Post-pandemic, travellers want more value, and want to pack in more
On the back of tourism recovery to the territory, Go City has launched its Hong Kong Pass. The reimagined Pass includes more than 20 of the top attractions and experiences in the city, including Hong Kong Disneyland. The original pass, launched in 2018, was stopped during the pandemic. On top of recent launches in Singapore, Bangkok and Seoul, Go City is seeing interesting traveller trends and preferences across the different cities, for example, customers planning travel further in advance and the most exciting customer acquisition channel – WeChat MiniProgram.
Yeoh Siew Hoon speaks to Baidi Li, senior vice president, commercial, Asia Pacific for Go City, about the thinking behind the design of the Hong Kong pass, and the different customer behaviour trends pre- and post-pandemic, when it comes to shopping and booking experiences.
Q: Why was this considered the right time to return to Hong Kong with an expanded, new product?
Our Hong Kong Pass was the first product that was launched in APAC back in 2018. We had seen success and had planned to bring this back to Go City customers when Hong Kong reopened. As soon as Hong Kong’s mask mandate was lifted, our trade team has been getting huge demand from regional partners, asking us to bring back the Hong Kong Pass, so here we come.
Baidi Li (right) and Silvana Leung toasting the launch of the Hong Kong Pass. “Having the right people in the right place at the right time is definitely critical.”
Q: What kind of trends are you seeing in terms of inbound travel to Hong Kong which prompted you to launch this pass?
From our side, we are seeing top attractions especially the theme parks remain popular but we see that travellers are looking for more local tours and experiences, and exploring more off-the-beaten-path places. The Gen Zs are also looking for places that are social media-friendly. As such, we have included a wide variety of experiences for visitors to choose from. We believe our expanded pass does a brilliant job showcasing all the best things to do in the post-pandemic Hong Kong.
Q: How is this new product different from the one you launched in 2018 and which was suspended during the pandemic? What post-pandemic traveller trends did you take into consideration when designing this new product?
I feel very lucky that even before Hong Kong’s reopening, I managed to convince Silvana Leung, the co-founder of award-winning Hong Kong Foodie Tour to join my team. I’ve known Silvana for years and I’ve never met anyone who is as passionate about promoting Hong Kong and showcasing all the delicious Hong Kong delicacies to the world. Without her, I don’t think we would be able to launch our new and improved Hong Kong Pass within such a short period of time. Having the right people in the right place at the right time is definitely critical.
The highlight of the product is certainly having Hong Kong Disneyland. Theme parks are extremely popular and having Hong Kong Disneyland on our pass is a key milestone for Go City. This is the second Disneyland we have within our global portfolio (after Paris Disneyland) so we are super excited about that. We also have a variety of other new experiences such as Aberdeen 1773 Fishing Heritage Tour, Egg Tart Baking Workshop, Tea Appreciation Experience and A Chinese Ink Painting class. Visitors can also make use of our pass to redeem meal sets at key touristy neighbourhoods such as grabbing a beer and an order of fries right at the Peak after taking the Peak Tram and taking photos of Victoria Harbour.
Q: Who is this new pass aimed at? Do you have the same expectations of Hong Kong that you saw in Singapore – when Singapore went from zero to top 10 Go City cities in a year? Will HK be in the top 10 in a year?
The new product is really for visitors from all around the world. With the old Hong Kong Pass, our customers were mainly from long haul markets. We see that the long haul leisure travel recovery is still slow for Hong Kong as people weren’t expecting Hong Kong to suddenly reopen when they were planning their travels a few months ago. With our investment in the APAC region, we expect growth on purchases from Mainland China, South-east Asia and South Korea. This is extremely key as we wait for the long haul market to return. We expect Hong Kong’s recovery to take off in 2024 and I have all the confidence that it will become a top 10 city by end of next year.
DMZ Tour, included in the Go City Seoul Pass, which was launched at WiT Seoul last November.
Q: It’s also been a year since you launched Go City Seoul pass – what trends are you seeing in terms of inbound to Seoul? How is the pass doing?
The number of Free Independent Travelers keeps increasing month by month and one of the main reasons to visit Korea is Korean content such as BTS and Squid Game on Netflix, especially for generation Z. Sales of the Go City Seoul Pass are growing every month. Our partners told us they really appreciated the long haul customers (mainly Americans) we were bringing as they know it’d be difficult for them to acquire directly. Since we launched the Seoul pass at WiT Seoul 2022, we’ve got great market feedback and further expanded our pass offerings to enhance traveller’s in-destination experience. New offerings include SIM cards, airport express train, and shuttle buses to Everland and Nami Island. Seasonal products and food-related products will be included in the Seoul pass soon.
Q: Any differences in consumer behaviour pre- and post-pandemic?
Yes there are definitely some interesting differences we are seeing. Go City customers are planning their travel further in advance. This means they have more time to plan and research how they can have the best experience. For example, we’re seeing email signups an average of six weeks out vs one week previously; Passes are being purchased 31 days in advance as opposed to 22 days previously.
This means travellers are spending more time researching how they can get the best deal. Our customers have always been value seeking planners, but we’re now seeing this extend to a wider audience of travellers outside our core base. With economic forces, inflation, GBP and EUR dropping, customers are going out of their way to find the most value. Customers are also doing more on their trips. Our customers are maximizing their passes from morning to night, with our data on pass scans significantly increasing.
Q: Ditto with the Bangkok pass – do you see travellers going for new experiences vs the tried and tested attractions?
Yes. We see that customers are loving our Thai cuisine and Thai massage offerings. Beside the traditional attractions and tours, we see that dining and drinking options are getting popular. You also can’t visit Thailand without trying their signature massage/ spa experiences, right? We recently also introduced a few really awesome new experiences such as Onsen at Let’s Relax Spa, centralwOrld VIP package with Food Court Credit and a social-media friendly offering which is Thai costume rental.
Q: Which three outbound markets in Asia, other than China, are you investing in to drive travel demand for Go City passes?
India, South Korea and our little red dot Singapore.
Q: What’s the customer acquisition channel you are most excited about?
That goes without saying, it’s WeChat MiniProgram!
Q: What milestone partnerships are you most excited about this year that will drive Go City’s sales in APAC?
Some of the big partnerships we are working on are in China – I am hoping I would be ready to discuss in our next interview.
