Bollywood To Be Prime Focus For HKTB

Reema Sisodia - Mumbai

Clara Chong

Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) recently conducted an event titled ‘Hong Kong - Bollywood Movie Magic’ to highlight the specialties of Hong Kong as a potential film shooting destination. The target audience for the event included producers and directors of the Indian film industry, along with travel trade partners and business associates. The event was held in Mumbai on August 12, 2004.

Speaking on the occasion, Clara Chong, executive director, HKTB, said, “We aim to showcase Hong Kong as the number one tourism destination in the Indian market and highlight Hong Kong as the premier travel destination and versatile location for Bollywood filming. Hong Kong has been the location of choice for numerous internationally acclaimed films. A number of Bollywood films have already been shot in Hong Kong in the past.We invite the travel and tourism industry to visit the destination to get a first hand feel of the place and its culture.”

Emphasising the connections between India and Hong Kong, a member of HKTB sad, “Hong Kong and Mumbai has a lot in common as cities - with long and fascinating histories, including periods under colonial rule but the best known feature is the international reputation of both cities as film production centres - Hong Kong as the “Hollywood of the East” for its exotic sights and fascinating fusion of East and West that lends itself to creative film-making and Mumbai as the film capital of Bollywood. The HKTB believes that this movie-making linkages provides a real business opportunity in terms of tourism growth and development. Our surveys have revealed that 14 per cent of our visitors are interested in Hong Kong movie scenes and our promotions built around Hong Kong movies have already proved very successful in other Asian markets. Seeing Hong Kong’s glamour, its cosmopolitan lifestyle and fusion of cultures on screen attracts more visitors to come, and inspires them to see and spend more once they arrive. Visitors like to discover the movie locations for themselves; eat and drink in the same places as the stars; and enjoy the city’s fashionable, quality shopping.”

Chong further added that, “The great synergy between Hong Kong and Bollywood presents an excellent platform to promote Hong Kong to the Indian travellers. We are very confident that Bollywood-linked marketing can work well well in India, where movie going is practically a national pastime. I am told that 14 million people in India go to the cinema every day, a truly amazing figure. This tells us that building tourism packages around the movie scene can be a highly effective way of showcasing Hong Kong’s attractions to Indian audiences - indeed to audience worldwide, as many Bollywood movies are now screened internationally.”

HKTB has developed several Bollywood linked marketing initiatives to raise awareness of Hong Kong as a travel destination and as a versatile location for filming. HKTB Recently launched the “Bollywood in Hong Kong” Movie Map highlighted Hong Kong attractions featured in popular Indian movies. This map - coupled with the newly opened harbour front attraction, Avenue of Stars - will help Indian visitors experience the city’s sophisticated and glamorous lifestyle. As a follow-up, the HKTB is putting our Hong Kong Movie Odyssey Guide on to film. A special version is being made for Indian television and an excerpt was unveiled at the event. The HKTB will use this vignette and the ‘Bollywood in Hong Kong’ Movie map extensively in its Indian promotional campaigns to provide its travel trade partners with tremendous opportunity to create enticing travel packages to Hong Kong.