CHAIRMAN’S
STATEMENT 2007-2008
The hotel industry had a relatively flat year in the first eight
months of 2008, maintaining its average room occupancy rate at 2007 levels and
registering a slight increase in rates, despite an increase of 2,267 new hotel
rooms, or 5% over the same period last year.
Average hotel room occupancy rate in High Tariff “A” hotels
in
High Tariff “B” hotels in Hong Kong registered 84.8% in
average hotel room occupancy rate versus 85.9% last year, down 1.1 percentage
points, while average room rate improved by 10.3%.
Medium Tariff hotels in
Although hotel room rates in
The outlook for our industry in the second half of 2008
remains cautiously optimistic despite mounting uncertainties in global
financial markets and the high cost of oil.
The latter has caused airfares and fuel surcharges to rise and the cost
of travel to increase. As part of the
collective travel and tourism industry body, the hospitality sector has to be
cognizant of the burden and implications that rising fuel charges have on it.
Based on the 2008 forecast of visitor arrivals announced by
Hong Kong Tourism Board in February 2008,
With preliminary first eight month visitor growth rate at 7.3%,
An increase in the percentage of same day visitors to
The commencement of direct air travel between
This enhanced accessibility will create an inevitable
change in travel patterns, enabling Taiwanese travelers to enter the Pearl
River Delta directly through
Macau surpassed
There has also been reduced demand for manpower from Hong
Kong to fill new job vacancies in
During the past year, there were a number of important
initiatives taken by Government that benefited our industry and supported
tourism in
In the Financial Secretary’s Budget Speech in March 2008,
the wine and beer duty was completely abolished. This came just a year after Government
reduced duty by 50%. This decision has had a major, positive impact to our
industry. Government also waived the
Hotel Accommodation Tax, which was introduced some 40 years ago. This too has
benefited our industry since July 1, 2008 when it took effect.
Additionally, Government provided 10 land sites for Hotel
Only development projects for completion by 2012. These, together with a number of new hotel
projects that are already underway for planned completion in the next 3 years,
will create an abundant supply of hotel rooms in Hong Kong across all
categories of hotel properties to support Hong Kong’s tourism and visitors at
large.
The following is a summary of new hotel room increases in
2007: 51,581 rooms (up 9.5%)
2008: 56,923 rooms (up 10.4%)
2009: 60,940 rooms (up 7.1%)
2010: 63,961 rooms (up 5%)
2011: 65,752 rooms (up 2.8%)
2012: 65,919 rooms (up 0.3%)
Source of information is based on Hong Kong Tourism Board’s
Hotel Supply Situation Report as at June 2008 and it is updated quarterly.
Serviced apartments in
In other cities around the world, clear distinctions apply
between licensed hotels and serviced apartments – as they do in
In addition, serviced apartments operate on widely
different standards to hotels, and they need to improve their products and
services to a level that is internationally acceptable and consistent with good
inn-keeping practices. They must also
operate within the strict boundaries of selling rooms on 28 day contracts or
longer.
Our recent meeting with Government on Land Sites for Hotel
Development Only confirmed Government’s intentions and commitment to pre-empt
serviced apartment operators from infringing on the hotel industry but we also
urge the HKTB to take a leading role in addressing this issue too.
We welcomed the staging of an Olympic Equestrian event in
Hong Kong and we applaud Government’s initiatives to further develop Hong Kong
as an international sporting event capital of
Government has indicated that they may be prepared to
consider developing and building the new Cruise Terminal after an unsuccessful
round of tendering. The new Cruise
Terminal is a piece of very important development to attract the cruise market
to Hong Kong and establish a cruise hub in
The decision by Government to embark on the conservation
and revitalization project of the Central Police Station Compound will provide
Hong Kong with a historic site of architectural significance to further enhance
the heritage attractions of
Our collaborations with Tourism Commission during the past
year went beyond our usual support of Government initiatives and making
representations to Government on a wide range of industry related
subjects. We helped to resolve different
issues that required the support and special handling of our industry and the
outcome was rewarding.
For the first time, the Association was offered a
non-recurrent funding of HK$300,000 by Tourism Commission, to be duly matched
by the Association for a total sum of HK$600,000 to conduct a series of MICE
Education and Training Programs for our industry executives in 2009.
The program is designed to increase the understanding of
MICE business of our hotel executives and improve their level of
specialization, expertise and professionalism in marketing and serving MICE
business in
The Association continues to work well and closely with
Hong Kong Tourism Board under their new leadership. 60 member hotels participated in their Summer
Temptation promotions during the period of July to mid-September 2008.
Meanwhile the participation of our hotel General Managers
and sales and marketing teams in their year round road-shows to major markets,
with the latest road-show to India participated by over 30 member hotels, proved
to be fruitful as well in improving their business in these markets.
The Association came up with a number of new initiatives
during the past year.
The first all women’s culinary team competed in
The Association will also sponsor a Hong Kong team to
compete at the Culinary Olympics in
In May this year,
Being socially and environmentally aware is our growing
responsibility and we must be accountable for making changes and improvements
that support the environment, and energy conservation and efficiency. As socially responsible business leaders, our
integrity and ethics must never be compromised.
