. Middle Class Travelers

For the past years, Mice Industry in Hongkong is just focusing on those
affluent travelers who are capable of travelling and spending just to attend travel
expo. Resulted of this, those people who are in the middle class are rob an
opportunity to attend this kind of event.

According to Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel, Future Traveler Tribes 2030
Journal, we have entered a new era of luxury travel. As newly affluent citizens pop
up in different regions of the world, and the travel industry expands to meet their
demands, how can travel brands cater for more middle customers while somehow
maintaining a sense of exclusivity? As emergent middle classes seek the material
aspect of luxury travel, more mature markets are craving a new, evolved kind of
luxury. This is why offering middle customers a relevant, personal and exclusive
experience will become even more crucial than it is today, it will be a differentiating
factor between old and new luxury.

We believe that it’s no longer enough to understand what luxury means to

a particular traveler, it’s about knowing what luxury means to that traveler right
now. “As consumers become older, and as markets mature, materialism is less
important, while time and enrichment are key,” says Ian Yeoman, a Travel
Futurologist. A traveler’s perception of luxury not only changes throughout their
lifetime, it can change throughout the duration of a single holiday. Circumstances
along their journey will alter their perceptions and their norms and the new era of
luxury travel requires brands to constantly monitor their expectations, and adapt
accordingly. In other words, new luxury is real-time.

We are now living in the modern world with high intelligent travelers and
middle class are now capable of doing what the affluent travelers can do. As the
world is emerging, it is a must in Mice industries in Hongkong to adopt and meet
the needs of every travelers not just those affluent travelers.

The Safety and Security of The Attendees of International Travel Expo and
MICE in Hongkong is an Issue

“Is Hong Kong safe to visit?” It’s a question increasingly being asked by
many travelers on travel websites and on social media, amid anti-government
protests in Hong Kong prompted by a move to change something about their law.
According to Elaine Yau, with the protests spreading and growing more violent,
and causing disruption to transport and the retail sector, tourists have been
warned to take precautions in Hong Kong, named the most visited city in the
world for the eighth year in a row in 2018.
After eight consecutive weekends of protests, travel chaos reached a peak
on Monday when a citywide strike led to long delays for commuters on public
transport and the cancellation of some 250 flights in and out of Hong Kong
International Airport. The Hong Kong Tourism Board has reported a drop in visitors
recently, but most travelers are sticking with their travel plans.
One told CNN he had been tear-gassed by police while trying to find his
hotel. Visitors arriving at the airport on July 26 were greeted by thousands of
protesters who shouted slogans and waved placards comparing the Hong Kong
government and police to triad gangsters.

Trade event organizers in Hong Kong are assessing the economic impact
from weeks of unresolved civil protests, amid concern the city’s brand as a
meeting and event hub could be under threat. How much the protest movement
has weighed on the local event management industry is hard to gauge, partly
because of the diverse range of events scheduled in Hong Kong and question
marks as to whether visitors will be discouraged from taking part in the coming
months. Six events ranging from consumer expositions, concerts and fan
meetings have been cancelled or partially affected since the large-scale protests
began.

“I think that all of our members are realistic in expecting the second half of
the year to be more challenging than the first half,” said Stuart Bailey, chairman of
the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Industry Association. He said it was
difficult to gauge the impact as next year’s take-up rate and other external factors
would have to be considered.

Due to this crisis happening in Hongkong, the MICE Industry in Hongkong

has a problem when it come in advertising the said event and turns out to loss of
visitors and clients. Still, in August, Hong Kong tourist arrivals fell 40 percent,
according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, the largest drop since the
SARS outbreak in 2003.

LACK OF MICE FACILITIES

Hong Kong was recently named as the recipient of the prestigious award
of Asia's Leading Meetings and Conference Destination for 2015. Meetings and
exhibitions (ME) have recently become an important focus for the Hong Kong
Tourism Board's promoting activities. An online platform, MEHK, or Meetings and
Exhibitions Hong Kong, has been created to impress conference and exhibition
organizers that Hong Kong is the destination of choice. Unfortunately, Hong Kong
is really short of space in premier locations. Currently, in town we only have the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) run by the Trade
Development Council. The other major facility is the Asia World-Expo, located
close to the Hong Kong International Airport, which, though well connected to
transportation networks, is far from the town center. There are plans to expand
the HKCEC facility. But apart from having to overcome various challenges
including possible objections from different groups, it is never going to meet
demand. Unmet demand is as likely to spill over to other cities as to the AsiaWorld-
Expo.

