Michael Lim doesn’t go so far as to call 2019-20 an annus horribilus like England’s Elizabeth II did in 1992, but the veteran tourism executive for the Hong Kong Tourist Board (HKTB) in Canada admits he hasn’t seen a year quite like the current one.

The problems started last spring with peaceful civilian protests in Hong Kong against a controversial China extradition bill, however the social unrest progressively increased in size and intensity leading to an airport occupation in August and violent confrontations between police and protesters in the fall.

Then early this year, just as the dust was beginning to settle on the unrest (and the negative publicity it generated), and the HKTB was preparing to “push the button” on a new marketing campaign, China was hit with the latest coronavirus outbreak, which has now evolved into a worldwide pandemic.

New Year celebrations in February in Hong Kong (and Toronto) were postponed and the campaign mothballed, despite the fact that at press time (over a month later), Hong Kong had only declared 126 infected people and three deaths from the virus – a far cry from over 80,000 affected in the epicentre a thousand kilometres away in Wuhan province in China (about the distance from Vancouver to Calgary). But Lim knows that Hong Kong is tarred by the same brush.

“In my 30-plus years, this is the toughest,” the HKTB’s director for Canada, South & Central Americas admitted to Travel Industry Today, noting that he has worked through such crises as SARS, H1N1 and the Asian financial meltdown over the years. Moreover, he points out that visitations from Canada were booming in 2019 before the protests began, so much so that the city still welcomed 319,000 Canadian visitors (representing only a 16% year-over-year decline, which Lim considers “doing okay” under the circumstances).

“That’s part of life, having challenges,” Lim muses.

Nevertheless, like past challenges, Lim believes that as the protests in Hong Kong continue to dwindle and the current coronavirus crises eventually passes, people will begin to travel again. “Canadians have a passion for travel,” he says. “It will come.”

And when it does, Hong Kong will be ready.

“We’re not here twiddling our thumbs,” Lim says of the HKTB’s enforced downtime.

That includes working with partners – “we need all of us to work together” – and developing a nuanced marketing campaign that will be phased in over the course of the rest of the year.

The plan is based on three platforms:

• Resilience (current-April): daily monitoring, communicating with partners, finalizing plans

• Recovery (May-Sept): launching a tactical campaign with ethic market and OTAs, PR support, leveraging Hong Kong Week

• Relaunch (October): launch major media partnerships, social media support, trade co-ops, and multi-destination partnerships (Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand), possible rebranding.

Of course, Lim concedes that global conditions are continuing to evolve and Hong Kong will adjust its plan accordingly, but, at the same time, continue to do what it can to connect with consumers (especially the millennial/achievement market) and the trade in a thoughtful and efficient manner.

For example, the HKTB’s HKtouristmap.com now marks notable attractions and locations in the city with Xs that link to real time information, from museums or theme parks that may be closed to suspended service on the Hong Kong ferry – or even, if necessary, a protest event on a particular corner…

And there is an ongoing onslaught of openings and re-openings, from museums to new hotels, in the city of 7.5 million people that promise to change the face of Hong Kong when arrivals return to regular levels. Neighbourhoods and a burgeoning arts scene will garner particular emphasis in the marketing campaign.

Lim notes that despite its troubles, Hong Kong was named the “most visited city in the world,” in 2019 by prestigious market research company Euromonitor International.

Given its “horrible year,” as her majesty would say, that accolade probably recur in 2020; but if it does, Lim assures, “We’ll be prepared. We’re working on things and hope to be back in the market as soon as we can.”

Michael Lim, Hong Kong Tourist Board director Canada, South & Central Americas.