We must actively seek out opportunities to improve
employment opportunities and working conditions for our staff while assisting
our community in helping those less privileged in the areas we operate. Technological and quality enhancements in the
products and services we provide must also be high on our agenda.
The far-reaching consequences of neglecting environmental
issues are evident and as a responsible industry, we must lead by example to
not only reverse the affects of global warming, but work towards greater
sustainability for continued prosperity, whilst creating new excellence in
improving our competitiveness and provide greater value for money to take our
industry forward.
The Association organized a Career Day in Tin Shui Wai at
As part of our continuous education program to invite
distinguished speakers and educators to address our members, we invited a
seasoned professional in Business Strategy, Professor WEE Chow Hou, from
His lecture on choosing the best points of contact to gain
an advantage highlighted areas where our industry can further improve our
service quality and competitive edge without having to further invest in new
resources.
Dr. John Fleming, the writer of the book “Human Sigma” was
invited to speak to our members. In his
capacity as the Chief Scientist for Customer Engagement and Principal at the
Gallup Organization, his book highlights new thinking in Customer
Engagement.
His theories based on years of research using a huge
database of findings collected from numerous senior business executives,
emphasizes the importance of understanding and applying customer psychology
considerations in every customer engagement.
Health, Safety and Hygiene is a major priority of our
industry. The Food Safety and Hygiene
Task Force of the Association developed a Supplier Audit Scheme. This scheme consolidates supplier audits that
are currently being conducted individually and independently by our member
hotels providing much greater efficiencies in time and resources for both our
member hotels and suppliers themselves.
An independent professional qualified international
consulting company is being engaged to conduct these audits in an impartial way
and they will also provide the framework of their proposed audit based on input
provided to them by our participating member hotels.
The Association supported an Eat Smart Campaign organized
by the Government Department of Health, Centre for Health Protection. Twenty-eight of our member hotels
participated in the Campaign. By
providing alternative choices in their restaurant menus
for healthier food options, we are promoting greater health
awareness. The Campaign aims to deliver
the message of cultivating healthy eating habits.
The Association also supported a Food Safety Charter
organized by the Centre for Food Safety, Food and Environmental Hygiene
Department of Government, which highlighted and promoted the 5 Keys to Food
Safety.
The Association continued to support our joint programme
with The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Our co-operation with and the support we give to our local
Universities and Vocational Training institutions continue to produce good
results in attracting qualified young people to join our industry. Our intake of interns has also continued to
benefit potential new talents for our industry.
Our industry must continue to improve its image as a
preferred employer and attract the large amount of homegrown, talented young people
who are interested in working in our hotels.
Retention through the right initiatives, opportunities, training and
long-term goals are all key areas we encourage our hotels to work on to secure
the talent and offer them fulfilling careers.
Safety and security at our hotels have always been our top
priority in protecting our guests and staff.
In this regard, we would like to again thank our highly dedicated and
efficient police force for providing our industry with their best service at
all times.
We would like to also commend them for having done a highly
professional job in ensuring that
The Association continued to grow in membership and we
welcomed Courtyard by Marriott Hong Kong,
Mr. Nelson Lee sadly passed away in January this year,
after a long illness. Nelson served the
hotel industry in
We were as saddened by the passing away of Mr. Kevin
Sinclair in December last year, after a long battle with cancer. Mr. Sinclair was a faithful and delightful
friend of our industry. Not only did he
support us well with his reporting, but his constant passion to better serve
the community, our visitors and hotel guests will remain close to our hearts.
I would like to thank the Executive Committee members for
taking the time and effort to guide and counsel the work of the Association and
also, our member hotels for supporting the initiatives of the Association and
always coming forward to our calls.
The Executive Office of the Association has throughout the
past year, carefully executed the directives of the Executive Committee and
served its members well. For this, the
Executive Director is to be highly commended for his leadership and dedication
to the work of the Association and special thanks also go to his staff for
their hard work and commitment.
We have had many opportunities to co-operate with our
partners in the travel industry and Government to resolve a wide range of
issues affecting
To all the people and organizations that have lent us their
support and for those who we have offered our support too, we thank them
earnestly for their kindness and understanding of each other’s needs. We look forward to continuing these trusted
relationships and we would like to acknowledge all of them in this message.
2009 will be a more challenging year with declining markets
and business sentiments. We know this
will affect our corporate travel market segment. High oil prices will also impact our leisure
travelers as air travel becomes more costly and not as attractive.
With our industry set to ride on a path of more rapid
developments in the next few years as many new hotel properties enter the
market, the strength of our industry will continue to lie in our ability to
deliver superior service. This is what
differentiates us from the competition around the region.
It has been my great honor to serve as Chairman of the
Association. Together with our members,
our mission is to serve our industry by continuing to improve our
professionalism and raise our service quality standards. I am confident that this is what our members
can and will provide and I can look forward to their commitment and support at
all times.
Mark Lettenbichler
Chairman
Hong
Kong Hotels Association
September
2008