Bye bye Cheerios. Adios granola. The best way to get an authentic Hong Kong breakfast is to take in the real deal at tiny Toronto eatery Good Luck. They serve up exactly the type of workers’ café food that you’d find in Hong Kong - some traditional (such as curry fishballs) and some reflecting the city’s cosmopolitan background (French toast filled with peanut butter).
Which made the Good Luck the perfect setting for travel media to meet Michael Lim, Director – Canada, Central and South America of the Hong Kong Tourism Board last week for a bit of breakfast and get an update about what’s new in HKG.
With a population of some 7 million and a size so compact it would fit five times into Prince Edward Island, Hong Kong manages to squeeze in a huge number of cultural, sporting and scenic opportunities.
Updates to the destination include Rosewood Hotel, a luxury Hari Hotel, the new West Kowloon Cultural District and a reinvented Peak Tram. The classic must-do in HKG now has a glass roof and twice the capacity.
And how about the typical Canadian traveller? Some 300,000 visited pre-Covid, a target the locals hope to reach again soon. We Canucks typically spend 2 nights in the destination, a duration Lim would love to expand. “Shopping is a given! But we have such a great range of experiences. 200 islands, each with distinctive, wonderful green spaces. And we’re a mature destination, perfect for FITs, who actually are the majority of our Canadian visitors.”
Safe, clean, affordable public transport includes the “ding ding” trams, nicknamed for the sound the bell used to make. And is there anything more romantic than a ride with your sweetheart on the famed Star Ferry - less than $1 Cdn - to admire the skyline at night as you sip a glass of champagne? (Yes, he assured me. They sell champagne on the Star Ferry.) Every night at 8pm city’s buildings are lit as part of the city’s Symphony of Lights.
Lim reminds Canadian advisors that now's the time to plant the seed of travel with your clients. Older Canadians average a 9 month booking window, whereas for younger ones, 3 months is more typical.
As Lim puts it, “It’s very important for us to have new, innovative experiences to make repeat travellers want to come back. Believe me, our arms will be fully extended in welcome!”