According to Ho Lok-sang, “I have been talking to various people in the tourism

and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industries lately,
and many agreed that Hong Kong badly needs more MICE facilities. Now that our
tourist numbers are falling, it is even more important to boost the number of
premier tourists coming to Hong Kong. These are the people who will stay
overnight and will spend money.”

For this reason, it will be too small to accommodate a venue to host major
exhibitions that require a lot of space for its lots of affluent travelers. Many visitors
will find traveling a long way is not worth the cost.

Another statement by Yim King Penny Wan, a faculty of Business

Administration in University in Macau. The said event in Hong Kong has
highlighted some weaknesses that includes the following the lack of human
resources, poor infrastructure and transportation, the lack of attractions, the lack
of legal regulation or a government department to coordinate the sector, limited
capacity of the border gates, and the absence of an industry base and a poor
business climate.
Traffic Congestion due to Overabundance visitors of Mice Industry

The rise in demand for mice industry in Hongkong have contributed to the
growth of congestion in the city areas. The growth of mice industry and travel expo
enhances mobility in urban and encourage the use of personal transportation.

Special events such as International Travel Expo and Mice in Hongkong,

traffic congestion will occur due to the gathering of the citizens, tourists and the
huge number of vehicles on the road. Severe traffic congestion may then lead to
traffic accidents.

III. Alternative Solutions

 For Asia’s well-heeled millennial travelers, new experiences are far more
appealing than the comfort of organized tours. MICE Industry in Hongkong is
targeting the affluent travelers which they believe that the most important
attendees in the said travel expo. However, some believes that middle class
people should have an opportunity to attend this kind of event.

According to shanghaijungle.com, Hong Kong society is transforming

beyond all recognition - a process driven by the emergence of Hong Kong’s
new urban middle class, whose size is larger now than the entire US population.
In fact, it is expected to increase more by the year 2022. The increase in wealth
has resulted in consumers becoming more and more accustomed to a variety of
consumer goods and brands - and in the process also more sophisticated and
individualized in their preferences. With 150 million international travelers and a
rapid change in the way they travel it doesn’t make much sense to generalize
information about ‘the Chinese tourist’.

As years goes by, the needs and wants of travelers increase as well as
the number of travelers. The luxury cannot be only for the affluent travelers sooner
or later the middle class could afford that kind of luxury.

Safety and Security is an Issue for the travelers in Hongkong

We’ve seen enough videos to know that Hongkong demonstrations

have turned very violent. But, besides criticizing their actions and sharing videos
of the incidents, what else could we do? More importantly, what can the Hongkong
government do?

According to Chang Leng Wai (2019). How the Hongkong

government can put a stop to protest violence and save the city. Retrieved from
scmp.com. When the demonstrations started, the government tried to stall and
stop them. That didn’t work. The demonstrations continued, with the inevitable
complaints of police brutality.

So, what can be done? The obvious formula is to spread

our enormous wealth more widely by spending a large proportion of Hong
Kong’s huge reserves on the general population, rather than subsidizing the rich
cartels. Those reserves will only lose value when the global recession comes –
we must spend it on our future today. If not now, then when? Obviously, the
current strategy has failed. If I may offer an out-of-the-box proposal, as someone
who lived and worked in Hong Kong for a number of years: the Hong Kong
government should offer a truce. Some protesters may continue to vandalize
and burn (how much worse can it get?) but, during this period, the rest can
discuss and select their representatives, the various associations can select
theirs and the Hong Kong government can appoint theirs. The government has
to promise not to ban or arrest any of the selected representatives. After the
truce, the representatives will meet to discuss, negotiate and formulate solutions
to restore peace and move forward. The initial group may be 200-300
representatives. All sides must be prepared to make significant concessions.

Land supply is a major problem in Hongkong that caused the

shortage of housings. According to cnbc.com, Hongkong has been repeatedly
ranked as the most expensive place to own a home. The main reason the
government didn’t previously consider land resumption policies is because the
process could be lengthy. HKGCC Chairman Aron Harilela said in the press
release: “Housing is a crucial issue that Hong Kong needs to resolve. The Chief
Executive’s plan to provide 10,000 units within the next three years should help
alleviate the shortages. The combination of expediting the sale of affordable
public housing units under the Home Ownership Scheme, building additional
starter homes, and raising the loan-to-value mortgage threshold, should also
allow more first-time home buyers to secure their own home quickly.”

