Hong Kong is a top spot destination for many tourists. However, the region’s popularity may be headed down south due to ongoing extradition protests. Data from Google Trends suggests traveller concerns, with search volume like “Hong Kong safe” plummeting since the end of July. The Hong Kong Tourism Board also reports that visitor arrivals in the first half of August declined 30%. The ripple effect on businesses is anyone’s guess. We’ve got some marketing strategies to fight tourism recession and move your brand the right direction.
1. Your Marketing Spend
Slashing budget on marketing is where many businesses look when faced with recession. Sure, this may yield immediate results, but gains are often short-lived, and could potentially hurt your business in the long run. A more savvy approach would be to streamline budget spend, focusing on the most powerful platform(s) for your business. A drop in inbound/outbound trips would naturally mean lower patronage, but if you yank off your entire spend on digital presence, you’ll effectively make it difficult for potential leads to find your business, which is the last thing your bottom line needs in recessive times.
2. Double Down on Visitor Experience
If visitors are not boarding the next flight to Honk Kong for safety reasons, going a step further and ensuring you’ve got their back is what you want. This could mean doubling down on your security infrastructure, or ensuring you keep potential visitors aware of safety needs before their arrival. Bending back a little and making travellers know you’re aware of their worries and are ready to provide all they need for a safe trip could be all that’s needed to pull them your direction during downtimes as this.
3. Your Existing Customer Base
Regardless of your business niche, your existing customer base remains your best asset to staying profitable when things take a dip. Its plain difficult, if not possible, to make people loyal to your business if they’re not incentivized to do so. And so you want to find out the commonalities of your existing customer base. In the tourism space, much of what brings in sales is customer experience, so you want to double down on this. Visitor preferences will likely change, but if you have built a solid customer base, your business stands a better chance of staying afloat in a tourism recession.
You essentially want to reward their loyalty without hurting your business. This could mean offering an extra freebie on their next purchase, or taking a cut from their spend when they meet a certain purchase threshold. You also want to ensure your team gives this elite group of visitors the best experience possible. The payoff is repeat purchase and referrals to others who may also add to your list of loyal customers in the long term. Ultimately, travellers want the best experience their new destination has to offer, and if you’re able to resonate with their needs in more ways than one, that gives you a nod above the competition. Treat every visitor like the most important you’ve ever had and you’re sure to have them headed your direction always.
4. Track, Reiterate, Repeat
The rule is simple. You can’t improve what you can’t track. For your business to remain viable in a recession, you need to find out what’s working and what’s not. This will allow you to make informed financial decisions on where to look and what shouldn’t be the focal point of your marketing effort. You also want to keep tabs on potential visitor preferences on your choice search engine. Baidu analytics is a nifty tool that lets you in on where your website traffic is coming from, which provides you with the insights to better streamline your content strategy accordingly.
If you’re unsure how to leverage the truckload of handy information provided by your choice platform, hiring a professional is what you want. Taking the plunge yourself could lower outbound cost, but if you’re not armed with everything that goes into successfully utilizing your monitoring tools, you could hurt business even more.
5. Refine Your Product/Service
What niche in the tourism industry do you occupy? For any one business, your products/services are likely to fall into one of four categories; Essentials, Treats, Postponables or Expendables. Essentials are products/services prospective tourists can’t do without while in Honk Kong. These are things they need for survival and will readily cash in on always. Treats are not as important as Essentials but are still justifiable on a traveller’s checklist. Items that can be left for later time without hampering on visitor experience make Postponables. Expendables are trifling items or experiences that are almost always unnecessary. Now, your business is likely to be most hit if your offering falls under the Expendables category. Shuffling your line of products or service with Essentials is a strategy you want to consider.
Besides, if you hit a home run with your new add-on, you may well be setting your business up for more success post-recession. It’s also invaluable to know what category your consumers belong. High spenders are likely not to be deterred by price, and budget travelers are likely to look elsewhere if your line of Essentials are expensive. Still, consumer psychology and laser sharp marketing strategies are powerful ways of checking the undercurrent of fear that may inhibit potential leads from doing business with you in a tourism recession.
To Warp Up
You’ve finessed your recession strategies and have mechanisms in place to ensure revenues don’t suffer a dip. Turning your attention to existing residents in Honk Kong is another way to solidify your presence and widen your reach. This will help your business stay afloat and minimize the biting effects of a recessive period.