Come for business, stay for experiences, urges Hong Kong to visitors. Photo Credit: iStock/YiuCheung
Buoyed by 2.5 million MICE arrivals in 2025, a 7% increase from the previous year, Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has launched a new campaign to present business travellers with a more compelling proposition to venture beyond the conference halls.
"The MICE segment plays a key role in our strategy to attract high-value visitors. We will go all out to further establish Hong Kong as the world's meeting place," Anthony Lau, HKTB’s executive director affirmed at its annual large-scale tourism industry seminar, Hong Kong Tourism Overview 2026.
Business with leisure built in
The city’s latest MICE strategy recognises that the delegate wearing a lanyard is also the traveller seeking leisure discovery,
Its latest Only in Hong Kong campaign, visually represented by a neon-lit watermark, highlights the city’s distinct sights and sounds.
It also plays on the notion of “feeling”, not just seeing or learning. “This focus on feeling leads us to a new way to tell Hong Kong’s stories. By bringing to life moments that you can experience only in Hong Kong,” Lau explained.
Examples of such activities include Hong Kong’s signature Symphony of Lights harbourfront spectacle, discovery programmes that push beyond the usual tourist trail into neighbourhoods such as Old Town Central and Sham Shui Po, and sampling spanning Michelin-recognised fare to street dishes at dai pai dongs.
Also relevant to MICE travellers is the mega events calendar from Art Basel in March to the Hong Kong Sevens in April to the three-month Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival.
Enhanced connectivity
Hong Kong also hopes to leverage its geographical advantage as the world's gateway to the Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Through China’s expanded 240-hour (10-day) visa-free transit policy, citizens from 55 countries can now fly into Hong Kong’s international airport, power through a few days of high-level meetings while soaking in the city’s cosmopolitan energy, then connect to GBA cities via the high-speed rail, before continuing to a third country.
For international MICE travellers, it creates possibilities for multi-destination itineraries, blending business with broader regional discovery.
Meanwhile, the destination is courting high-value business travellers with VIP hospitality services, which it is developing in collaboration with financial institutions and trade partners.
The human element
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law is quick to remind that the city’s 93,000 hotel rooms, world-class facilities, and vibrant incentives are only as strong as the hospitality that powers them.
She highlighted the important role of agents, planners, hoteliers, restaurateurs, airline operators, tour guides, and service providers as the city's living ambassadors.
She called on all tourism stakeholders to “equip frontline stuff with not just information, but tools; narrative tools to share the beauty of our landscapes, the craft behind our dim sum, and the story behind our skyline”.