The Hongkong government must provide a solution regarding this

problem because it does not only affect their citizen but also it has a big impact
to the travelers especially on the attendees of MICE Industry. Safety and
security of the attendees is the most important thing and if they don’t act
immediately, it could be a big loss on their economy.
Hongkong urged to control the rising of car numbers and traffic
congestion

Car ownership increasing seven times faster than population in Hongkong

which results traffic congestion. On the said MICE Industry Travel Expo, there
will be a lot of attendees with their private vehicles which can lead to traffic
congestion as well. Traffic congestion can cause delays especially on the
attendees of travel expo.

According to scmp.com, transport experts, these inconveniences are not the

result of population growth: instead, a surge in the number of cars on the city’s
roads is causing increased congestion, which in turn affects public transport.
According to Chan Lok, 40, lives in Causeway Bay and commutes to Kowloon by
bus and rail, which takes him about an hour. “The traffic is congested, but there
is actually not much the government can do about it,” he says. “Perhaps if they
raise tunnel fares and lower public transport fares, it may persuade more people
to go car-less?”. According to Auyang says there is a need to understand the
role of private cars in this. “It’s physically impossible to run a city on private cars.
More cars on the road increase congestion, which leads to longer journey times,”
he says. “In turn, bus and minibus operators must devote more vehicles and
drivers to the same routes.” And, as people get frustrated with the roads, they
turn to an already crowded MTR.

IV. Evaluation of Alternative Solution

ITE Hong Kong covers LEISURE and MICE and highlighting in-depth /
theme travels, the annual ITE Hong Kong is the city’s only travel fair, provide
international travel trade one-stop platform to cover Hong Kong and
China(mainland), world’s two major markets meeting there regional travel trade /
professionals and quality FIT in different days.

The next ITE and MICE 2020 were threatened to have less traders than
last year as Hong Kong has been facing issues which can affect the volume of
tourism traders that will join the said event.
Security and Safety

The Hong Kong police were regarded as among the best in Asia, and said as
a “disciplined, highly professional and effective workforce”, but it took only several
weeks of unrest before perception changed and their relationship with the
community became severely strained, said Homes Affair and Law- Minister K.
Shanmugam.

He added that when the Hong Kong police are attacked, this is not captured
but their responses are giving rise to “unfair criticism” about how they have dealt
with the situation. There are three key lessons found:

First, internal agencies are not the front-line solutions for all the problems.
They are a solution for tactical problems, but the problems (in Hong Kong) first of
all start from the politics, the fundamental socio-economic issues.

Second, Lies in Ministers taking responsibility in such situations, rather than

the police. The ministry has the responsibility for the protocol that is in place, and
it is not in the individual police officers facing the public on the ground.

Lastly, the Hong Kong unrest has shown that is it important to keep the public
fully informed on what is happening. Because if it will leave an information void,
the public turn to unverified sources, rumors. It will happen anyway but this got to
try and prevent it.

As it was stated in the abstract of Kovari, I. (2011). Safety and security have
always been indispensable condition for travel and tourism. But it is an
incontestable fact that safety and security issues gained in a much bigger
importance in the last two decades in tourism. Changes in the World during the
last two decades were enormous. Due to terrorist’s acts, local wars, natural
disasters, epidemics and pandemics, that we were witnessed to, security has
significantly decreased.

The travel and tourism industry could not avoid the negative impacts and
consequences of these events. Moreover some of these events manifested the
vulnerability of tourism both on global and regional level. Therefore, this facts
necessitates the research and study of the relationship between the security
issues and tourism, including the creation of a new, up to date definition of the
notion “security and safety in tourism”. Studying problems of security and safety
become vital for the tourism industry.

Rising of car numbers and traffic congestion

According to Rowse, M. (2019) says the new Central – Wan Chai Bypass
won’t solve Hong Kong’s long term traffic issues. It needs a revamp of transport
policies with a focus on stricter licencing for private cars, electronic road pricing
and legalising ride hailing services.

