Hong Kong still fantastic

DESPITE the obvious threats posed by its rapidly developing rival tourist spots in  mainland China, Hong Kong remains the fantastic destination that it is,  especially of Filipinos who fly to the city in droves for a variety of reasons – shopping, dining, night life entertainment, sightseeing or simply satisfying one’s travel itch.
This we found out when we covered a familiarization tour of more than a dozen travel and tour operators from Davao City and three other cities in Mindanao. The tour was sponsored by the Philippine Airlines and arranged by Ms Dolores Marques, managing director of New World Travel Corporation, with the Hong Kong-based Global Travel Service headed by John Choi. Lawyer Domingo “Domeng” Duerme, PAL senior assistant vice president for Mindanao, accompanied the tour operators.  Joined by wife Connie, Domeng saw to it that the travel operators took the brand new Boeing 777-300ER, PAL’s  newly-acquired airplane, in flying to Hong Kong and back home again, last December 10-13. The “Triple Seven” is the first of five 777-300ERs PAL has ordered from Boeing to add to its long haul fleet. The Pinoys’ preference for Hong Kong as a destination, is shown partly by the fact that PAL has five flights daily, while a rival airline has four. A third player has one.
During a briefing, Hong Kong Tourism Board senior executive Rosia Lau, told the tour operators some 28 million tourists visited Hong Kong in 2009, just two million  more than the arrivals in Macau.
Shopping
Although admittedly there are now places in mainland China offering lower prices, Hong Kong remains the shopping paradise that it used to be with  upscale  malls and quaint open-air and themed street markets where one can engage in shopping tell he drops. The  famous Nathan Road, for instance, is a six-mile stretch of a very wide highway with both sides lined with some of the most fabulous stores in the world.
Emerging food paradise
Hong Kong’s population of more than seven million seems ready anytime to relinquish its crown as Asia’s “shopping paradise” to anyone of its neighboring cities.
In fact, it is reinventing itself as a “food paradise.” We arrives in the former British territory in the last quarter of the Hong Kong Food and Wine Year (April 1, 2009 to March 31,2010).
Criselda Medalla, manager of the Manila-based Destinations Unlimited, who has brought to Hong Kong thousands of Filipino tourists, believes that Hong Kong can very well qualify as the “Culinary Capital of Asia” on the strength of what it currently offers —  signature dishes and regional delicacies as well as marvelous Western cuisine.
Mouth-watering fresh seafood can be had easily at most restaurants of Hong Kong, Kowloon, the New Territories and the outlying islands, Ms. Medalla said.
Moises Alvarez of Royal Achievers of Zamboanga, who had been to the island city almost yearly, said the adventurous should try the exotic food served in areas like Temple Road.
“Along Temple Road one can savor such exotic delicacies made out of snakes and crocodile meat believed to have medicinal values,” Alvarez said.
One indication that Hong Kong is serious in morphing to be a food paradise is that one posh hotel could have as many as nine commodious restaurants.
Harbour Plaza Metropolis, where the fam tour  participants stayed, has a resto which can sit 200 diners at a time, with some 30 chefs preparing the food.
Disneyland still tops
Hong Kong Disneyland located on Lantau Island is still HK’s No. 1 destination. It is highly probable that majority of the 28 million tourist arrivals last year went to the themed park. Our group also inspected the facilities of Disney Hotel, one of the two hotels inside the park. It was fully-booked at the time. 
‘Threats’
One threat to Hong Kong as a top destination is that Shanghai is  building its own Disneyland Park, while a  Universal Studios complex is rising in Singapore. But HK’s tourism players seem prepared for both developments and are doing some things pro-actively.
The rest of the fam tour participants were Jorge Marques, New World Travel Corp president, Johnson Wee of Airtime Ticketing-Cotabato, Noel Sagot of AME Travel, Lito Tan of CMTan Travel, Eng Yao Tan of Frontier Travel, Cipriano Edayan Jr. of House of Travel, Laverne Rodrigo of Konturs-Davao, Chastity Sarmiento of Lite Travel-Cagayan de Oro, Cheryl Cagumbal of Mt. Apo Travel, including Ma. Elena “Lenlen” Rustia, sister of Noel, from Tagum City, who said  she would set up a travel and tours agency of her own very soon.  [Antonio M. Ajero]