Visitor-friendly Hong Kong

It's always a tough decision when it comes to selecting an appropriate venue for staging an international congress with more than 3,000 delegates from around the world. The organiser of the 5th Worldwide Chinese Life Insurance Congress (WCLIC) knows the difficulty better than anyone. The biennial event which featured the elite among Chinese life-insurance agents for future planning and development of the insurance industry held its fifth meeting from August 20 to 22 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong (HKCEC). The congress proved to be a success, following active participation and rave reviews from most delegates and the full support of both the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) and HKCEC. However, unlike its previous meetings with year-long planning and co-ordinating, this year's WCLIC meeting was considered to be rather hastily organised. The organiser had scrapped Hawaii, its first-choice meeting place and elected Hong Kong as a substitute. Compared with its former meetings which typically take three to four years of planning, the Hong Kong congress took less than two years of preparation. From Hawaii to Hong Kong "This was a difficult decision for our board members in finalising the venue for this year's WCLIC congress," says Liang Tien-Lung, chairman of the 5th Worldwide Chinese Life Insurance Congress. "Many of our delegates find Hong Kong very attractive, but we already held our 3rd meeting in Hong Kong back in 2000. We wanted to go to some new places and give our delegates fresh ideas. That's why we picked Hawii in the first place. But we never thought that the security and entry visa requirements there would cause us such huge problems. It forced us to change the venue to Hong Kong at the last minute." WCLIC models two top insurance agents' congresses in the United States, namely, the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) and the General Agents Managers and Association (GAMA). It was inaugurated in 1996 and targets insurance agents in the Asia Pacific region. Previous meeting places included Taipei in 1996, Langkawi, Malaysia in 1998, Hong Kong in 2000 and Dalian, China in 2002. For this year's meeting, most delegates were from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China and Southeast Asia, all requiring a US visa when entering Hawaii. Liang reveals that the congress had earmarked Hawaii as this year's meeting venue as early as 2001. Many board members, following several on-site examinations, were impressed with the famous natural scenery of this Pacific island and its various updated convention and exhibition facilities, he said. "But there was one key concern that kept worrying us all — the difficulty in getting entry visas in the United States for many of our delegates." Liang notes that the Hawaii state Government and Hawaii tourism authority had promised full support of the congress in granting visas. They even outlined a special 'Hawaii only' visa for those delegates from the Mainland to ensure them in taking part in the congress sucessfully. Security alert However, following the intensifying anti-terrorist security alert in the United States, the visa plan went awry. The forthcoming presidential election in the country also made things worse, with the US tightening visa control and entries. Liang says only about 50 per cent of the 3,000 delegates were able to secure an entry visa after several discussions with the Hawaii officials. "The visa problem would definitely ruin the party if we insisted on holding the congress in Hawaii, therefore, we needed to shift the meeting place," Liang added. Hong Kong was the final solution. "Hong Kong's visa-free policy is very convenient compared to Hawaii or some of Southeast Asia." He also praised the high level of facilities at the HKCEC, saying its professionals were of international standard. Opened in 1988 and with a US$620 million extension in 1997, HKCEC was voted 'Asia Pacific's Leading Conference Centre 2003' at the 10th World Travel Awards by over a million global travel agents and 'Best Overseas Centre, Meetings Category' for the ninth consecutive year in the 2002 Meetings and Incentive Travel Industry Award. There are a total of seven restaurants in this 248,000sqm waterfront building providing different cuisines ranging from Western, Chinese and Japanese to Southeast Asia. WCLIC's opening ceremony took place at HKCEC's 3,880sqm Grand Hall with a permanent stage of 408sqm and a maximum capacity of 3,800 persons. Senior management lectures were scheduled at meeting rooms 201 and 301, with meeting rooms with various sizes from 38sqm to 740sqm and catering 28 to 640 persons. With assistance and aid from the HKTB, Hong Kong chief executive officer Tung Chee-hwa was the honorable guest of the congress' opening ceremony. Various tailored-made entertainment events were also arranged for the congress including a traditional Scottish bag-pipe performance to accomany Tung in officiating the opening ceremony, an entertainment with one of the top Hong Kong artist Aron Kwok, and also a traditional Chinese lion dance during its award ceremony. Entertainment events A sightseeing city tour was arranged following the three-day congress. HKTB provided suggestions and ideas on tour options and accompanying person programmes. Liang notes that many delegates had planned to stay in Hong Kong for an extra two-to-three days for shopping and sightseeing. "I think shopping is definitely one of the most attractive features in Hong Kong. Similar conferences will certainly boost the city's tourism revenue," he adds. A spokesperson from the HKTB said there were special plans to cater accommodation to various groups having, or planning to have, large scale conferences in Hong Kong. According to the board, in June 2004, Hong Kong had approximately 38,000 rooms in 102 hotels to accommodate delegates of international events of different sizes. Conference organisers usually appoint a ground handling agent for hotel bookings and ground arrangements. The board can assist organisers to solicit favourable hotel rates and block rooms either at the bidding stage or before the appointment of the official agent. A series of similar large scale conventions are lined up in Hong Kong for the rest of 2004. In addition to the 5th Worldwide Chinese Life Insurance Congress, these include the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) World Travel Congress from September 28 to October 3, the 7th Asian Congress of Urology 2004 from October 31 to November 4, and the 9th Congress of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology from December 10 to 13. The conferences are set to bring considerable revenue to Hong Kong. According to HKTB statistics, a total of 130 international conferences were held in Hong Kong in 2003, drawing 17,535 overseas delegate attendence. The board's survey shows that the intented per capita spending for convention and exhibition visitors last year was US$1,424 (HK$11,109). The board has already recorded 190 conferences to be held within 2004, with expected attendence of 42,684 international visitors. In an effort to bring more conferences to Hong Kong, the HKTB also supports the local organisers to win the bid by helping them prepare the bidding documents, recommending suitable venues, soliciting venue and hotel proposals and assisting with site visit arrangements.