A day after the Central – Wan Chai Bypass opened last week, the Transport
Department issued a statement telling the public that the new corridor was already
congested during peak hours, and advising motorist to use alternative routes. in
other words, they should bypass the bypass. However, it would be too easy to just
mock the short-term teething problems and ignore the long-term issues behind
this. When the new road is complete, the signage has been improved, and drivers
have become accustomed to the layout, no doubt there will be improvements to
vehicle flow at least for a few months.

The root cause of the traffic problems is that Hong Kong is a small place with
a large number of people who need to move around a lot. The shortage of land
means there are limits to how much can or should be spared for transport
infrastructure. Which means the sensible transport policy needs to begin with a
fairly ruthless assessment of relative priorities.

Priorities must be given to two categories of road users: bona fide commercial
vehicles, because free movement is essential to keep the economy ticking over,
and public transport for the millions who commute daily. A transport mass transit
railway system I among the best in the world but it needs to be backed by surface-
based transport modes, both as a supplement to cope with normal volume, and
as an emergency fall back in the event of disruption to rail services.
 That means the number of less-efficient road users – private cars – must be
strictly controlled. The policymakers should know this and have to rely principally
on fiscal means, high first registration tax and duty of fuel, to achieve the objectives.
That may have made sense years ago when Hong Kong was less prosperous and
less crowded.

Why visit Hong Kong ITE & MICE 2020?

MICE, Business & Incentives Travel Expo attracts professionals working in

Travel Agent/Tour Operators, Airline, Hotel and Other travel industry, Travel Trade
Publication / Media. ITE Hong Kong to cover some of Asia’s Major and fast
growing source markets through networking, channel sale and trade promotions
in the trade days, public promotions and even direct sale to travellers in the public
days! In ITE Hong Kong buyers and trade visitors can speak to hundreds of
exhibitors directly from various international destinations, get information’s on
thousands of trendy theme travel products, sharing in our trade and MICE
seminars, etc.

ITE 2019 – Held as Planned during protests. Many of the participants

attended regularly including ITE 2019 which, despite being hemmed in by three
successive large scale protests in Hong Kong in areas close to the venue
respectively on the Sunday before opening was held successfully as planned with
no loss in exhibitor! There were 6.8% fewer trade and 18.2% fewer public visitors,
but reportedly little impact on inquiry and business for those who did not come
likely to be more serious.

V. Recommendation/s

This study is exploratory in nature rather than definitive. The safety and
security of everyone is a must especially tourist that are visiting a common place.
For the current situation Hong Kong is not that safe to go to due to some wars
against China and Hong Kong, not so long ago it was reported all over the news,
social medias and newspapers where we could see there is no safety. Hong Kong
looses tourist because they are afraid to go and visit due to the said war.

First, the government should take actions of what is happening to Hong Kong.
Tourist need to feel safe everytime they travel to different places because it is a
number one priority. Pertaining to recent crisis on Hong Kong, Hong Kong is
generally a stable society underpinned by the rule of law. However, since June
2019 large-scale political demonstrations have taken place throughout Hong Kong,
including the areas popular with tourists. While a number of peaceful activities
have take place, many protests involving significant violence. Protest are likely to
continue.

The situation around protests and public gatherings can change quickly, with
the potential for violence, especially during unathorised protests. Recent protest
have seen the use of petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails. Unauthorised protests
have been met by a more rapid and severe police response including heavy us of
tear gas. Police have also deployed water cannon and very occasionally, live
rounds have also been deployed. Protest can devaite from planned routes or rally
locations and spill over into neverby public spaces.

Hong Kong should provide good leadership in leading things to what is right
and organized to what is good. Many people believe that in order to achieve quality,
one needs to invest a lot of time, money, and effort. Although initially this theory
hilds some truth, in a long run, leadership within the organizational plays a more
important role in achieving and maintaining quality. Quality dies not evolve
overnight. People need to dedicate themselves to having quality practices and
policies in order to gain a reputation of delivering quality.

The question is, is it still safe to go to Hong Kong for the next ITE and MICE
2020? As stated in the section 4 it has great outcome and implement something
good for the sake of the country among the protest. This will help dix the problem
Hong Kong has been dealing with. It is an advantage dor fast growing community
that helps the country. Deal with safety and security against the protest. ITE and
MICE covers a substantial market like Hong Kong and also growing markets of
China and Asia, that brings direct contact not only with travel trade but also
corprate buyers, that combines effectively professional and public days, each of
which with its own success.